► WHERE: 32 Church St. and 391 Rele St. in Lane Parke
At Gunn Dermatology, Dr. Holly Gunn and her dedicated staff offer full-body dermatological and cosmetic care, with any service or treatment a patient could possibly need, at two convenient locations in Mountain Brook.
They also treat their patients like family, and the patients think of Gunn Dermatology as their home away from home.
Gunn Dermatology offers a wide variety of services, including cosmetic and surgical procedures, head-to-toe skin exams and acne treatments. They provide basal cell and skin cancer removals, including safe, effective non-surgical techniques.
A full-service wellness center, Gunn Dermatology offers cryotherapy, infrared sauna sessions and spray tans.
Dr. Gunn opened her original location in Crestline Village in August 2020, which fulfilled her nearly lifelong dream of running her own practice. In November 2022, she opened the second location of Gunn Dermatology at Lane Parke in Mountain Brook Village.
At both facilities, Dr. Gunn and her staff provide what she calls great medical care in a luxurious environment.
“We treat you as a whole person with realistic, long-term goals to achieve your healthiest skin,” she says.
“When we started three years ago, it was just me and the front desk person and a nurse,” Dr. Gunn says. “Now the practice has 28 employees.”
An accredited, board-certified dermatologist with almost 15 years of experience, Dr. Gunn attended medical school at The University of South Alabama and completed her dermatology training at Pennsylvania State University.
She worked in private practice for several years and formerly served as an assistant professor of dermatology and the director of the Dermatology Cosmetic and Laser Clinic at UAB.
Dr. Gunn lives in Old Mountain Brook with her husband, Dr. Stephen Gunn, a plastic surgeon, and their four young daughters, and they enjoy living in Mountain Brook.
“We love the community, and we love that our kids are so supported by other parents and teachers and the community at large,” Dr. Gunn says.
Living and working in Mountain Brook has increased her quality of life, as well.
“I can walk to my Mountain Brook Village location and bike to my Crestline location,” Dr. Gunn says. “Having my practice in the community has increased my work-life balance and my ability to be a present mom.”
Overall, Mountain Brook has been a great place to run a business, she says.
“The community is so supportive of small businesses and small-business owners,” Dr. Gunn says.
Running her own practice has been very rewarding.
“It brings me so much joy when people come to me with a problem I know how to fix or improve,” Dr. Gunn says. “I’ve always been kind of a natural caregiver.
“I’m certainly proud of the skills I have today because they’ve allowed me to help people, but I’m always trying to improve on those skills, too,” she says.
For example, the staff is always looking to find new technology, such as the Vivace Ultra ultrasound device, which can help a patient tighten, tone and contour any area of the body.
Women also make great entrepreneurs and business owners, Dr. Gunn says.
“I think women bring a lot of caring into business,” she says. “There’s a huge difference between men and women in how they think about the world. Women bring a lot of love and support and caring as opposed to being so analytical. We are not about the bottom line at Gunn Dermatology. We are about bringing joy.”
The staff members at Gunn Dermatology have enjoyed discovering the many other women-owned businesses in Mountain Brook, including shops selling clothing, jewelry, art and home goods.
“We love being friends with them and co-supporting each other,” Dr. Gunn says. “There is nothing like having a good female friend who supports you and loves you no matter what.”
Dr. Gunn also seeks to create a warm, supportive atmosphere for her employees.
“I have taken care of my staff and showed them how to take care of me and how to take care of other people,” she says.
“We love our patients,” she says. “We love each other. We have a good time. We are just here to serve.”
In turn, her employees have “invested their hearts and souls” in the practice, she says.
They are “so supportive of Gunn Dermatology that they come up with great ideas and great events to show our support for the community,” she says. “They are just lovely — and passionate.
“At Gunn Dermatology, we find the joy — and make the skin glow,” she says.
