Ep. 12 - Anti-Aging Unlocked

Most people focus solely on boosting collagen to fight signs of aging. But what if aging skin is truly a multi-layered puzzle you’ve been missing? Host Sam Bazile uncovers the complex science behind skin aging—beyond just wrinkles—and explains why chasing collagen alone won’t give you the results you want. Discover how biological, environmental, and mechanical factors play a crucial role, and learn how lifestyle habits accelerate aging in unsuspected ways.

In this eye-opening episode, Sam breaks down the hidden causes of aging—like free radical damage from pollution, stress, and habits—and reveals how these forces affect your skin’s structure and elasticity over time. She shares the real science behind sagging, dullness, enlarged pores, and age spots, while debunking common myths that in-office treatments are all you need. You’ll find out why comprehensive, personalized skincare routines are essential for true transformation.

You’ll discover specific, science-backed strategies for reversing or slowing signs of aging, such as restoring barrier function, managing inflammation, stimulating cellular renewal, and protecting against environmental damage. Plus, learn which products and procedures are most effective for each sign of aging—and how to set realistic expectations that align with your unique genetic blueprint.

This episode is perfect for skincare enthusiasts, providers, or anyone tired of superficial fixes. If you want a deeper understanding of aging and how to effectively address it, this episode will change your perspective and empower you to build more precise routines that truly work. Because aging gracefully isn’t about one magic treatment—it’s a comprehensive, layered approach rooted in science.

Tune in to unlock the full picture of skin aging and discover the key to achieving lasting, natural results. Your skin’s potential goes beyond collagen—are you ready to explore the full spectrum?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey y'all, welcome to The Skintrovert. I'm your host, Sam Bazil. We got a lot to unpack today because we're going to talk about aging. Specifically, if aging was just about getting older, then we would all age the same. And clearly we do not. And why am I bringing this up? I bring this up because I think a lot of times when you guys are creating treatment plans for yourself or for your patient, you're kind of like one-way focused. And I'm talking about boosting collagen, right? Everybody talks about, okay, if you don't like your wrinkles or you don't like these lines, okay, then we're going to do in all fish treatments that are going to boost collagen. And don't get it twisted. That is extremely important in seeing results. But losing collagen is not the only factor in aging skin. It also doesn't necessarily fix your responsibility for at-home care, your part in putting more towards this result, right? And I think sometimes patients alike too, they think it's just a one thing, like, oh, if I just do this microneedling, all my wrinkles are going to go away. Or maybe providers will think that way with lasers. Okay, if she does this laser, then everything should be good after that, right? Not necessarily, folks. Sometimes, maybe just getting a little in-office procedure that boosts college and can get you where you want to go. But for the large majority of us, it takes a lot more. And what does that lead to? That leads to you guys being underwhelmed with results. And that's what we don't want. We want everyone to be happy with the money that they're investing and taking care of their skin health. So I think what would help that, two things. Number one, truly understanding how and why the skin ages. If you understand all the factors that come into play when it comes to aging skin, you'll see better results in your treatment. Secondly, I hope you guys understand that it's more than just an in-office procedure. You guys need to be taking care of your skin at home. You know, you wouldn't go to the dentist once a year for your cleanings and not go home and brush your teeth every morning and every night. I mean, if you do, you're nasty. But everyone else on the planet does. We brush morning and night. And that's important because if I were to never brush my teeth and then go to the dentist and expect him to get my mouth and my oral gums and everything super healthy, could he do that? Maybe he might spend hours and hours and hours on a cleaning to really try and get my teeth healthy and my mouth healthy. But uh, his job's gonna be a whole lot harder and he might not necessarily be able to get there. But if I go home and I brush my teeth and I floss and I do everything that I can to keep my mouth and my teeth and my gums healthy, his job is gonna be much easier and it's gonna be way more effective. And that's what our patients need to understand when they come into the clinics that yes, as providers, we have a responsibility to recommend these treatment plans and to offer education so they understand why they're seeing these things in their skin that they don't