Dr Hnin Leh Khin and Dr Thiha Tun Tun at My Aura Aesthetic Clinic on Parami Road. Photo: Shin Moe Myint

Dr Hnin Leh Khin, founder of My Aura Aesthetic Clinic, first noticed the growing number of local women with rosier lips, thicker lashes and bolder eyebrows in 2012, when make-up went mainstream in Myanmar. “That’s when I knew that beauty would be big business in this country and decided that I wanted to build my career in aesthetics,” she told The Myanmar Times. 

Incomes have risen and access to the internet has improved since then, and these days, many more Myanmar women are also enjoying smoother complexions, firmer jawlines and fuller cheeks. Now, affluence is rising and women from all generations are spending more on beauty treatments like botox and dermabrasion.

Riding on that trend is My Aura, which Dr Hnin Leh Khin and co-founder Dr Thiha Tun started in April last year. “After getting my qualifications in beauty and aesthetics in Thailand and Korea, I returned to Yangon and decided to open a professional aesthetics clinic with the support of my family, even though I had no existing clients and competition was tough,” Dr Hnin Leh Khin said. “We were aware of the risks but never worried that there wouldn’t be enough demand.”

That decision has proven to be a good one so far, with My Aura now seeing 180 customers per month. Meanwhile, business is growing. Patients aged over 50 want to look younger. Teenagers aged between 16 and 21 want acne-free skin. But demand for beauty treatments is highest among the emerging middle-class, many of whom are professionals and working executives. “Nowadays, everyone wears make-up. Everyone wants to look more beautiful,” Dr Hnin Leh Khin said. 

Start-up struggle

Getting My Aura off the ground was no easy feat though. One of the first obstacles the start-up had to cross was securing a location for the clinic. “This is the largest capital investment for Myanmar businesses as we need to pay rental upfront and it is usually for a year,” said Dr Thiha Tun. In addition, tenants are usually held at the mercy of their landlords, some of whom have been known to raise rents by as much as 50 percent after each year. 

The way he tells it, the pair looked all over Yangon city for a suitable location, from high-end shop lots at Myanmar Plaza, which were too expensive, to old apartment blocks downtown, which were not safe and suitable, before settling on My Aura’s current address at 12 Parami Road.