Episode #24 Lunchtime Skincare with Jo: Aesthetic Treatments to Support & Improve Skin & Appearance

In this episode, we’re going beyond the bathroom mirror and into the world of aesthetic treatments. From facials to more advanced options, you’ll learn what’s available, how they work, and what to consider before adding them to your skincare regimen.

Whether you’re looking to boost results or simply explore new possibilities, this episode breaks it all down with expert insight and practical guidance.

This is the final episode of our 4-part skincare series, wrapping it all up with tools to help you build a confident, hormone-smart routine that supports your skin at every stage of midlife.

Looking for more answers? Join our next live Q&A when you download the free Winona app: https://sso.auth.bywinona.com/sign-up

Get more info on Winona's treatments here: https://bywinona.com/treatments?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=social

Follow us on Instagram: @bywinona 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Menopause Hour, your go-to source for answers to your burning menopause questions, the ones you won't get from your OBDYN. Brought to you by Winona, where Menopause care is made easy. Download our free Winona community app where thousands of women connect and access exclusive content, expert-led courses, exciting events, and more. It's time to take the guestwork out of your hormonal journey.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hello, hello everyone, and welcome to our last lunchtime skincare with Joe. We're so excited that you are here today. Whether this is the first one that you've been able to join or whether you have been able to jump into all of the different sessions or even just a few. So this is our last session today. But if you love these, let us know because we definitely want to see if we can do more events like this for you. Let us know if this time works, um, whether you like evening events better, whether these lunchtime ones work well. Um, we really want to make these at a time that you're able to jump on on. Um, but thank you so much for being here. Um, as you know, Joe is with us today and she is gonna walk us through some amazing last things with skincare. Today we're gonna talk a little bit about aesthetic treatments to support and improve skin health and appearance. Um, and Joe knows way more than I do about that. So um you probably don't want to listen to me talk, but you want to listen to Joe because she is the expert here. So, Joe, I'll go ahead and pass it over to you just to do a little introduction and kind of dive into things. Um, but let's let's get started.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