like. But it is equally as important, equally part of the result, for the patient to go home and brush your teeth, use your skincare. Okay. So I'm gonna talk today about how and why the skin ages, and I'm gonna break my rules. Okay. I told you guys that the skin travert would be a place where I would not talk about brand specific things. And I thought that was a good rule. However, I've been doing these episodes and people will email me afterwards or reach out to me on social media and they're like, well, wait, you talked about antioxidants. What's your favorite antioxidant? Or you talked about treating pigment and acne. What's your favorite? So, rule breaking today. After I talk about how and why the skin ages, we're gonna talk specifically about indications of aging skin. And I'm gonna share just one, just one. I'm not gonna go on a tangent because y'all know me. I'm passionate about skincare. I can easily do that, but I'm gonna control myself and I'm gonna share just one Zio skin health product that I think is my favorite to treat each indication of aging skin. Sound like a plan? Y'all like it? Y'all on board? All right, let's go. So let's talk first about how and why the skin ages. So essentially, there are three types of ways that your skin is going to age. First, biological. Second, mechanical, third, environmental. So I said them out of order, how I'm gonna talk about them, but those are the three. So biological, environmental, then aging. So here's why these three things are happening. First, we'll talk about biological. Biological changes are histological changes that happen to your skin no matter what. This is essentially the aging that you earn just by being alive. Bummer, right? Well, some would say it's a bummer, but let let's let's pause here for a minute. Aging is absolutely a gift. It is absolutely a blessing. We did not have to wake up this morning. We do not have to have breath in our lungs. It was fit that we are to breathe today, be alive today. So the fact that we get to age, whether it's gracefully or not, is 100% a gift. Now, what is our choice is how we age. We can choose to age gracefully and go as slow as possible, or we can take every line, every wrinkle as a badge of honor. Your choice. Me specifically, your girl is not in a rush to look like my mama. Okay. I do not want to. I want to slow it down. So, biological, I want you, as long as you're not driving, okay. If you're driving, don't do this, but I want you right now to close your eyes and I want you to picture your mama. Okay. I want you to think about her eyes. I want you to think about her smile. Now I want you to picture your mama, your grandma. Okay. Look at her eyes, her smile, lower half of the face. Now I want you to think about your aunt. Same thing. Think about her eyes when she smiles. Think about the lines around her mouth. Think about the lower portion of her face. Now, all of those things that you just pictured, that is gonna be you. That is exactly how you are going to age. That is biological aging. So those are the things that are gonna happen to you no matter what, because it is embedded in your DNA. It is what you are supposed to experience. But again, we don't have to rush there if we don't want to. And let me tell you this: my sweet grandmother, we called her mother. Mother was quite frankly one of the most beautiful women to ever walk the face of this earth. Absolutely gorgeous, stunning, beautiful. But I'm not in a rush to look like mother, okay? I want to slowly get to mother status, okay? Walking slowly. And so doing that, I have to be very conscious of my environment and my lifestyle. So that leads me to environmental aging. So we talked a little bit about this, no, actually a lot about this, in the antioxidants episode. So if you have not heard or watched the antioxidant episode, go. It is a really good one. It breaks down this topic very, very thoroughly, but I'm gonna kind of go there a little bit for those that didn't get the opportunity to listen. So here's what happens: every single time you walk out of the door, you are exposed to environmental aggressors, sun, pollution, smoke. Those things cause an abundance of free radicals. Free radicals are like little devils. I compare them to a bull in a china shop. They ping-pong around the body in search of stability, and that ping-pong causes so much damage, specifically cellular damage. This cellular damage can cause all kinds of crazy things, inflammation, but specifically, it's gonna cause you to prematurely age. So all those things that you envisioned, okay, that we just thought about and we reminisced on, you're gonna see all of those things a whole lot harder, a whole lot faster, and way more intensely if you're not lassoing the bull, if you're not arresting the free radicals. And what arrests free radicals? Antioxidants, which is why in that episode, I shared that antioxidants should be a non-negotiable in your routine. It's also part of the reason why you have homework to do. It's not just your provider that's gonna get you to that finish line. You also have