RESERVE YOUR APPOINTMENT
111 E Jackson Ave, Suite 102 · Knoxville
Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM, by appointment only. After-hours appointments available upon request.
111 E JACKSON AVE · SUITE 102 · OLD CITY, KNOXVILLE
A private medical aesthetics and skin-health practice in Knoxville's Old City.
RESERVE YOUR APPOINTMENTThe practice
Astra Aesthetics was created around a simple idea: aesthetic medicine should feel considered.
Founded by Molly Muecke, MSN, NP-C, Astra is a private medical aesthetics and skin-health practice in Knoxville’s Old City, built for patients who value expertise, discretion, and a more thoughtful approach to aging well. Treatments are selected with intention, recommendations are individualized, and more is never assumed to be better.
The philosophy is refinement rather than reinvention. Facial anatomy, movement, proportion, skin quality, and long-term goals are considered together, allowing treatment to evolve with the patient rather than follow a predetermined formula. Sometimes that means an injectable treatment. Sometimes it means investing in the skin. Sometimes the most appropriate recommendation is to do less.
The same restraint shapes the physical space. Plaster arches, concrete floors, warm light, private treatment rooms, and one-to-one appointments create an environment that feels removed from the traditional clinical setting without sacrificing the standards of a medical practice. Every detail is intentional, from the treatments offered to the skincare selected for the shelf.
Astra is not interested in chasing every trend in aesthetics. The standard is simpler: treatments should have a purpose, recommendations should make sense, and patients should still look unmistakably like themselves.
"Everyone deserves to age on their own terms."
The founding principle · Molly Muecke
Photo: Caroline Trotter
Your provider
Founder & Aesthetic Nurse Practitioner
Board-Certified Nurse Practitioner · Revance National Trainer · Former Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Faculty · National Aesthetic Medicine Educator
Molly Muecke is a board-certified Nurse Practitioner, Revance National Trainer, and founder of Astra Aesthetics. Her approach to aesthetic medicine combines a medical understanding of anatomy with a highly considered eye for proportion, movement, and balance.
She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Tennessee, graduating summa cum laude, followed by a Master of Science in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University, where she finished in the top five percent of her class. While in Cleveland, she trained under a Cleveland Clinic dermatologist, gaining additional experience in medical and aesthetic dermatology.
After graduate school, Molly joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine as an Assistant in Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, practicing in spine surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She later transitioned into aesthetic medicine, practicing in Nashville and Knoxville before founding Astra.
Today, her work extends beyond her own practice. As a Revance National Trainer, Molly trains medical providers in injectable technique, facial anatomy, patient assessment, and treatment planning. Teaching other injectors has further shaped the precision and intentionality she brings to her own patients.
At Astra, Molly does not approach the face as a collection of individual features to correct. She considers the relationship between them: profile, proportion, movement, symmetry, skin quality, and how each decision will affect the face as a whole. Her aesthetic is subtle but deliberate, with an emphasis on preserving identity rather than creating a recognizable “look.”
Her experience has included caring for patients in Nashville and Knoxville, including high-profile clients in the music and entertainment industries. That experience has reinforced the importance of discretion, consistency, and treatment that remains undetectable in every setting.
“I believe in the art of aging gracefully.”
In her free time, Molly enjoys yoga, cooking, and spending time with family.
Have a look around before you come in.
Media & Expertise
Molly's work extends beyond the treatment room. As a Revance National Trainer, she educates medical providers in aesthetic medicine, and her clinical expertise has been featured by the American Med Spa Association and its Medical Spa Insider podcast. Her work and Astra Aesthetics have also been featured in regional editorial publications, including Inside of Knoxville and The Scout Guide Knoxville.
Podcast · Medical Spa Insider
Molly joined AmSpa Founder and CEO Alex R. Thiersch, JD, to discuss microneedling safety and medical protocols, covering RF and traditional microneedling, patient education, injectable safety, provider qualifications, treatment protocols, and medical standards in aesthetic medicine.
Clinical expertise
American Med Spa Association
Molly was featured as a clinical expert on the safety of radiofrequency and traditional microneedling, provider qualifications, treatment protocols, and what patients should consider when choosing a provider.
American Med Spa Association
Molly contributed clinical expertise on microneedling safety and the importance of treatment by appropriately trained medical providers.
In the press
Inside of Knoxville
Covers Molly's background, her practice in Nashville and Knoxville, the philosophy behind Astra, and the Old City location.
The Scout Guide Knoxville
Astra Aesthetics and Molly featured among the area's scouted beauty and aesthetic resources.
Medical director
Dr. James Kirk Bass serves as medical director of Astra Aesthetics in Knoxville, TN. After earning his Bachelor of Science with honors from the University of South Carolina, he completed his Doctor of Medicine, also with honors, at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, followed by residency at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk and fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Early in his career, Dr. Bass served as a medical missionary in Brazil, Uganda, Namibia, and Malaysia, teaching caregivers how to resuscitate newborns. He and his family have made Knoxville home for more than two decades.