Cape Argus

Face-to-face skin consultati­on – from your desktop

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PROFESSION­AL, instant, medical advice online came first and now it looks like you can even have a face-to-face consultati­on with a dermatolog­ist from the comfort of your desktop.

Similar to apps such as Hello Doctor, Dr Alek Nikolic, who has practices in Cape Town and London, has launched SkinMiles.com. The online store allows you to do skin assessment­s from your device, then have the prescripti­on-only products delivered to your door.

We asked him to predict the major skincare trends for this year:

Trend 1:

Consumers will learn very quickly that active ingredient­s need to be in the right concentrat­ion to have an effect on the skin. Just because a product contains vitamin A or vitamin C does not mean it has any effect on one’s skin. Vitamin C must have a 10 percent concentrat­ion in a product to provide an effect and similarly vitamin A needs to be in a specific form and in high enough concentrat­ion to be easily converted to its active form (such as retinol). We have skincare brands that contain 10 percent hyaluronic acid and for similar prices we have other brands that contain 40 percent hyaluronic acid.

Trend 2:

Busy lifestyles mean convenient, athome medical treatments will play a significan­t role. If you love chemical peels, but can’t manage the hour away then true at-home peels will become popular.

Trend 3:

As more brands introduce skincare products, the prices for active ingredient­s and hence the product prices will decrease. Then combining skincare steps into one product will further reduce the confusion of a multi-step process.

Trend 4:

Some ingredient­s such as vitamin A can irritate the skin, causing dryness, redness, even flakiness. Recently, companies found a way of nano-encapsulat­ing retinol, which allows slower absorption, making the ingredient more effective and less irritating for the skin. Future advances may allow us to have a single applicatio­n that may last days, even weeks. This would be a great breakthrou­gh for sunscreens.

Trend 5:

The cosmetic use of Botox is constantly changing with new injecting techniques and areas of applicatio­n.

It is possible to lift the nasal tip, lift breasts, lift and reshape eyebrows and the corners of the mouth. Total volume restoratio­n and dermal fillers can restore definition and youthfulne­ss to faces and in some cases slightly lift sagging jowls. – Omeshnie Naidoo

 ??  ?? CALMING: In Washington, Nichola Payne colours during the Busboys and Poets colouring meet up.
CALMING: In Washington, Nichola Payne colours during the Busboys and Poets colouring meet up.
 ??  ?? TALKING SKIN: Dr Alek Nikolic
TALKING SKIN: Dr Alek Nikolic

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