to do your job with your skincare. And antioxidants are a huge part of that because we want to make sure we're addressing free radical damage. Now, a lot of people say, well, no, no, I'm just not gonna go outside. Or when I go outside, I'm gonna like wear a leotard and a hat and all these crazy things. Fine if that's what you want to do. But other things that cause free radical damage, stress, poor sleep habits, poor diet. So there's ways that you can have free radical damage without just being out in the environment. So just understand that it's going to happen. You're going to be exposed to these things. Environmental aging, it's going to happen. We're in the world, we're in the environment. It's just part of life, friends. So, but you can slow things down. You can be cognizant of your diet, you can manage your stress, you can make sure you're getting adequate sleep, and you can utilize your antioxidants for environmental damage. See, I don't have to just accept the fact that mother is gonna be on this face. I can slow it down and I can get myself there gradually if I so choose to. Okay. All right. So besides environmental lifestyle, we have mechanical aging. Mechanical aging is interesting. So not all of us have the exact same mechanical stressors on our face. Some of us are side sleepers, some of us have other daily habits that we do. So let's talk about that. So mechanical is the movement that happens in our skin. It's the friction, it's the stress on our skin, it's the pressing. So think about someone who is a side sleeper, right? So your skin is pressed into a pillow for six to eight hours every single night. This is bad because it's also restricting blood flow to that area. Blood flow is huge in having healthy tissue. So if you're restricting the blood flow, the skin is going to become unhealthy. Aside from that, those lines that are pressed into the skin, while they can be just there when you sleep, after years and years and years of you sleeping like that, eventually those lines are going to become permanent. So that's gonna be the difference between dynamic and static wrinkles. So dynamic wrinkles are the wrinkles that are mushed into the skin. But when your skin is no longer pressed, they're gone. That's dynamic wrinkles. But when you press and you push into that skin and those lines stay after you've released, that's gonna be static wrinkles. So that's the damage that's already happened over years and years and years of that movement, of that pressing. So aside from sleeping, you also have resting your hands in the face. I see a lot of people that work in front of a computer. This is like a popular for them. They sit like this, just with their hands kind of like pushed up against their face. So they're mushing their skin in different areas and causing all this friction and causing all of this, you know, all these unnatural lines to form. So again, those dynamic wrinkles are eventually gonna be static or you're gonna cause more damage that's gonna be permanent because it's just constant. I mean, if think about it, if you're in front of a computer in a workday for eight hours, and the large majority of your day you're just doing this subconsciously, not even realizing it. Well, yeah, it's eventually gonna start to take a toll on the skin. Another mechanical, rubbing the eyes, rubbing the nose. We got lots of allergy people around these parts, okay? Full of my family. My poor son has got horrific allergies, my sister, my dad, it's again a genetic thing. We have these bad allergies. And if you think about it, if you're constantly just rubbing and you're causing this friction and this movement and you're stretching, because every time you're rubbing, you're pulling and you're stretching on the skin. While when you're in your teens, it's fine because your skin is super healthy. You got all this collagen, you got all this elastin. So eventually the skin's gonna snap back into place and you're fine. But think about doing it all of your teens, all of your 20s, all of your 30s. Eventually, that movement is not gonna snap back and you're gonna start to have distortion. The eyes are gonna start to distort and shape, you're gonna have all these lines and wrinkles from the friction. That's what's gonna happen from the mechanical movement. Another issue is furrowing the brow. I really can't do it right now. I'm trying as we speak, but the tox is toxin, friends. So I really can't get it to move. But I am Italian and these number 11s are something serious. Okay, so when I do not have tox in the muscle, you know when I'm feeling some type of way. It is very hard to hide how I feel about anything when I'm not freshly toxed. So those are the lines that form when you move your brow. But also two smile lines, okay? So I get them really, really bad when I smile. They go all the way from my cheek all the way down to my jaw. Okay, and that's part of me. It's part of what makes me me. I don't necessarily love them, but I don't hate them enough to want to like go fill up my face with filler or do anything just yet. I might be there soon, but