AESTHETIC MEDICINE AND COSMETICS: TOGETHER FOR HEALTH AND SKIN BEAUTY.

Beauty treatments are most effective when combined with a correct beauty routine. It is more and more common for medical doctors to advise patients to choose a complete ‘cosmeceutical’ solution.

In recent years the cosmetics industry has enjoyed a sales boom. As one might imagine, this situation depends, to a great extent, on people’s changed habits: for example, in recent years we have been forced by the pandemic to spend extended periods of time in online meetings.

Having one’s own face on a screen alongside those of colleagues for days on end, has undoubtedly increased self-awareness and the importance of cultivating a healthy and curated appearance.

This increased awareness has been the reason why many have turned to aesthetic medicine for the first time. One might think that aesthetic medicine and cosmetics are simply alternative names to describe the same phenomenon, one more in-depth, while the other ‘lighter’. However, this is not the case, and that’s news to the public. They have become synergetic and complementary approaches to care for our appearance. The fact that many cosmetics companies are now concentrating on products which assist the treatments provided by aesthetic doctors, confirms that this is the case.

Cosmetic-medical skincare is born.

Dr Roberto Dell’Avanzato, International Ambassador of IBSA Derma, explains this new trend. “For the result to be effective it is vital to choose high-quality products which promote skin hydration mainly thanks to the benefits of hyaluronic acid. But the same applies to anti-age products and makeup, to sunscreens protecting against rash and sunburn, not forgetting supplements for correct dietary integration, because beauty also originates internally and spreads outwards though the skin.”

The synergy between cosmetics and aesthetic medicine has a single common protagonist: hyaluronic acid.

It is noteworthy that the main ingredient in this new class of ‘cosmeceutics’ is hyaluronic acid – the same product upon which many injected aesthetic medicine treatments are based. It is used for its ability to keep the skin young and elastic.

Dr Dell’Avanzato continues: “In this way what may be defined as cosmetic-medical skincare is created, which calls for aesthetic medical treatments at regular programmed intervals allied with products containing two types of hyaluronic acid in high concentrations. One is hyaluronic acid with a high molecular weight which protects by promoting the maintenance of the hydro-lipidic film and reinforcing the barrier effect of the skin; the other is hyaluronic acid with low molecular weight whose task is to maintain optimal cutaneous hydration”.

Aesthetic treatment is more effective when it is complemented by a correct beauty routine.

Nowadays a preliminary check-up with a view to planning treatment effectively also takes into consideration the prevention, diagnosis and therapy for the patient’s cutaneous issues. The medical doctor analyses the skin’s physiological characteristics, such as hydration and cutaneous elasticity, sebum production, the presence of blemishes and solar lesions and the degree of skin ageing and assists the patient with a correct daily beauty routine. So doing, a rigorous approach to an integrated and synergetic skincare is created.

For example, following a cycle of hyaluronic acid injections or a chemical peeling, it is vital to apply the appropriate cosmetics. This will nourish and soothe the skin and, above all, protect the cutaneous tissue which is more vulnerable after a treatment. Furthermore, it will extend skin hydration thanks its hyaluronic acid content.

According to Dr Dell’Avanzato “cosmetics and aesthetic medicine should always go hand in hand because they work in synergy and increase the benefits twofold.”