All right, yes, we finally made it. Day four. This has been exciting. I mean, it's a lot of information that has been shared, but I have enjoyed it. And for those of you who were not here for the last three sessions, I am a Winona patient and I have been since March of 2022, and I have been a Winona employee since April of 2022. So I've been here um for quite a while, but prior to that, my my previous life, I was a dermatology nurse practitioner. I'm still licensed and certified, however, I don't practice. I work for Winona, not in a not in a provider role. Um, I'm actually head of patient care services, so I support that team, and then I also support the doctors with some of their training and education as well. So, but I have all up in here somewhere a wealth of knowledge about skincare. And I still, I mean, uh to today, I mean, that's sort of my my thing. I enjoy skincare, I love the benefits of skincare. Um, but I did used to work, I've worked in um several dermatology and aesthetic practices where I performed a lot of procedures as well as you know, consult to people about their skincare regimen and whatnot. So today, what we're going to talk about are some aesthetic treatments to help, kind of sort of as a an add-on to your skincare regimen. If you have a really good skincare regimen, then maybe you might want to consider some of these. Now keep in mind this is not all inclusive. I'm not covering every single thing. And there are some since I stopped working in that field back in 2021. Um there are some new devices, there's new technology, there's new procedures, there's it's always changing. So if there is something that's newer, I may not be familiar with it. I don't um routinely uh educate myself on um those newer and latest and greatest technologies. I probably should and maybe I will, but for the purposes of this lecture, I did not. So we're gonna stick with what I know, but it's it's the basics and and these things are offered pretty much everywhere. So, and I do have some notes, so you will see me looking to the side, and that's because I have notes so I can stay on track. Um but so so just let's start. So, assuming that you do have a good skincare regimen, um, you you may want to consider some other treatments that are that you would go to an office, an aesthetics practice, plastic surgery office, dermatology office, where you can kind of take that to the next level. Um, you know, some of them are relatively painless, not very expensive, and can provide good results. There are other things that you can do that are painful, can be painful, can be expensive, but can also provide some tremendous results. So keep that in mind. Um, I'm gonna start with the easy peasy stuff, facials. I think everybody knows all about facials, or at least they've heard the word, they know that that that's an option for skincare. And I I really think that that that's a great place to start. If you've never done anything else, you've never done any procedures, um, aligning yourself with a great aesthetician and getting on a regular facial schedule, whatever regular means for you. Um, back in the day, once upon a time, I used to go once a month. Those were the glory days. Now I go probably about every six or eight weeks, um, just because. But a good licensed esthetician can really help you take your skincare game to the next level as well. They have a lot of education, um, they're very familiar with the products, they know how to use them, they know what order to use them, they know how to evaluate your skin. Um, kind of a lot of the things that we've talked about in the previous sessions. Um, if you haven't had a facial before, it's a lovely, usually very lovely experience. It's relaxing, um, depending on whether you want to talk or not, they'll talk to you. But um, they basically go through several steps that can include um cleansing, steaming, extractions, applying treatments, masks, things like that. Um, and then talk to you about about skin again, about skincare. They can make some recommendations, you know. They get that mirror or mirror, that light that magnifies things, and they can see things that you probably cannot see, even if you have a nice magnifying mirror at home. Um, they can see some things about your skin and and provide some guidance about what to do about those things. So it's kind of nice to have that extra set of eyes. Um, and again, they can all they can always recommend products. They usually there's a line that they work with, and not to say that you don't have to um you don't have to buy what they what they sell, and and my advice on this is um, and I talk a little bit about this towards the end, but I feel like I can tell the difference between someone who genuinely understands my skin and wants me to have a product or products that are going to address specific things or concerns that I have mentioned versus someone who just wants to make a sale. So you have to sort of discern that for yourself. Um, and if you find someone that you feel is just salesy, salesy, salesy, that's probably not your best person. I know that they make money doing that, and that's part of the thing, and they do want you to have a good skincare regimen, but just sort of a word of caution. I have encountered those people before and had to shut them down because I knew what I needed and I knew that my regimen was good, but I'll leave it at that. But a good aesthetician can be your face's best friend. Okay. Um, not that I'm here to talk about particular brands, but just that this is this is a brand. Um, if you're if anybody's familiar with Hydrofacial, it's a device. Um, it is a facial and a hydration thing all in one. Um, I've done several of them. They are phenomenal. I'm just gonna tell you what they what they do. Obviously, cleanse, exfoliates, removes impurities, and it leaves the skin hydrated. It's a device that actually imparts water into the skin at the same time vacuuming. So there's this water suck, water suck, water suck. You're not covered in water, it feels actually kind of cool. And then at the end, there's a collection, there's a collection tube, if you will, bottle. And um, if you look at that at the