I'm not there just yet. But you see, that's the beauty of this aging thing. Where I show stressors and lines, not everybody else shows them in those areas. But also, what bothers me may not necessarily bother someone else. So these plans to address aging for each individual patient, it really is a very unique experience. And if you want to see results, you are going, you're going to have to address it comprehensively and customize to every single patient. All right, so speaking of the mechanical movement. So if you think of like a piece of paper, if you just have a regular piece of paper, if I just take here, I'll show you right now. If I take this piece of paper and I fold it like this, it's gonna go right back to where it was. It's gonna go right back to where it was. But I want you to think about me folding it over the years constantly, folding it thousands of times. Eventually, it's not gonna look like that when it goes back into shape. Those lines, those folds are gonna start to become permanent. And that's what happens with the elastin fibers in the skin and how those mechanical lines start to become more permanent in the skin. But more specifically, what's happening? Why? Why are the lines becoming permanent? That has to do with the dermis. The dermis is running the show here. So, those of you that don't know, down in the dermis in the skin, you have fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are what are controlling collagen. So they're collagen-producing cells. So you want really good, adequate fibroblast activity. Okay, that's what happens when our skin is young and healthy. Also in the dermis is the extracellular matrix or the ECM. This is where you're gonna find collagen, elastin, and glycosaminoglycans or gags. This is what causes the hydration in the skin. These structures are mechanical, mechanic, mechanical sensitive. I hope I said that right, mechanico-sensitive. This basically just means that they change behavior based on physical stress. That's wild. So you're thinking they're going to become distorted, they're going to change shape based on how much stress I am putting on the face, how much friction, how much pressing, how much movement I am doing. And that's just basically when the skin is folded, stretched, or pressed, you're gonna have less fibroblast activity, more brittle fibroblast activity. And those fibroblasts are gonna respond by number one, altering collagen production. That's one of the major things that's gonna happen. Second, you're gonna have increased MMPs, matrix metalloproteinases. These are enzymes that are gonna break down collagen and elastin. So if you're producing more MMPs from the movement, from the restriction, from the pressing, you're going to have degradation in collagen and elastin. Okay, some of us don't necessarily know the difference between collagen and elastin because we always like group them together. We're like, ugh, collagen and elastin, but you don't really understand that they have very separate roles in the skin and how it ages. So, first, collagen, this is the mesh-like structure framework. These proteins are what makes the skin like a good framed structure. Okay, so if we're losing collagen proteins, that structure, that framework, it starts to kind of concave in. And that's when those wrinkles start to settle and start to form. Next, elastin. Elastin is the protein that has that coil-like snapback that puts the skin back into place. And when we're young, it's very strong and we can get that snap back. But over time, that snapback quality becomes less and less. Think about a rubber band. Okay, if I give you a brand new fresh rubber band, you can stretch it and it's gonna go right back into place. But imagine if every single day, years and years, I just go and I'm stretching it, stretching it, stretching, and then I go out and leave it in the sun for a couple hours, then come back in, stretch it, stretch it, stretch it. Then I go back out, leave it in the sun, come back in, stretch it, stretch it, stretch it. Eventually, that rubber band is not gonna snap back into place. Eventually, those elastin fibers are gonna completely snap apart. That is what happens in the skin. The skin elastin fibers break apart and then we lose the shape of the skin. That's when things start to lose shape. We start to remember our skin is no longer that nice, you know, cut V. We now have the jowling and things start to just to kind of sag. So sagging in the skin is due to elastin. Collagen is going to be that structure, that framework that puts the skin where it's supposed to be. Now, does it judge does aging just affect the dermis? And the answer is no. So I want you to think about when I'm rubbing my eyes or rubbing my nose, or I'm constantly, you know, putting friction and pressure and stress on my skin. Okay, that causes barrier disruption. So I'm constantly disrupting that stratum corneum, that outer layer, and that causes transepidermal water loss because when you disrupt the barrier, there's no longer a good strong brick wall. That lipid barrier starts to become