Dr. Kevin Smith of Charlotte Plastic Surgery stays busy seeing numerous patients each week. A large majority of those patients are interested in not only plastic surgery, but skincare. After interviewing Dr. Smith about the basics of skin health, he told us about a line of products he trusts and has a lot of experience with, called SkinMedica. He asked my colleague and I if we’d be interested in a 6-month skincare challenge. Of course we said, YES!
By Carolynn Grimes
ThePlasticSurgeryChannel.com
The 6-Month Skincare Challenge
Being women with our own set of skin issues, we agreed to the challenge to see what could be done to help us improve our blotches and wrinkles. Both of us were currently using a variety of skincare products found at the grocery or drug store. We were doing okay, but not seeing any progress with our problem areas. Skin aging is one of the earliest ways we see the effects of sun damage and the damage of years past.
According to Dr. Smith, our skin ages in three ways:
- We make less collagen
- We lose more collagen
- We lose collagen underneath our skin
These three things lead to wrinkles, pigmentation issues, and sagging skin. Dr. Smith easily identified all of these issues in our skin and had us do facial imaging using Canfield’s Visia Imaging. This system shows how your skin really looks. Visia Imaging is the world’s largest skin database that can grade your skin relative to others of the same age and skin type.
It first takes several pictures from three different angles and then gives you a scientific reading as to where you stand. It measures spots, wrinkles, texture, pores, UV spots, brown spots, and red areas. It’s an eye-opening experience that shows you exactly what needs to be improved and a clear idea of what products you should use to to restore your problem areas.
“Both of you told me you’re starting to notice some brown spots that keep you in makeup and using a heavier foundation to cover up those brown spots. You need to stop using your current products and start using the GRASS Method by SkinMedica.”
G – Growth Factors
R – Retinols
A – Antioxidants
S – Sunscreen
S – Specialty Products
The Results…
The TNS Essential Serum has won many awards and scientific accolades, and after a 6 months, we can say it works!
“What this product does is it encourages the skin to grow a carpet pad of collagen underneath the skin. It has 7 anti-oxidants that help prevent sun damage and will help fade some of the brown spots,” says Dr. Smith.
To aggressively address the brown spots that come from years of sun exposure and hormones, SkinMedica has a product called Lytera, a non-hydraquinone lightener.
“Because you’ve had some sun damage over the years, we want to try to increase your metabolism and that’s where the retinols become so important.”
If you’re like us, you’ve tried to keep skincare costs down by using drugstore cleansers, toners, etc. But doing this, we never saw any real difference in the quality of our skin. Dr. Smith explained there are some products that have real science behind them and if you have to pick and choose, select products by their science — not their price tag.
The TNS serum and the Retinol product by far being our favorite, led us to now believe that science and ingredients do matter. So if can’t afford the entire line, buy your cleanser or toner at the drugstore and purchase the other products that will give you real impact.
Our 6 month challenge showed:
- Skin texture improved by roughly by 70 percent.
- Brown spots diminished by about 45 percent.
- Fine lines and wrinkles by 25 percent.
- Better overall skin texture.
If you’re not happy with the current condition of your skin, you should consider visiting a board certified plastic surgeon or dermatologist to get you headed in the right direction. Look for skincare, whatever brand it may be, that has the backing by physicians, like Dr. Smith.