Dressed in nothing but my underwear, I stood before roughly a dozen high-resolution cameras in a basement in SoHo.
A woman’s voice echoed through the room: “A bright light will shine for a few moments. Please close your eyes.”
I was inside the newly opened Neko Health clinic on Lafayette Street, where a camera system and a doctor would examine my skin for potential concerns. That was only the beginning of the evaluation.
For $499, the Swedish company assesses skin health, body composition, visceral fat, circulation and heart health. Comparable individual tests, including MRI and DEXA scans, can cost anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars without insurance.
“I wouldn’t say that there’s anything else out there that’s similar” to Neko’s scans, Dr. Sunita Mishra, the company’s chief medical officer, told The Post.
The clinic uses an array of equipment, including a proprietary laser system designed to examine the tiny blood vessels in the feet. Swooshing animations, theatrical lighting and a futuristic interior made the experience feel more like a Disney World attraction than a typical medical office.
I visited to find out whether Neko was simply another over-the-top health product or whether its technology could produce meaningful insights. By the end, I had learned something about my heart that earlier EKGs had failed to detect.
Preventative health gets high-tech
Preventive health has grown into a $415 billion industry, driven in part by the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. New York has also become a destination for wealthy people seeking advanced longevity-focused care, including one program that costs $60,000 annually after a $100,000 initiation fee.
Neko Health is pursuing a broader and more accessible model, aiming to give more people a detailed snapshot of their health.
That approach addresses a significant gap: Most American adults do not receive annual physicals and instead visit a doctor only when they feel ill. As a result, serious conditions may remain hidden until symptoms appear.
Neko has reported striking discoveries at its London and Stockholm clinics, including “lots of melanoma” and serious metabolic conditions in about 6% of patients, Mishra said.
“Just last week, we found somebody with a dissecting aortic aneurysm, which is like what Lindsey Graham had. We found that and we were able to get them to care ASAP — they got their surgery the very next day,” she said.
According to Mishra, the clinics have also helped identify leukemia, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
Mishra said Neko’s service is aimed at people who have already begun taking an active interest in their health, including users of devices such as Oura and Whoop. The hour-long assessment is not covered by insurance, although customers may pay with FSA or HSA funds.
What a scan at Neko Health is like
Back inside the underground, spaceship-like SoHo clinic, the initial full-front and full-back skin images were complete. I put my robe back on and moved on to the remaining tests and scans.
Aside from its Jetsons-style design, the experience was surprisingly similar to a spa visit. Piano music played as an operator guided me through an EKG, blood pressure checks and a blood draw. Once collected, the vials traveled through a pneumatic tube to an in-house lab, allowing the results to be ready for review before I left.
The most technologically advanced portion came next. Neko’s proprietary equipment included the camera-and-light system used to examine my skin, along with devices designed to evaluate circulation and heart function.
When the testing began, the lights softened and a Siri-like voice issued instructions from the speakers. A monitor displayed a Star Trek-style “analyzing” animation.
Ceiling-mounted lasers assessed my heart function and pulse, while another laser-based examination directed light at the bottoms of my feet to measure circulation.
The appointment concluded with a grip-strength test, which can offer clues about lean muscle mass and longevity, and an eye-pressure measurement used to assess glaucoma risk.
My Neko Health results
After those tests, the doctor came out for a closer look at the skin, including the soles of my feet and in between my toes and fingers. He told me that Asians (like me) are more prone to get melanoma on my palms and feet.
He used a special scope to look for spots with unusual borders, shape or size. After I got the all-clear, the doc went over every result in yet another space-age room.
Be warned: You’ll be confronted with an animated blue avatar of your naked body from that blinding first scan. This was a major jump scare for me.
I was given an estimate of my body composition including visceral fat, which can be indicators of metabolic disease like diabetes and fatty liver disease.
But an important note: Doctors at Neko don’t diagnose. Suspicious findings are referred to partners at medical centers for confirmation.
The clinician flagged something was off about my heart — something that’s been suspected by my past doctors. For years, I’d get light-headed at random and even fainted once in a exercise class. I’ve also frequently had very high heartbeat readings at rest.
EKGs were repeatedly ordered but never revealed answers. This time, the EKG came back with something: evidence of right axis deviation. This is when the direction of the heart’s electrical signal is a bit shifted to the right.
“This can happen for several reasons. Some of these are harmless, and some may need further investigation [or] treatment such as an echocardiogram,” aka an ultrasound for the heart, the doctor told me.
My results were sent to an in-house cardiologist who, about a day later, determined I should see my own cardiologist for further evaluation.
The bottom line
There were some elements that I didn’t find particularly useful — like my supposed “heart age,” which boils down my heart health and risks. And while the experience did feel super premium, it certainly verged on the theatrical — which may be a draw for some but might add anxiety for others.
That said, what mattered was walking away with more information about my health. I found it incredibly useful that I’d just gone to get my annual physical about a month prior and could compare the experiences.
At Neko, testing was infinitely more comfortable and thorough. My operator could really take her time, as opposed to a tech running in and out of the room, hurriedly slapping me with cold medical equipment as they’re setting up.
I also got more information from my operator and doctor during review about my health than I could at my primary care office. In an hour, you learn more about things you don’t know or have time to ask about — like what each blood fat signals — and for me that was incredibly valuable.
To be clear, though, my Neko clinician said that they’re not trying to replace your PCP. I see this service as something that’s really nice to have as a supplement to your annual physical. If you’re going in for a scan, I’d do it before your physical so you have a bigger picture of your health, with points to follow up on with your PCP on.
And while a single scan offers important insight, tracking those changes year over year is where the true value lives — and why, despite a few lingering reservations, I’ll be handing over another $499 to stand in that SoHo basement next year.