distorted. And then the little bit of hydration that I'm producing, it's evaporating out. It evaporates out of the skin. So the skin becomes dehydrated, it starts to lose its shape and structure because there is no protein, there is no lipid barrier, there's no cholesterols, no fatty acids, no enzymes that are gonna keep the skin hydrated and strong and keep that hydration locked in. Second, when the barrier is disrupted, you experience inflammation. We talked about this, but I'm gonna say it again. So when the barrier is compromised, it is open and susceptible to invasion from things like harmful substances, allergens, bacteria. And what happens when those sneaky little things make their way in? Your skin responds by producing inflammation. It is a normal response. It's the way that your skin stays healthy. But if you never seal that barrier and the barrier always remains open, you're never gonna get the inflammation under control. You're not gonna heal from the inflammation. So acute inflammation, which is good, is gonna turn into chronic inflammation, which is bad. So chronic inflammation, specifically when we talk about aging, it leads to what we've tagged as inflammaging. It's the aging that happens in the skin from inflammation. So that leads me to indications. So let's talk about all of these indications of aging skin. So it's not just gonna be lines and wrinkles. There's so much more that you will present or your patient will present that will help you decide how to best customize their plan. Because again, if all I'm seeing is maybe some little small etched lines, yeah, sure, building some collagen could be helpful. But if I'm seeing all of these other indications, I'm not gonna really be overwhelmed by my results. I'm gonna be underwhelmed by the results. So let's talk about it. So, what are some indications of aging skin? First is going to be chronic inflammation. And we talked about that. That's from the friction, that's from the environment, but it's also from excessive amounts of oil. So it can be the opposite of dehydrated. So when you see people that just have constant excessive amounts of oil, that is gonna age the skin a whole lot faster because oil, excessive amounts of oil, is highly inflammatory to the skin. So you're gonna have lots of inflammation, which is gonna cause inflammation. So it's important that when you have a patient that presents with chronic inflammation, you have to figure out where it's coming from and address the root so you can truly get it under control. And yes, I'm gonna share my Zio favorite products, but this one's a little bit difficult because not everyone's inflammaging or inflammation is gonna be the same. There's different things that can cause it, but I'll just keep it general. If it's oil that's an issue, I love our toning pads. Both of the toning pad options have oil controlling options. I think they're an important part, not just for controlling the oil, but making sure that the rest of your products actually penetrate. So I'm gonna go with either oil control pads or complexion renewal pads from Zio Skin Health as my favorite to treat oil. All right, so another indication of aging skin. If your patient tells you or you feel like when I look in the mirror, I just feel like my skin is dull. I feel like I don't have that really healthy, pretty glow that I want. Well, when you experience dull skin, that's basically dead skin cells. So dead skin cells are making the skin look dull. So, in order for you to get improvement, you have got To increase the skin's keratinocyte maturation cycle, you have to have an adequate, healthy cellular cycle if you want to have beautiful, healthy, hydrated cells. Because that's what happens down in the basal layer of the epidermis, that's that bottom layer, that's where the cells are born. Okay. And they're born super juicy and healthy and hydrated. So you've got these nice big thick grapes, all right? Think about a grape. But as the grape makes its way up to the top of the epidermis, it goes through a maturation process where it becomes more and more dehydrated, more and more flattened, more like a raisin, and then it becomes completely flat like a pancake and it dies off and it flakes off. That's normal because when those flakes die off, new healthy, juicy grapes are born down in that basal layer. So you want a good, healthy, adequate keratinocyte maturation cycle. And those that experience dull skin, those that experience congestion, do not have a healthy, adequate keratinocyte maturation cycle. So we need to promote exfoliation. You could do that by using a retinoid. Retinoids help to get a good, healthy keratinocyte maturation cycle and also physical exfoliation. When they have all those dead cells on the top of the skin, it's healthy to just sweep them away. Like a broom sweeps away all the dirt and the debris. That's what those physical exfoliants do. So those of you that know Zeo Skin Health, you already know what is going to be my favorite for that. And it's the exfoliating polish by Zeo Skin Health. Holy moly, the best physical exfoliator