end of it, you can see the water doesn't look so great, and it just depends on the the cleanliness of your skin. There's dead skin cells in there that make the water darker, but there can be old like makeup, there can be um skincare products, um, but it's pretty um what's the word I'm looking for? Satisfying, gratifying when you see that bottle and you see the murky water in there. But you there is visibly your face looks like it glows more, it looks more plump, fine lines and and wrinkles can be diminished completely. Um, there's no discomfort, there's no downtime, nothing. Um, it's it's a great, it's a great procedure, and there's yeah, no discomfort, no pain. I personally like them, but there's not a generic device, it is it is a brand hydrofacial, and they are offered in a lot of places. Uh, chemical peels. So if you've never had a chemical peel, there's a wide variety of chemical peels from very light little what I call like a baby peel to very aggressive peels. Um, and it all depends on what your need is, what your concerns are, um, as to which peel and sometimes budget, uh, as to which peel would be selected for you. And that that really is something that comes from an aesthetician, their recommendation. They look at your skin, they evaluate it, you tell them what your concerns are, which may not be their concerns, they have to listen to you, and then they can recommend and they'll tell you why this is a good peel for you. Um, some of the super light ones, they they're called like lunchtime peels, um, very light, but you do get a nice benefit from them. I've had those. Um, I started with little baby peels like that because I have super sensitive skin on that, and I'm very afraid I I probably would never do anything that's super aggressive just because these little lunchtime peels, though, they're great to just really sort of um take your skin to the next level, like right before an event. They they typically don't cause breakouts, they don't leave you red, you're typically not even going to peel, you're not going to see skin peeling off with those, um, but they leave you nice and refreshed, and that's something you can do as frequently as every four weeks, um, depending on depending on the um the strength of it. Then in the middle, there's ones that you know a little more discomfort, a little more peeling, up to um can be very uncomfortable and um Maddie, can you still hear me? Yeah, you're okay. I got it. I saw my my audio cut out there for some um that that usually smell pretty bad too, but they I mean, talk about peeling, you will have downtime, your skin will actively peel. So you have to keep that in mind. That would be not something that you would do right before an event you would need to plan, and your aesthetician can tell you what the expected time frame for recovery is. I would add on a few days just to build in a buffer because everybody responds differently. You know, yes, there's a uh an expected time frame for most people to recover. Let's say, for example, five to seven days. Well, maybe just maybe you're gonna be that 10-day person. So, you know, when you when you do things that are more aggressive, my recommendation is that you build in just a little extra buffer time to make sure that you're fully recovered and that you're not going to your best friend's wedding still with little pieces of skin hanging off. Okay. Um, yeah, I think I covered everything on that. So basically, what chemical peels do it's it's resurfacing. Um, great, obviously, for removing dead skin cells. It's going to take essentially that top layer off. And again, some more aggressive peels really get in there and do that. But what you'll see afterwards is improved tone and texture. So the texture is going to feel smooth once all of the peeling resolves. It's going to look smoother. Um, fine lines and some wrinkles will be fine lines, maybe completely gone depending on how deep they are. Wrinkles will be softened. Um, peels don't take wrinkles, a traditional wrinkle, away. Um, will improve discolorations and um can reduce the appearance of acne scars, whether that's a hyperpigmentation area from an old acne scar or a physical depression, depending on how deep that is. You will and should see some improvement. Um, and then some peels actually do require, in order to get your results, whatever that may be, depending on what you need to have addressed, may require a series. And again, the aesthetician would tell you, okay, you you're going to do this one, and I recommend a series of three or a series of five or whatever. And usually most places when there's a series, excuse me, uh recommended, there's usually a little bit of a price break for buying in bulk, if you will. So um ask about that. Ask, you know, if they say, you know, the appeal is $100 and and they say you need three. So you would think that that's going to be $500. Ask them, you know, say, hey, is there a discount if I purchased a package of five? And and most places do offer some sort of discount in their packaging on most procedures. Um, all right, red light therapy. It's kind of all the range right now. I mean, you can get red light devices, you can order them on Amazon, you can order them all kinds of places. There's lots of people on TikTok doing red light therapy, and you can also get red light therapy in an office. Um, it can be face, it can be full body. Red light is basically it's a low-level laser light, if you will. Um, but the way that this works is it actually um impacts your cells, the mitochondria. We want to be talking about that kind of stuff, um, which is a cell powerhouse in terms of uh your skin, boosts collagen and elastin, um, improves your circulation, reduces inflammation. It is great for anti-aging and wound healing. Actually, some people have used it in applications for wound healing, so that's kind of interesting. The results are gradual, though. It's not like you're gonna do red light, kind of like just as in it as a difference. Like if you go and you get the lunchtime peel and you leave, you're like, Oh, yes, I can see, I can I can tell a difference. Red light therapy, you're not going to walk out going, oh, look at me, I'm