Beginner’s Guide to Med Spa Treatments

We are blessed to have a long-time loyal clientele, and additionally fortunate to have an incoming, newer clientele. While med spa treatments have become quite mainstream over the last decade, we do get newbies to aesthetics. To the clients who have never had much else besides a facial, we generally recommend a consult for education on:

• What dermal fillers and Botox are, and how they work
• The difference between laser procedures and photofacials and what is best for your skin’s needs
• The most effective skincare products for any issues you are looking to improve

After the consult, our staff probably isn’t going to recommend a liquid facelift to start with! So what are some ways to ease into med spa treatments? Here’s a few ideas:

Hydrafacial. All day. Everyone should have this treatment! Their marketing says “Just don’t call it a facial!” That’s because it’s true. It’s really more a non-laser resurfacing treatment. It uses a patented vortex technology to exfoliate skin and extract dirt and oil. It includes a customized chemical peel, as well as intense hydration and antioxidants. Corrective booster serums can also be added depending on what your needs are (some stimulate collagen, some have added hydration, some can help with pigment).

This is a good treatment to try first before something like a BBL photofacial or a laser. It will leave you with clean, brighter, smoother, healthier skin and also ease you into the sensation of, and results from, a medical grade skin treatment.

Injectables. Botox is always a good entry point to injectables. It’s a shorter appointment than a filler appointment, and with neurotoxins there’s no chance of post-treatment swelling. It IS possible to have some pinpoint bruising, but any bruises would be very small. (Remember that any time a needle pierces soft tissue there is a chance for bruising). If you’re still unsure about doing a larger area like the forehead, try treating a smaller area like your crow’s feet, glabella (frown lines), or even a lip flip. A lip flip involves a very small amount of Botox being injected into the muscle just above the upper lip. This causes the muscle to relax and the upper lip to roll slightly upward. The result is an upper lip that looks slightly fuller and more defined, but without getting a full lip enhancement with dermal filler.

Skincare products. Sometimes there can be sticker shock with medical-grade skincare. But believe me, they work! We have several other blogs that detail the difference between the quality of drugstore products (like hyaluronic acid) and their medical-grade counterparts, so I won’t deep dive here. But the take away points for quality, physician-dispensed skincare is:

• Third-party scientific studies went into proving the products do what they claim
• There is better bioavailability of the active ingredient (for example, Skin Better and Skin Ceuticals have scientists developing delivery systems to make sure their ingredients, like HA, are actually penetrating the skin barrier and doing their job)
• They have better/higher concentrations of the active ingredient
• They contain more effective supporting ingredients that have a synergistic effect on end results

If we had to recommend just ONE product, the staff vote would be Skin Better’s Alpha Ret (a retinoid that helps with skin texture and clarity) and you’ll see results within a few weeks. If we could add a second and a third recommendation for some of our favorites, Skin Better’s Alto is a stellar antioxidant that not only helps neutralize free radicals, guard against future sun damage but also helps reduce redness and inflammation. Aaaannnddd don’t forget your SPF! We love the Skin Better Tone Smart but really any we carry are very effective, with a range of price points too.