on the planet. Besides the fact that it's just very gentle, microfine crystals that sweep away all the dead skin. It also has a version of ascorbic acid called tetrahexal decalascorbate that brightens the skin. So you get this beautiful, bright, healthy glow as well. So that's gonna be my favorite for dull skin. Another indication of aging skin is sagging. Okay. When the skin sags, it's not just the epidermis or the dermis. When you see the skin sagging and sliding, I would focus more on the dermal-epidermal junction. That's the space that lives in between your epidermis and your dermis. The dermal-epidermal junction, otherwise known as the DEJ, that is consisting of little anchoring fibrils. Those little anchoring fibrils support waste, nutrient, and oxygen transfer between the epidermis and the dermis. So it's part of the health system of the skin. But when the skin's healthy, those little anchoring fibrils support the skin. They kind of hold things up similar to the way that, you know, scaffolds hold up a bridge. Okay. But as you age and we're losing collagen and elastin down in the dermis, those scaffolds, they flatten an atrophy. Once they flatten an atrophy, that's when we see the skin sliding and sagging. So if you want to target sagging skin, you not only need to boost collagen, but you also need to focus on those little anchoring fibrils of the DEJ. And what is my favorite product to do that? It is Firming Serum by Zio Skin Health. That product does both. It's going to help to regenerate collagen and elastin with the sodium DNA, but it also has a technology that helps to strengthen those little anchoring fibrils of the DEJ. So that's my favorite for sagging and sliding. All right, what's another indication of aging skin? Dryness. So when patients come in and they present dry, clinically dry, what could be happening here is a shift in hormones. So when we go through hormonal changes, sometimes that can cause the lipid barrier in that stratum corneum, the lipid barrier that makes a good strong brick wall, it causes that lipid barrier to disintegrate. And when the lipid barrier disintegrates, remember the hydration that we produce naturally from within, it's able to escape. It's able to dehydrate. So it comes out of the skin and it evaporates. That's a process called transepidermal water loss. That's when you see the skin dry and dehydrated. Other things that can make it the lipid barrier breakup, using the wrong skincare or using aggressive skincare for too long, going through a correction phase and then not loving on the barrier. And overusing moisturizers, I think, in my opinion, can also cause that. So what should we do? Well, if your patient is presenting as truly dehydrated, give them a really good hydrator that's gonna put the mortar back to the bricks. Something that's got ceramides because that lipid barrier is made up of proteins, fatty acids, cholesterols. It needs to be nourished back, put everything back. So my favorite ZO skin health product for that is gonna be renewal cream or recovery cream. I like recovery cream more for truly clinically dehydrated skin because it's way more emollient. It's shea butter based, so it's super yummy and thick and rich. So that specific skin type just eats it up. They love it. Those truly dehydrated barriers. But what happens if you have a dehydrated, oily skin? Oh, do they want a big, thick, heavy moisturizer? Probably not. So my favorite for those patients, because I'm one of those patients, is going to be the soothing hydromist from Zio Skin Health. It's a hyaluronic acid mist. It is delicious. Hydrates the skin, but it's also packed with anti-inflammatories. It reduces redness instantly on contact. It is a must for problematic skin type. Just saying that. All right, what's another indication of a indication of aging skin? Loss of firmness. Okay, loss of firmness is a decline in healthy elastin levels. When the skin is no longer taut and tight and firm, that's when we're losing elastin in the skin. Remember, we don't have that snapback quality in the skin. So where do we see this loss of firmness? Typically the jaw, the neck, the eye area, that's where we're losing elastin. So we want to build that back up. And what is my favorite Zio skin health product of all time? Not only just for firmness, but my favorite Zio skin health product ever made peptide facial refining concentrate. I just call it the peptide serum. But holy moly, if you guys have not gotten your hands on this, I swear there's magic in that bottle. I mean, I know the ingredients very well and I know what they're supposed to do, but I still use this product and I'm like, how does it work this well? Like I it blows my mind. And if you use it, if you decide that you're gonna purchase it, I would take pictures of your skin prior to, so you have a good baseline, and then check your skin like every six weeks. Do your pictures again after using it for every six weeks. It's wild. You just see improvement every single time. I freaking love that product.

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Okay.

