In September — Sexual Health Awareness Month — we turned to Dr. Richard Bloy, an AUC alumnus, to chat about sexual health and treatments. Dr. Bloy, a board-certified Fellow of The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG), is an OB-GYN at Contemporary Health Center in Fort Myers, Florida. Dr. Bloy, who founded the center in 2000, is an expert in restorative and regenerative medicine and hormone replacement therapy — particularly as it pertains to aging and sexual health.
Q: Healthcare often focuses on the purely physical well-being of the body — its anatomy, physiology, diagnoses, and treatments — and sexual health can be overlooked. At your Contemporary Health Center, however, you and your staff provide various types of therapies and treatments that deal with aging and sexual health. How does your center help improve sexual health for both women and men?
A: For women, we can replace the essential hormones to their former healthy state. We can repair and restore skin health and, if necessary, restore vaginal health through lasers, platelet-rich plasma therapy, and highly specialized surgery that I have developed. For men, it’s about hormone restoration and general physical health and the many modalities to balance or improve erectile function. We specialize in erectile and penile enhancement procedures.
Q: How important is sexual health to a person’s overall well-being?
A: Even Biblically speaking, it’s secondary to breathing in all healthy and thriving relationships.
Q. What is the ultimate mission of the Contemporary Health Center?
A: Our mission is to provide the highest quality medical care for the people of southwest Florida in an environment of kindness and success. We do many things related to sexual health and aging, ranging from hormone and testosterone restorative therapy, cosmetic injectables, and chemical peels and exfoliators, to weight loss and wellness services.
Q: You mention restorative therapies. Your center specializes in bioidentical hormone replacement pellet therapy as well as peptide replacement. Can you tell us more about these therapies?
A: Peptides are proteins that can increase human growth hormone (HGH) levels and promote weight loss as well as healthy growth, skin, and hair. Peptide therapy can also help relieve anxiety, depression, and insomnia, and increase sex drive and performance, among many other benefits. Peptide therapy can be used by itself or in combination with hormone replacement therapy, which involves restoring estrogen or testosterone. The health and longevity benefits of hormone replacement are massive. It can improve energy and overall vitality, sharpen brain function and memory, relieve depression and anxiety, increase muscle mass, reduce fat, and even lower blood pressure. In women, it can reduce or cease hot flashes and provide better vaginal lubrication. In men, hormone therapy can reduce symptoms of erectile dysfunction and prostate cancer. It can also increase libido, improve bone health, and even reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The applications and benefits of both therapies are far-reaching.
Q: What exactly are hormone replacement pellets?
A: Hormone replacement pellets are made of either estradiol or testosterone. Naturally derived from soybeans, these hormones are identical to those produced by our bodies. Hormones are pressed into small, solid pellets larger than a grain of rice, but smaller than a Tic Tac. Unlike creams, pills, or patches, pellets deliver more consistent and healthy levels of hormones into the body. They are usually inserted in the upper hip area through a tiny incision. Being made of natural compounds, pellets are completely absorbed by the body. The effects last as long as five or six months.
Q: Is the Contemporary Health Center also a teaching facility?
A: Yes, we have students learning from us all year round. We teach others so they may provide the best medical care with skill and attention to detail. For me, teaching provides constant personal growth in my own knowledge, allowing me to stay ahead of my students and provide accurate and up-to-date information. I learn from teaching my students, just as they learn from me. I’ve always been a teacher.
Q: What originally drew you to obstetrics and gynecology?
A: I was enamored by the relationships that my clinical OB-GYN preceptor, Dr. Harvey Johnson, had with his patients, as well as the field’s unique combination of surgery and primary care.
Q: How did you get started? Have you continued as a practicing doctor, researcher, academic, or administrator since getting your MD from AUC?
A: I began by literally hanging out a shingle and waiting for someone to walk in the door in 1985. I took on two partners. And then in 1995, I sold the practice to the local hospital system. Finding corporate medicine difficult, I began a private practice — the Contemporary Health Center — in 2000. Since then we have thrived, creating several corporations. We have three office buildings in two locations — Fort Myers and nearby Naples — and 30 employees.
Q: In what professional activities do you participate?
A: I am a preceptor for multiple colleges, including those for nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. I am actively board certified and have been since 1987. I’ve been invited to give the oral boards for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and I serve as an advisor for several medical groups.
Q: AUC ties run in the family, right? Your daughter, Christie, is a first-year medical student at the AUC Sint Maarten campus. How do you feel about her following in your footsteps?
A: It’s an overwhelming joy and sense of pride as well as a selfish relief that I created a legacy for her. She will be my legacy and longevity in the business.
Q: What advice have you given to your daughter about becoming a doctor?
A: To never give up and to always seek tutors and mentors.
Q: Does your daughter have an interest in a particular medical specialty?
A: So far it looks like OB-GYN, but there’s a long way to go. Anything that brings her home will be wonderful.
Q: When was the last time you were at AUC? What do you think about our evolving curriculum and modern campus?
A: I’m in Sint Maarten every month visiting Christie — she’s our baby! AUC is incredible and I’m so impressed with the curriculum and the staff. I thought I had it good 40 years ago!
At AUC, we’re training the next generation of OB-GYNs and other specialist physicians. Our 2022–2023 MD graduates achieved a 97% first-time residency attainment rate*, and are now beginning their post-graduate training across 24 specialties. To learn more about the therapies and other services offered by Dr. Bloy and his staff, visit the Contemporary Health Center website. For more on sexual health awareness, see what the American Sexual Health Association and the World Health Organization have to say. Thanks for your time, Dr. Bloy!
*Percentage of students attaining a 2023–2024 residency position out of all graduates or expected graduates in 2022–2023 who were active applicants in the 2023 NRMP match or who attained a residency position outside the NRMP match.