glowing for my red light therapy. It's something that does require um multiple treatments. Again, an aesthetician can tell you how many to recommend for you, um, but the the results are gradual and with consistent use, so keep that in mind. Um, but yeah, there's you can get red light therapy pretty much anywhere nowadays. There's actually red light, some of them little handheld devices that you can use on your face, some are like a mask that you just put on, and usually the treatments like 10, so I think somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes. Um, so it's not not terribly long, but like you can put on your mask, lay in bed, read your book, and take care of your skin. So those are some options. I have no idea what the pricing is on those. Um, microneedling. Um, this is uh there's a whole bunch of different devices out there, little handheld. Some of them are handheld, some of them are actually uh incorporated into a larger device, but the handheld ones, by and large, micro needling, you will see people doing sort of the circular motions or back and forth. And it's a little device that has little needles and it makes little micro injuries in the skin. The whole purpose of that is to stimulate the skin to repair itself. I know damaging your skin seems counterintuitive, and there goes my my itchy nose. Every time I do something live, my nose itches. Um, it seems counterintuitive. You don't want to damage your skin, right? But these little micro injuries signal your skin cells to heal and repair themselves at a much faster rate than they normally would. So you're gonna build more collagen, you're gonna build more elastin. Um, people who have uh fine lines and wrinkles, um, some of those can be resolved with a series of treatments. Finer wrinkles can be um less noticeable. It's kind of hard to completely eradicate a deeper wrinkle with um microneedling, but it can be definitely be improved. Acne scars can be improved again, depending on the severity of the acne scar. Some lighter, smaller ones can be completely eliminated. Um, larger ones, obviously, they're going to be improved. Pore size, uh reduced pore size, and that has to do with the increased production of collagen and elastin. If you didn't know this, the reason that we tend to get larger pores as we get older has to do with the loss of collagen and elastin. If you think about like when you're when you're young and you've got like nice tight pores, and then as you don't have as much collagen and elastin, they get larger. And also they, if they're if those pores um are filled with oil and debris, you think about if you put something in there and it stays open like that because it's full of stuff, it's going to stay open, it's just gonna kind of get permanently stretched open, if you will. But microneedling can definitely help with that. Um, it does require a little bit of topical numbing, it's not an uncomfortable procedure, and the numbing doesn't work, you don't have to do numbing for a long time, but it can be more uncomfortable. So, like areas like the forehead where the skin is thinner versus like on the cheeks and whatnot, it you you'll notice it a little bit more. Um, if you have zero pain tolerance, this probably isn't the procedure for you. If you feel like you can tolerate a little bit of discomfort, um, then I highly recommend it. Um, areas like the bridge of the nose can can be a little quirky in terms of discomfort, and sometimes talking about itchy noses, people will sneeze when I've done the treatment. When you get close to the edge of their nose, because you try to get all of all of this area, they'll wind up sneezing because it tickles. Um downtime for most um microneedling procedures is about two to three days. I always recommended that people do it as like a Friday, Friday morning, Friday afternoon procedure with the expectation that you don't have big plans for Friday and Saturday and possibly Sunday, because there is a period of time after the procedure, and this varies from device to device and from aesthetician to aesthetician, um, where you have specific instructions about what you can and cannot use on your face, specifically with regards to makeup immediately after and within 24 to 48 hours, sometimes up to 72 hours. So if you had big plans, birthday parties, weddings, and things like that, this would be a no-go. This is something that you want to plan to have a few days downtime. And if you needed to wear makeup, you are instructed not to. So keep that in mind. But um, it does require a series of treatments. Um, one can be helpful, um, but usually most people need a series of three or a series of five. People with acne scars, no less than five. And again, most places do offer um some sort of package deal when you buy more than one. So there's that. Okay, so radio frequency. So radio frequency uses actually electromagnetic waves to deliver heat and heat to the deeper layers of the skin. Again, it sort of is along the lines of I don't want to say damage, but the heat stimulates the production of collagen and elastin as well. Um, and and basically what it's typically used for is skin tightening. But if you think, so here's another one of my um my descriptive things. So, you know, when you make hamburgers, for those of you who've ever made a hamburger, and you make hamburgers and you're gonna go put them on the grill, you make your patty and it's you know, like this big. And then when you put it on the grill, what happens? It goes, whoop. Same premise, same sort of premise. It's not your skin doesn't shrink up as quickly as a hamburger does. If it only did, that would be super fabulous. We'd all be in there doing the thing. But the same premise, we don't obviously. Apply as much heat as we do on the on the barbecue grill. But that's what it's mostly used for. So you'll see people do it along here, along their jawline, sometimes in here to help. Just to get that to come back. It does help improvement though as well. It does require multiple sessions. It's not like a one-time and then you've got your hamburger cooked. I'm not gonna make any comedy. But it's over time you will see nice results. So that's kind of