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And look, tip with it, one pump. You just need one pump. It's a concentrated formula. One pump will do you. That's all you need. All right. Another indication of aging skin is fine lines and deep wrinkles. And this is what everybody goes straight to because that's the most common indication of aging skin, fine lines and wrinkles. And this has to do with collagen. Remember, collagen is that fresh light, the frame-like meshwork that makes the skin have its structure. So what happens, those little support caves kind of go in and then the wrinkles form. So you want to do something, obviously, to encourage the production of more collagen in the skin. And you can do in-office treatments that do that. But if you're asking me, what's my favorite ZEO skin health product that is going to support collagen production in the skin? And it is Growth Factor Serum. Growth Factor Serum is a phenomenal plant-based product that can boost collagen in the skin, and it is clinically proven to thicken the dermis. And that is what we want for healthy skin, no wrinkles. All right. What's another indication of aging skin? Oh my gosh, Sam, there's so many, right? Just collagen loss is not the only one. There's so many. So what's another one? Enlarged pores. You guys, this is the bane of my freaking existence, is my pores. I hate my pores. It shows my age. Okay. I can do things like get tox in the skin. Yes, I can get filler. Yes, I can do all of these in-office treatments, but the pores in my skin, no matter what I do, always will show my age. So this is the thing that just I think of everything that I don't love about my skin, this is the one that I'm just like, oh my gosh, I wish there was a way to just magically erase pores. And the truth is, you can't, friends. You cannot. If there is a product out there that says it erases pores, liar. If there's a treatment that says it can forever erase pores, liar. You can't. Okay. It is in your genetic makeup, it's part of your DNA, and it's gonna happen no matter what. But there's things that you can do to make it look better. But also too, why? Like when I was 12 years old, you didn't see a pore on my face. So why did 12-year-old Sam have no pores? Skin looked like porcelain was amazing, but then now 40-something, I'm not going there, 40-something year old Sam, you see pores all over her face. If she's genetically predisposed to having large pores, why? Why am I seeing them so bad in my 40s and I didn't notice them when I was younger? Collagen. Elastin. That is why. Because when Sam was 12 years old, oh, and also oil. When Sam was 12 years old, she had not gone through changes yet. So the oil glands were not turned on. So she was not producing any oil. She had tons of collagen, tons of elasticity in her skin. So her skin was nice and tight. So you couldn't see the pore. But now that Sam is aging, she is older, she's producing excessive amounts of oil. She is also losing collagen, losing elasticity. Well, there it is. There's the large pores. And then life gets cruel and she has a delayed keratinocyte maturation cycle. And then she starts getting this buildup of cell around her pores. And now she got deep large pores. Sucks. Life sucks. So if you want to improve pores in the skin, I would focus on oil control. I would focus on tightening up the skin. I would focus on boosting collagen. And also have realistic expectations. You're going to have them no matter what. This is not a permanent eraser. This is just something that's going to help improve the quality of the skin so the pores are less visible. And when it comes to Zoo Skin Health products, what is my favorite product to do that? It's going to be Instant Pore Refiner. Instant Pore Refiner has salicelloil, phytosphenocine that knocks down that cell wall, smooths the skin out. And then it's got Rosicanina that's going to tighten the skin up. And there was a clinical done on that product, and it clinically improves collagen production in the skin. It is a phenomenal pour product, but also anti-aging product. So a little bit of info there. All right. And then the last indication of aging skin that you are going to see in your patients or in your skin is age spots, uneven tone in the skin. This is just melanocyte hyperactivity. So as we age, our skin is more responsive if you are prone to pigment. So you're going to start to see more of that what they call dirty appearance to the skin. And when the skin has that dirty appearance, it appears older than it is. So it makes you look older than what you are when the skin is pigmented and uneven. So you want to help control melanocyte activity, get that suppressed. And what is my favorite, not just ZO product, but what's my all-time favorite product to treat pigment? Always hydroquinone. Hydroquinone is going to be my favorite. It is the most successful treatment for hyperpigmentation and melasma. So it's always going to be my go-to. Now, if a patient cannot or will not be on hydroquinone, cool. There's other brightening products that they can get on that work similarly. In my opinion, not as well because they don't have that bleaching effect, but it's a personal opinion. Okay. So anyway. All right. So I just talked about all of these indications of aging skin. We talked about what it shows. And clearly, let's see, that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So that was eight indications of aging skin that I mentioned. And typically, when we're treating patients, we're only addressing one for aging skin, which is boosting collagen and boosting elasticity. So I would truly challenge you to dig deeper when it comes to your patients and their concerns with aging skin. Talk to them about lifestyle, environment. Talk to them about their genetic makeup and what's going to happen no matter what. Talk to them about the process of prematurely aging and explain: hey, I'm going to give you all the education to help you truly understand what's happening in your skin. I'm going to set you a plan, a good, solid treatment plan that's