After spending six days and five nights in Istanbul, Turkey, for the 2008 International Congress for skin care, Aesthetics by Naomi owner Naomi Koontz returned to Franklin with a new business plan to combat the ever-changing world of aesthetics.

Congress, Koontz said, is a “tribal meeting of the minds.” She said 2,000 skin therapists from 50 countries attended the Congress, where therapists “share experiences, network, learn from each other and have a phenomenal time in five-star luxury.”

New products are also launched at Congress, which this year included a new skin brightening system, a new line of skin care for teen-agers called Clean Start and an addition to the Age Smart line.

Koontz said she intends to incorporate some of the new techniques she learned at the skin center “to accommodate the client’s busy lifestyle.”

“Everyone still wants great-looking skin but can’t find the time to work in a skin treatment. We now offer ‘microzone treatments’ to address your concerns,” Koontz said.

The microzone treatments include a skin bar, a 20-minute hands-on learning experience that Koontz called a “fun thing,” and means getting out of the treatment room and into what one can do at home.

Koontz hopes that the new strategy will bring people back into the spa and away from “rubber glove”— medical —treatments.

She plans to attend the next Congress, which may be held in Sweden or Finland, to get even more ideas. She also attended two other congresses in Sydney, Australia, and Barcelona, Spain.

“It’s just an awesome, awesome experience for someone from Franklin to get to travel with their business,” Koontz said.

While in Istanbul, she toured several places including the Blue Mosque, which she said was built between 1609 and 1616,

the Basilica of Hagia Sofia, which means Holy Wisdom, and shopped at the Kapali Carsi, a Covered Bazaar.

On the last day of her trip she went to the TopKapi Palace, or “Gate of Regal Reception,” which has 2.5 million visitors per year and displays Holy Muslim Relics like the spoonmaker, an 86-carat diamond, the Topkapi dagger, which is covered in emeralds and diamonds, and Moses’ walking stick.

She also tried a Turkish Bath.

“As an aesthetician, it intrigues me to experience other culture’s ways and their definition of a ‘spa’ experience,” Koontz said.