cool. And it's not an uncomfortable procedure at all. It shouldn't be anyway. Okay, so there is and I misspoke the other day, and I think it was Rebecca who caught it in the comments. She had asked me about radio frequency, and I went rambling on about micro-meedling. Um, and and so I misspoke. And the reason I did is because in my practice I never used radio frequency by itself. We always had the device that error default. And so in my mind, when she asked the question, I was like, oh yeah, it's micro-meedling and key, all the things. Um, and those devices obviously do exist because I use them. So we're gonna talk a little bit about radio frequency and microneedling, but they themselves are two different forms of technology. Uh and one device to kind of give you more bag for your pot. It's basically microneedling, unlike like um, the pen that you hold to do the treatment. Um, it's a it's a handpiece and has disposable little things that you want because they're needles, um, but the that's paired with heat. And so if you think about when you go to make that entry with the little teeny tiny needles, and they're really delivering that heat, which is different, like if you're just half the way, yes, the heat gets through. But when the heat is delivered through the needles and the needle has also maximum. So again, like call it a lapsin, helps approved common texture. Um, skin tightening results are usually very impressive. And however, there's a caveat to that. Like, if you are really um, and I think if you really are a surgical candidate, the skin tightening will work to an extent, but you will not get surgical like benefits from a device that offers that. You will see an improvement, but will it get you where you need to be, depending on what your needs are? If if you console a plastic surgical, will your the only where you want it to be is a surgical procedure. Please don't pinch all your all your hopes and frames on the device that has a radio frequency in my life. I don't say that because I've seen people do that. You know, not everybody wants her one of those people. Um, but you can't expect the device to deliver equitable results. It just don't compare. Is it a good option? If you don't want or can't work, absolutely. Will you get results? Absolutely. Will you get um the same results as a surgical procedure? Probably not. So uh but it's got to be a little bit dollars usually worth worth talking into the the you know, there's a comma and the price for most uh most of these procedures. Um and they do also typically require a series as well. Again, whoever you consult with can tell you, you know, based on what you're telling me, what you want, the results that you want, I would recommend X amount of um treatments. Um the downtime can be a little bit more, not my position, um, can be a little bit more than either one of those alone, and that varies from device to device as well. So that'd be something that you want to ask about. But it's it's I've seen some amazing results with skin tightening. Um, and one of the recommendations, some people, this is just this is my opinion. Um people will they'll do they'll say, well, it's not that bad yet. So I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna wait a few more years. It's not that bad. Um, so I'm gonna wait. If it doesn't bother you, then then wait. But keep in mind that if you intervene earlier, but then you're more than likely to see better results than you would if you're waiting longer, because then you might be edging toward what you're what you want accomplished, but then you might be edging towards um surgical intervention. So um there's that. Um okay, I'm gonna talk a little bit about lasers. There's a few different lasers. Well, there's actually many different lasers on the park, but I'm just gonna touch on a few. IPL stands for intensals like um it's a broadway length of light uh treatment for to reduce overall redness, to reduce um sun damage, freckles, um. Um I think I covered all of that. You may get a little bit of um topical dumbing, it makes a little popping sound, but it is by no means uh um uncomfortable if you're a zero pain person. This is not the procedure for you. Um it kind of feels like a little almost a little rubber unhopping and there's a red light, even if you have buckles on, you can kind of, you know, that there's a red light happening. Um it's usually pretty short. It just depends on how much damage you have. If you have just a few little freckles or a few little red spots, those are usually resolved in lots of a week. And basically what happens is they turn, they turn a little darker brown, and then it's like a little scalp that you're not supposed to pick off, and then they slowly just kind of shut off all on their own as you go through your day and you wash it, you do all the things, but you're not supposed to pick them off. You just let them fall off in their own time. Um, but it can take seven to ten days for that to happen. And again, if you if you have the seven to ten days, I would give yourself at least three solid weeks just to be sure, so that everything is all all cleaned up. Basically, just the same thing as IPL, and and it's just um it's a better more advanced form of RPL. You will get there are many brand machines out there, I will not mention them like the hydroficial, um, but you will get you will get better results. Um it can actually be used on more skin types. There are some skin type restrictions on some lasers. The darker the skin, the there are some cautions with darker skin, skin type four and above on some devices because some of the devices actually look for pigment. And if there's a lot of pigment in your skin, there you can actually it can do that. So um be very mindful about that when you consult. Most people who operate these devices know whether or not you are an ideal candidate and what the risks are depending on your skin type. Um, but also unlike the IPL.

SPEAKER_00 46:51

For spending time with us. We hope today's conversation helped you feel more informed, more supported, and a lot less alone. If you're ready to go deeper, down the winner, it's free. It's for you. Resources, real stories.