Dr. George Martin in The Business Spotlight

Dr. George Martin remembers the very day he opened his doors on Maui.

“I saw my first patient on October 16, 1989,” he says.

Martin grew up in Pennsylvania and attended the University there, studying internal medicine. But he says a rotation in dermatology changed everything, spurring him to move to University of California Los Angeles for a full medical residency in the field.

“My passion at that time were connective tissue disorders like lupus and scleroderma and dermatomyositis and real medical dermatology,” he explains. “Serious medical problems that present themselves in the skin.”

After falling in love with Maui on a business trip, he and his family moved here in August of 1989, and Martin has been treating dermatology patients around the island ever since.

“I plan on continuing to practice dermatology well into my ’80’s,” smiles Martin, “and so at the age of 63, I figure I’ve got another 20 years of runway to go!”

Dr. Martin developed his own line of sunscreen decades back, with a goal of protecting his tow-headed children from the region’s powerful UV rays. But he’s since grown a business from it, and says an expanded line of eight products known as Doc Hawai’i will be released this Fall.

“We have climbers at the top of Everest and guys out at Jaws, we have two-year-olds running around the beach with the sunscreen on, and I myself am an avid user,” he remarks.

Martin describes the sunscreens as “game-changers” due to their endurance in water; he says his proprietary blend lost only two units of SPF after an eight-hour water immersion test.

“The cornerstone or flagship product is our original formulation, an SPF 36,” he explains. “I have a mineral reef-safe product coming out that’s an SPF 34, that after eight hours in water sustains itself at an SPF 24.”

Learn more about the doctor’s story in our video above, and by visiting Dr. George Martin Dermatology Associates’ website.