I have never met a woman (or man for that matter) who did not wish to be the best version of themselves at every stage of life.
But as each of us face growing older we will be faced with the question: What is the right approach for me? Rooted in cultural interpretations of aging and beauty, personal experiences, and for some even apprehensions toward doctors or surgery, the answer is as deeply personal as the question itself. Despite extraordinary advances in cosmetic procedures, there remain a number of women and men committed to foregoing this route. These are people who are generally satisfied with the way they look, and who are opting out of surgical procedures or injectables in favour of less invasive treatments. They want to age as well as they can, but have a realistic outlook complemented by an active and healthy lifestyle.
Here at the Fioré Skin Clinic, we've come to call this approach ''Aging Smart.'' With so many methods available to treat our skin today, aging smart without surgery and looking younger naturally has never been easier.
At the Fioré Skin Clinic, we typically see two types of concerns among our Aging Smart clientele: those related to skin damage from overexposure to the sun (brown spots, pigmentation problems, or a blotchy complexion); and, signs of natural aging (broken capillaries, sagging eyes, wrinkles, and dull complexion).
To give you an idea of how we might treat an Age Smart patient, let's have a look at the types of non-invasive treatments we are able to perform.
TREATING AN AGE SMART CLIENTELE WITHOUT SURGERY
Susan is a forty year-old attorney and mother-of-two who spends the majority of her time in front of a computer, but is highly active during the evenings and weekends.
Susan has some sun damage in the form of brown spots on the top half of her forehead as well as her chest, and static wrinkles between her brows and around the eyes. She also has extremely sensitive skin which is prone to redness, enlarged pores in her T-zone, and a few faint ''lipstick lines'' around the mouth. Susan wants to address these problems but has been explicit about her desire not to undergo injectables of any kind, including Botox. She also has a fear of needles, and will not entertain an elective cosmetic surgery, even as she gets older.
Typical of many of our Age Smart patients, one of Susan's best options would be to have a laser treatment such as the Forever Young BBL or the BBL Photo Facial.
A series of 2 or 3 treatments over the course of 12 or more months will address the sun damage on her face and collet by radically reducing, if not entirely eliminating her brown spots altogether. An added bonus with Broad Band Light treatments is that they are also extremely effective in eliminating fine lines and helping to reduce enlarged pores; the latter of which are arguably one of the most challenging conditions we face treating. For many people, as they get older they find their pore size begins to enlarge. This can be the result of sun damage, which causes skin to thicken and skin cells to collect around the edges of the pores, or it can be due to the natural loss of collagen and elastin--even hormonal fluctuations. Some people are made extremely self-conscious by their large pore size, especially as enlarged pores are almost impossible to conceal. For an Age Smart patient like Susan who does not want dermal fillers and is scared of needles, medical-grade skincare products are a must to help correct this issue.
AGE SMART = SUN PROTECTION + HIGH QUALITY SKINCARE
Since overexposure to the sun is one of the chief issues exacerbating practically every skin condition there is (including large pore size), high-quality, medical-grade sun protection is a must. For someone like Susan who regularly spends numerous hours in front of a computer, but who also has a high level of outdoor activity during the weekends, her best option would be to use a top-of-the-line sunscreen that blocks out not only all types of UV rays, but also damaging HEV light. At Fioré Skin Clinic we recommend high-quality lines like ZO Skin Health, which offer some truly extraordinary products. One of our personal favourites is the Oclipse Sunscreen + Primer SPF 30 from ZO, which not only offers multiple defense sun protection but acts like a tinted moisturizer to reduce imperfections and even out skin tone. For all of our clients, but particularly for those in the Age Smart category, there is simply no substitute for medical-grade skincare and sun protection. Drugstore skincare products will simply not deliver the same kind of results you can get with a line that has been developed specifically to address issues related to aging skin and to target skin damage.
THINKING ABOUT A NON-SURGICAL SKIN TREATMENT?
There are a number of Age Smart people out there who are thinking about having a non-surgical procedure, but who are still a bit scared or don't really know where to begin. Oftentimes we find that it's a combination of both. An excellent way to begin feeling more comfortable with the idea of treating your skin is to have a professional skin analysis. At the Fioré Skin Clinic we are one of a handful in the Vancouver area that offer VISIA skin imaging analysis. A cutting-edge technology, VISIA analyses your skin on 8 key characteristics: pores, wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, pigment irregularities, UV damage, texture, bacteria, and inflammation. We've found it hugely beneficial for our patients to be able to physically see what is going on with their skin. And we walk the talk too; for better or worse, every skin care specialist at our clinic has also undergone the VISIA analysis.
VISIA SKIN ANALYSIS FOR OUR AGE SMART PATIENTS
The VISIA technology is not in any way intimidating. Essentially the software allows us to take photos of your skin using a special camera that can capture an image of damage on the deepest level. The software then rates your skin based on the various categories and compared against a minimum of 2500 other people in your specific age range. It is an empowering tool for our patients, and it allows us to go forward building a treatment program based on actual evidence, not just what you see with the naked eye. Not only that, follow-up analysis allow us to mark your improvement as you go forward with your treatments. Depending on the issue and its severity, the VISIA skin analysis gives us the information we need to recommend any number of non-surgical procedures such as IPL or Broad Band Light treatments, laser skin resurfacing, non-surgical skin tightening, treatment for vascular conditions such as spider veins and rosacea, as well as the appropriate medical-grade skincare products. Botox parties and the like may be common practise these days, but it's certainly not part of our practice. We work under the guidance of Facial Plastic Surgeon Dr. Thomas Buonassisi in a medically-controlled environment, even when carrying out procedures that have no surgical element to them. We also invest a great deal of time in speaking with our patients beforehand and designing a treatment system that is unique to their needs. If you would like to speak with us about your own vision of Aging Smart, we would love to see you for a complimentary consultation.