New Gadgets, New Products, and New (gross) Trends

In this episode, Dr Jeffy and husband discuss some new tech devices like UV detecting jewelry and the potential concerns with those META glasses. The “sperm maxing” sperm race finals start July 12. Not to be outdone, women now have “egg maxing” via a supplement company that recently raised $4 million. “Ball maxing” (injecting saline into the scrotum) is as dumb as it sounds.

Beauty topics include Vaseline launching a brow tamer and highlighter, a teen trend of creating tan lines (even with spray tans), and urine drinking *vomit* as skincare.

Listener questions address how to suggest a skin check, laser vs peel for sun damage, and menopausal blackheads.

ABOUT DERM & DUMBER

Derm & Dumber is a podcast hosted by board-certified dermatologist Dr. Brooke Jeffy and her husband, where skincare, relationships, internet trends, and questionable opinions collide.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend.

Find us @dermanddumber and @brookejeffymd on IG 

DISCLAIMER

The information discussed on this podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Listening to this podcast does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Always consult your own physician or qualified healthcare professional regarding medical concerns, diagnoses, or treatment decisions.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

All right, welcome to another episode of Derman Dummer. Let's get into it. I see some fancy looking piece of jewelry around your neck. You want to tell me about this? This looks new to me.

SPEAKER_05 0:39

Yes, this is a little piece called the Gym from a company called the 90?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Are you saying gym or gem?

SPEAKER_05 0:49

Okay, gem. Don't make fun of my speech patterns. Okay. Actually, it's fine. You can make fun of them. I can be dumb about some things, and I admit that Sometimes pronunciation isn't your uh your forte. Well Yes. I think it's also just like regional pronunciation differences when you're like growing up.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yeah. So the Kentucky comes out of you.

SPEAKER_05 1:14

Yeah. Okay. So gem, the gem.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:18

Okay. So it is a pendant that you put in this kind of it's a device you put in this little pendant that hangs on this necklace. Okay. And it monitors your UV exposure through this app that it connects to on your phone.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Got it.

SPEAKER_05 1:36

So I don't know a lot about it yet. I just started wearing it, but it tracks, tries to predict how much UVA, how much UVB you've exposed yourself to during a day. So I'm just kind of learning about everything it does and how well it tracks. And so I'm going to be seeing how well it does over the next week when I'm at the beach.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Yeah. That's a great testing ground. Um so yeah, to describe it, it's basically like a gold circle frame with a what looks like just an onyx, you know, circle inside of it.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Yeah, it's pretty nondescript.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

On a gold chain. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

But looks nice, I think. You know, I think Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Now if you want people to wear it, you better make it look decent.

SPEAKER_05 2:20

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

All right.

SPEAKER_05 2:22

So more on that when I have Yeah, more data. More more data, more experience with it. But so far I'm a fan. It looks nice. Yeah. Really fancies up the black scrubs.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yes. You are wearing black scrubs today. So I can see why you coordinated with the jewelry. All right. Uh-huh. Um speaking of devices, you wanted to mention something about the new um meta glasses. Is that right?

SPEAKER_05 2:49

Yeah. I guess these are just all over my feed because uh Kylie Jenner is representing them now. And I guess that's how this has worked its way onto my feed. You know, she's kind of into fashion and beauty and, you know, whatever. So I keep seeing her face associated with these metaglasses. And honestly, I've always, I don't know, these have been out a while, right? Like a few years.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, but I think they have a new style now. Okay. Like I think they were ridiculously hideous when they first hit the market. But now they look more like normal glasses. Yeah. I've never seen any in person. But seen pictures of them online.

SPEAKER_05 3:33

I mean, I just discounted them, like, those are hideous. Those are never gonna take off. But I mean, I don't know. They're apparently trying to revamp their image and make them look better. I I guess I agree that the ones I've seen lately do appear a little bit nicer.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

And they're probably ideal for content creation, which is why you're gonna see them in social media circles.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

I bet.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Yeah, I just I don't know. What are your thoughts about the privacy situation?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

I mean, Imagine a patient.

SPEAKER_04 4:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

A patient comes in for an appointment and they're wearing them into the office and they're recording all the people in the waiting room, or they're recording something else on the Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

I mean, I guess I don't have a problem if they're like record if they would be like recording me, maybe. I mean, like just to keep a record of like, you know, people sometimes want to write down what you say, or like, you know, they whatever. So I mean, I'm not sure what the right answer is there. I mean, I don't love being recorded, but like I could understand the desire to do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, but there's other ways to do that. You just set your phone down and hit record. But make a voice memo.

