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Dr. Davin Lim talks about Facial Care Centre's micro-needling RF and exosomes combo.
In 4K vision, the last thing you want on your skin is some hyperpigmentation. Even AI struggles to brighten and smoothen it out without looking fake, and when it comes to treating it, you must attack it from all angles. While the heat and light of sun exposure is one factor, inflammation from within cannot be ignored.
The beauty buzz these days is all about healing the skin and making it healthier; looking younger is just a bonus. It’s why exosomes are so hot right now. They are lipid nanoparticles that send signals to other cells, playing a critical role in the regulation of biological processes in the body. On your skin, they naturally facilitate regeneration and alleviate inflammation.
Exosomes exist in many body fluids, but AnteAGE MDX Exosome Solution is the first of its kind to use a hybrid exosome cocktail derived both from human bone marrow stem cells and human umbilical cord stem cells. Preserved in the highest level of quality and purity, this formula is potent and ultra-pure.
While more cost-effective than stem cells, it’s simply a waste to just apply them topically; to get them to work, they must be microneedled or injected into your target areas — and not everyone has the pain tolerance for that.
Facial Care Center is known for taking the least painful and invasive approach while delivering the best results, but something about Potenza RF micro-needling was too promising to pass up. Potenza combines micro-needling with the thermal stimulation of monopolar radio frequency energy and is how they integrate exosomes deep into the skin. With their own way of prep, even as I anticipated the sting of getting stapled on, I felt very little pain or heat, and only on sensitive areas, and experienced smoother and brighter skin in days. Even some pitted acne scars were resurfaced.
Why does it work? I sat down with acclaimed dermatologist Dr. Davin Lim, known for his work at The Melasma Clinic in Brisbane as well as for going #nofilter in demystifying dermatology in social media.
YSTYLE: What is the most common source of hyperpigmentation?
DAVIN LIM: Hyperpigmentation can be caused by various things, and the most common source of it for young women is acne itself because you get inflammation in the pigment cells. That’s why you always treat it at the source.
When it comes to treating hyperpigmentation, is race a factor?
When you look at the Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, Filipinas, there’s a much higher chance of pigmentation compared to someone Japanese or Chinese. Because of this, you need to rely on a device that’s very accurate. You don’t want to give too much energy levels in there and you want accurate, precise treatments. The device itself is very important.
How is Potenza beneficial for this?
Potenza helps in an indirect way of treating pigment. With micro-needling RF, you can decrease the acne by treating the source of the acne, which is your oil glands itself. By treating it at a deeper level, it can cause a disruption of your oil glands and reduce acne from forming.
The second thing you can do is the amount of absorption using topicals, for example tranexamic acid or any pigment corrector. The mechanical stimulation of micro-needling not only triggers renewal but also provides some channels in there that can deliver your pigment corrector into the deeper layers of your skin and help improve pigmentation from that point of view.
Why are exosomes a good partner?
Both go hand in hand because exosomes can stimulate the collagen from the deeper layers of the skin. Potenza is the only one of its kind to use a Fusion Tip, a 21 insulated needle array, to optimize delivery of products like exosomes into the deeper layers of the skin, aiding delivery that stimulates collagen as well as a treatment. Exosomes, which stimulate collagen as well, act synergistically to improve skin quality.
Is there anyone who might not benefit as much from this treatment?
When pigmentation is hormonal (called melasma), microneedling is not a good treatment. Pico devices like Picosure Pro and medical therapy can give you large improvements. Medical therapy comes first, then pigment correctors, then lasers.
Sunscreen — and reapplying sunscreen — is the most important thing for preventing hyperpigmentation and anti-aging, but you also advocate for a particular kind of sunscreen: one with iron oxides. Can you tell us about that?
Iron oxide is very important for Asian skin because we get pigmented easily and part of it is high-energy visible light, which is blue light. The problem with sunscreens is they don’t protect against it. Something as simple as iron oxide, which you can find in mineral makeup or tinted sunscreens, can give you better protection.