Trick or Treatment? Here’s how to decide.
By the end of October, we feel the weather turn, the leaves crunch, and some of us bundle up to trick or treat with the kids. But you deserve special treatment too!
This month, we’ll be playing “trick or treatment” –– a fun twist on trick or treating to compare treatment and product solutions for your concerns.
Cozy up to these renewing tricks and treatments to maximize your outcomes, compare options, and beautify your skin.
Products vs. Procedures
Even though we’re comparing treatments and product solutions, remember that “tricks” and treatments pair well together. If you’re seeing us for a procedure or treatment, a strategic skincare regimen of medical grade products will help elongate and maximize the results of your treatment.
Similarly, products only go so far; sometimes a treatment or procedure can be helpful to work in tandem with your products for glowing results. In general, a treatment or procedure can offer more dramatic results than products can, but this isn’t always the case. Products that are backed by science and paired with a personalized skin care plan can have transformative outcomes over time.
Dull or Tired-Looking Skin
If you’ve ever seen old photos of yourself and wondered “where did my glow go?!” Here’s how you can get it back. It’s normal for a decrease in collagen production, hormonal changes, stress, or aging to change the appearance of our skin. The best tricks and treatments help accelerate cell turnover, spark collagen production, restore elasticity, and more.
The Trick
Retinol can be a brilliant way to reveal dramatic results without undergoing treatment or needing recovery time. Retinol helps your skin regenerate, triggering collagen production and enhancing skin tone, texture, elasticity, and resiliency.
SkinMedica®’s Retinol Complex includes an antioxidant complex which helps minimize irritation for first-time retinol users. Start with a lower concentration (0.25 for beginners) and work your way up to a .05 or 1% concentration.
The best way to start a retinol is to build a skincare or product plan with your aesthetic specialist. We love helping our patients formulate personalized plans; that way you’re maximizing results and ensuring that you’re not using products that either contradict the effects of your retinol or exacerbate any irritation as your skin gets used to new products.
If you’re not ready to try a retinol or your skin is more sensitive, ZO® Skin Health’s Brightalive is a non-retinol, skin brightening product that helps even skin tone, brighten your complexion, restore hydration, and calm skin. If your skin is especially sensitive to retinol, this is an effective alternative to brighten and restore your skin.
The Treatment
If you want to brighten your complexion or lift your look, the treatment options that lie before you are varied, exciting, and innovative. From laser treatments, chemical peels, and minimally invasive lifts, we have treatments that brighten and rejuvenate with lasting results. The key to finding the right treatment? A consultation is the perfect first step. The details of your concern help us establish the right direction; certain treatments target skin dullness, while others are maximized to treat discolouration or uneven skin tone.
Pigmentation
We often see patients with hyperpigmentation, discolouration, or spots that result in a visibly uneven complexion. Sun damage, hormonal changes, scarring, or genetic factors can all play into the appearance of pigmentation or uneven colouration on your skin. Medical-grade skincare has a myriad of ingredients that even skin tone or lighten scars –– but some pigmentation may require treatments or procedures to effectively restore your natural complexion.
The trick
Lytera® 2.0 is an advanced Pigment Correcting Serum which works to correct pigmentation and discolouration. Deeper results are visible after 12 weeks, but after 2 weeks of use you may begin to see a more even skin tone. If you choose laser therapy or peels to help with pigmentation, this product is a great partner to optimize your results.
Lightening serums can also help target spots of discolouration from sun damage or scarring, and correct uneven skin tone.
The treatment:
Halo™ Laser’s hybrid treatment uses ablative and non-ablative wavelengths to resurface the skin. Ablative wavelengths remove thin, damaged outer layers of skin to reveal a more radiant complexion underneath; this requires more downtime but may be suitable for more severe discolouration and also targets lines, wrinkles, and scarring. Pigmentation can also be resolved with non-ablative lasers, which reach deeper to get to the root of deep pigment and trigger collagen production. Halo laser treatment allows your practitioner to customize the severity of the wavelengths to suit your goals and concerns.
Acne
We see a myriad of acne concerns at our clinic; from cystic acne, to acne scarring and surface concerns. Product regimens can be incredibly effective in treating acne, while some forms of cystic acne or more persistent conditions greatly benefit from treatments or procedures that have more dramatic results.
The Trick
The ZO® Skin Health Complexion Clearing Kit is a comprehensive product program that works to unclog pores, even skin tone, and calm irritated skin to allow control and eliminate future breakouts. This regimen reduces surface sebum, allows skin to breathe, exfoliates to eliminate buildup, and tightens pores.
The Treatment
Some acne responds well to a strategic regimen, but other people might require treatment to eliminate the appearance of acne scars or to help skin regenerate. Forever Young BBL™ Photo-Rejuvenation and other laser treatments can help kill acne-causing bacteria and reduce the appearance of acne scarring or discolouration.
We offer treatments like pulsed light-based technology and SilkPeel® microdermabrasion to treat acne, and fractional laser resurfacing to address scarring and pigmentation.
We’re here to help you build a treatment plan that’s specific and unique to your acne story.
Where to begin? You guessed it. Come see us for a consultation!