going to hit and address every single aspect of what's happening in your skin. But you also have homework here. You've got to not only follow through with that treatment plan, but when you go home, you've got to do your due diligence at home. Now, what would be the plan? If we want to create a good comprehensive treatment plan for aging skin, what are all of the little boxes that we should check off? And here they are. First, promote exfoliation. Make sure that the patient's keratinocyte maturation cycle is not delayed. We want a good, healthy maturation cycle. Remember, we want grapes. We don't want raisins. Okay. So we want those juicy, hydrated cells coming up to the forefront. So getting a good epidermal exfoliation, physical, but also bring a retinoid in there. Okay. Whatever retinoid you like. I ain't even going there. Whatever is your favorite retinoid, use it. Vitamin A is the essence of life for your cells, according to Dr. Abaji. And I believe that. And I've always seen the most healthy skin types are the ones that are using a retinoid at least somewhat consistently in their routine. Second, enhance, restore water lipids, and protein balance. So put the mortar back to the bricks. Make sure that your barrier is not compromised. Seal up that barrier. When the barrier is sealed, it's going to help not only for hydration, but it's going to help with inflammation as well. Remember, we're locking out. So invasion from harmful substances, allergens, bacteria, they can't make their way in. And we're locking in our natural hydration, our natural production of hyaluronic acid. It can't escape away. So we're restoring our skin's hydration and keeping that lipid barrier working. And how do we do that? Typically, make sure you're using a good hydrator to hydrate that barrier, but also use something in your routine that's going to stimulate your glycosaminoglycan, something that's going to make your skin's natural hydration turn back on. Because as we age, the ability to do that declines. So enhance hydration. Second, we're going to, no, third, we're going to stabilize melanin production. So if you are a patient that is prone to pigment, genetically prone to pigment, you want to make sure that you have very calm, stable melanocytes. Okay. Next, stimulate collagen and elastin, making sure that the skin is producing adequate amounts of collagen and adequate amounts of elastin. Yes, those our skin's ability to produce kind of declines as we age. Like I said, I can't stop the aging process, but I want to do it as slowly as possible. So I'm going to continue to do in-office procedures that stimulate collagen and elastin, and I'm going to continue to do skincare products at home that are going to stimulate collagen and elastin. Next, stimulate glycosaminoglycans for adequate hydration. And we talked about that. Don't just hydrate the top. Don't just put on a moisturizer band-aid. Also stimulate cellular renewal from within. We want our skin to naturally hydrate itself because moisture band-aids evaporate away. I want something internal that is going to help my skin act the way that it did when I was in my teens and in my 20s. And my skin naturally hydrated itself when I was in my teens and in my 20s. Next, minimize chronic inflammation. And we talked about that in a past episode. But sometimes when people suffer with chronic inflammation, a way to get it controlled is to stimulate inflammation again, to fight fire with fire. So sometimes that's something that we have to do. But if you don't address inflammation, if you continue to experience chronic inflammation, all of these things that we just suggested and all of these things that we talked about, it won't matter because you're never going to get to an end result because that fire is just still ablaze in the skin. We have to put the fire out. So I would encourage you if you're a provider that does not understand that concept, I would reach out for more education specifically in that topic. So you can search Google. Other providers have put out information on it. Search fighting fire with fire, fighting chronic inflammation with inducing acute inflammation to trigger it back so the skin can heal itself again. It's just your skin is stuck in a loop, this chronic inflammation loop, and a way that you get out of it is fight it again. All right, and then there's just two more. So minimize free radical damage, lasso the bull, arrest the free radical, and then last, if that bull has caused damage in the china shop, then we need to repair the damage. So you want to repair damaged DNA. And what ZOSkin Health product do I love for that? Are our daily power defense. That's the favorite. All right, guys, I've spent enough time. We're almost 40 minutes in, and that was a lot of information. I told y'all there was a lot to unpack here. Aging is so complex and it's not as simple as everyone thinks or treats. So I encourage you to think outside the box, look underneath, okay? Get down to the root, customize a plan that's specific to you or your patient to make sure that the time and the money that you're investing in your skin health, you see beautiful, healthy, amazing results. All right, guys, that's all I have for you. Have a wonderful rest of your day. Don't forget, if you want to reach out to me directly for some topic information, or if you want to make some suggestions for my next episode, you can reach me directly at skintrovertsam at gmail.com. I'm on all social media platforms and I'm on all podcast platforms as well. All right, guys, y'all have a wonderful rest of your day. Take care.

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Bye, guys.

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Think of the skintrovert as your aesthetics roundtable, not a training manual. This podcast is for professional education and discussion. It's not medical advice. Your scope of practice matters, regulations vary, and your license always leads. To continue the conversation, follow the skintrovert on Apple, Spotify, or any platform that you listen to your podcasts.