I get not wanting to get old. And I truly agree with you that prevention is key. I have become an advocate for biohacking, looking at aging down to the cellular level- mitochondria, NAD, telomere length, antioxidants, cell senescence.
I agree with you. You should start early. We haven’t found ways to reverse aging yet. So the key is to slow it down.
There is a TON of snake oil out there. People selling you things which are not proven, studied, or are expensive. Some cause effects which make you look better now but accelerate aging later or prevent further treatments down the road. (read about why i don’t like ultrasound, lasers, or current treatments which “tighten” the skin but get rid of facial fat, or why I don’t like fillers like Sculptra and threads which can leave scar in your tissue and prevent fat grafting in the future.)
SKIN CARE/PRODUCTS. YES. I do think this is an area to start young. Avoid acne scarring, wear sunscreen, use antioxidants (medical grade) daily. I think this IS a good thing to do. There are many truly bioactive topicals which slow wrinkling, are great antioxidants, and have been shown to prevent skin cancers. Think niacinamide, retinol (not pregnancy safe), and Vitmain C products. I like mineral sunscreens daily.
BOTOX. NO UNLESS…
Unless you have wrinkles at rest (the “11” between the brows for example) or if you have issues with teeth grinding /TMJ, for which BOTOX in your masseter muscle helps keep you from the tension, headaches, and damage to your teeth, I don’t recommend Botox for young people.
The whole “preventative Botox” at age 20 is a waste of money. Starting at 20 won’t keep your skin any better than if you wait til you see some kind of wrinkle at rest. So those who start at 20 vs those who wait to start doing botox at age 30 when they actually see some wrinkles and crows feet- no difference. Save all that money and invest it. Much smarter than wasting it.
FILLER. MAYBE. This is an area where you likely don’t need it. I am not a fan of the huge lip thing, so don’t think I will advocate for that. All those women who overfill their cheeks and lips? It’s like being pregnant for a loooooong time, and you are likely stretching your tissue. You then may make it that your stretched out tissue ages more poorly. The whole Kylie Jenner big lip craze patients are just entering their 30s now. I’ll be curious to see how these dermal filler patients look at 40 and 50.
Every person is born with different features, and there are those who are hollow or underdeveloped in areas. For those who were born with a “weak chin,” “ill defined jawline” or “hollows under the eyes”- there are appropriate times to use filler when young. Generally, it is a little- one syringe- and subtle.
If doing filler, use an HA (hyaluronic acid) filler. These do not create scarring in your tissue, so won’t prevent future filling with your own body fat (the BEST!) when you need it. And they are reversible if you don’t like it.
SKIN PEELS/LASERS/MICRONEEDLING. YES, BUT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. These words are all very vague. There are giant differences with peels (what acid? how deep? what are you treating- wrinkles or pigment?). Some lasers are to remove redness, others pigment, and others to tighten skin. Some are sold as a series and have little long term effects.
I am a fan here of microneedling (medical grade, without radiofrequency or heat as I don’t want to harm the fat just under the skin). The goal is to create microchannels. We use Age Zero Exosomes, hyaluronic acid, and antioxidants into the skin. Our products have been shown in studies to actually improve skin texture, firmness, and appearance. (Exosomes are another wild west of claims- most exosomes are not bioactive.)
- Any chemical peel or laser or microneedling not done at a doctor’s office is likely not the same level. Read my blog on why not to microneedle at home HERE.
- Know what your end goal is/what you are treating.
- If you have any pigment in your skin (Fitzpatrick 3 or higher), you may need to pretreat your skin.
CELL SENESCENCE / ANTIAGING. YES. I agree with this. I am very interested in biohacking, and how to slow cellular aging. But any external whatsamoohozit laser or machine that says it does that? SHOW ME THE SCIENCE. There are tons of snake oil treatments out there, and those in biohacking can be the worst offenders, showing you false images and data that” it works.” Where are you getting the information? If it is TikTok, an influencer, or a non-doctor advisor, please check a reputable site before you decide on anything.
I am an advisor to Biohackr Health in SF & Palo Alto. I would advise you to go there- we are trying to bring science and quality treatments to you and separate out what things you can do to slow aging. I do think there is *something* real here with stem cells, NAD, telomere length, and insulin resistance.
How can you slow aging? Lots of research is pouring into the blue zones (where people live to be 100), and much of what helps isn’t something that is for sale. There are some things medically which can help. You need to know the difference. Some supplements, optimizing nutrition, NAD levels, exercise- many of these are shown to correlate with longer telomeres and slower cell senescence. For blogs on antiaging citing studies and what our burgeoning science is doing, go to Biohackr Health website HERE
Again, for antiaging on a cellular level, plastic surgery is focused mostly on improving skin health and slowing skin aging. For the rest, it is a whole body thing.