Health & Fitness in Bluffton

Lois Liptak brings her knowledge and expertise as a registered nurse to every beauty and therapeutic service she delivers at Ageless Body Therapy by Lypossage Body Contouring, LLC. She banishes wrinkles with nonsurgical facelifts and injectable fillers, and her lypoassage body-contouring treatments chase away unwanted bulges. Massage modalities, such as lymphatic drainage, deep tissue, prenatal, and ego strokes, allow clients to let go of aches and stress while in her professional healing hands.

Second-generation chiropractor Dr. David Avard, who is proficient in spinal manipulation and soft-tissue therapy, aims to assuage a range of bodily ailments using natural healthcare techniques. Dr. Avard personally consults with patients to investigate causes of corporeal discomfort before engineering custom treatment plans designed to diminish or remove aches lurking throughout the body. In addition to lifestyle counseling, Dr. Avard also offers nutritional support to clients looking to cultivate good eating habits or build life-size replicas of the food pyramid.

YogiVeda founder Carrie Wandall, who studied yoga and Ayurvedic therapy as a child, creates a community where students can plumb Eastern and Western traditions to treat the mind and body. During sessions in the signature yoga style Carrie created, Nataraja Vinyasa, instructors incorporate moments of meditation into a dynamic sequence of physically challenging postures. Outside of the practice room, the studio’s staff also promotes holistic health by proffering alternative treatment options, such as reiki energy therapy and soothing aromatherapy with essential oils harvested from beloved teddy bears.

The Shoemaker clan has been sailing around the East Coast since the 1600s, making the family as native to South Carolina as the state's alligators and seaside bluffs resembling John C. Calhoun. After inheriting an in-depth aquatic knowledge from his father, who spent 25 years as a commercial fisherman, Captain Chris Shoemaker—a Coast Guard–licensed captain—conveys that love of the water to even more generations by leading fishing, shrimping, and crabbing excursions on his 24-foot Carolina Skiff boat. Collectively known as May River Excursions, Captain Chris and his crew make twice-daily trips to Daufuskie Island, a rustic, historical idyll with a single schoolhouse, dirt roads, and wild bald eagles, armadillos, and alligators that still comprise the island's local constabulary. The guides also lead regular 90-minute tours along the May River in search of ospreys, egrets, and dolphins, always including a history lesson about the country surrounding the towns of Bluffton and Hilton Head.

Every basketball team starts five players. It's an homage to the harmony engendered by the five-pronged leadership at May River Dermatology, consisting of two board-certified dermatologists, two physician assistants, and one MBA-holding practice administrator. And just as the best NBA teams win games, May River Dermatology wins awards, most recently Bluffton Today's 2012 Best Dermatologist Office award. Their accreditations testify to their expertise in medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology.

The group specializes in diagnosing skin cancer and other skin, hair, and nail diseases—their treatments address these ailments. Dr. Carmen Traywick, along with licensed aesthetician Aimee, also performs a variety of aesthetic treatments, such as chemical peels, dermaplaning, acne treatments, and milia removal. To render their roster of epidermal treatments—which is as wide as a piece of taffy stretched to opposite ends of a taffy factory—they make use of an equally wide roster of products, including Obagi Medical, Afirm, Jane Iredale, Vanicream, Latisse, Glycolix and Replenix, and Clarisonic.