SPEAKER_05 4:43

Exactly. A voice memo, you take some notes. But yeah, like what you said, it's the problem is like they're wearing them and they're in the waiting room and they see other people, and that is like clearly a violation of you know, privacy for those other patients, and then who knows where this video is gonna end up.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

So I bet we're just getting started on the amount of lawsuits and things that are.

SPEAKER_05 5:03

Yeah. How can you ever monitor that?

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Right. Especially as the camera that's built into the glasses gets more and more concealed and the glasses look better and the tech improves. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a whole whole big thing that's gonna be uh something to watch.

SPEAKER_05 5:21

I mean, I still think they're at least the ones I've seen are pretty not. I mean, they wouldn't be something I would wear. And I I saw someone say that they looked like the cyber the cyber truck for the face.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Oh. Yeah. Well, I don't know if they're that hideous. Sorry for you, Cybertruck fans.

SPEAKER_05 5:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Uh but yeah. Dumpster on wheels.

SPEAKER_05 5:46

But yeah, I just think there's gonna be, I mean, I don't I don't even I can't even predict like the insanity that's gonna go down with that and the things we'll start to see more of. And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

All right. Well, there you go. Let's keep keep an eye on that and come back to it if it makes the news. Um we were going to mention something that we were gonna go back to the first episode that we ever recorded, and we talked about something called sperm maxing.

SPEAKER_05 6:16

For those of you obviously you guys remember sperm maxing.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Right. That's not a thing that just, you know, you hear and forget that. Um, but anyways, there's an update on that.

SPEAKER_05 6:26

Yes. I was doing some research to figure out when this thing is happening, when these races start.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

The sperm races.

SPEAKER_05 6:32

The sperm races.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

From all the maxers.

SPEAKER_05 6:35

Yes. And uh I guess the finals are coming up here in mid-July and they kind of start July 12th. Now, I feel like this company could do a lot better in terms of disseminating this information because can't really figure out a way to watch it. It's like kind of shrouded in secrecy. This was about as good as I can get. So I'm gonna be trying to look for it more. But if anyone knows any details, how we can watch this, because I really feel like it's important that Benjamin and I watch that at this point.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Well, we'll try, but you know, it was really a mistake releasing it, you know, or airing the competition at the same time as the World Cup. So, you know, they've got some competition.

SPEAKER_05 7:17

Yeah. And is Wim Wimbledon going along going on?

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yeah, Wimbledon's going on right now too, but you know, Wimbledon, Schmimbleton. Okay, whatever, man. I mean Wimbledon's fine as long as the World Cup's not on.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:31

So Well Kind of along those lines, I uh probably because I was researching the sperm race, I stumbled upon basically the egg idea of egg maxing.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Hmm, the female equivalent?

SPEAKER_05 7:45

Yeah, it's the female equivalent. No races, I guess, sadly.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

No. You can't can't get those things to move much quicker.

SPEAKER_05 7:54

Yeah, but this company appears to be, it's called Ovum, and they just raised four million dollars to uh grow their company um where they're basically doing egg maxing with various supplements. So again, it's just a supplement company. Supplements basically, as far as I can tell, just being like overall health supportive, antioxidants, things like that. But some creative marketing and uh the ability to raise four million in this uh area.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Well, the supplement and wellness industry is uh what I think outpaces the you know the profits of traditional pharmacies or pharmaceutical industry now by by a significant significant amount, yeah. So yeah, it makes sense that they should be able to uh secure a bunch of cash.

SPEAKER_05 8:47

Yeah. So what else in that in that area? Oh.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Um what but but so this is just I mean, how do you measure the maximum effort of an egg? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 8:58

Oh, I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

I mean, it's just like testimonials uh I mean on there about I've been taking these supplements and I'm certain that my eggs are going to implant and there's no way to be so just baby.

SPEAKER_05 9:12

You know, it's like in conjunction with fertility treatments or you know, whatever. Right. So it's not anything that you can say a hundred percent is from the supplement, but you know, used together.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Okay. All right. Well, good job, ladies. Yeah. Go for it.

SPEAKER_05 9:30

Ovum maxing.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Ovum maxing.

SPEAKER_05 9:34

Oh, we never talked about ball maxing.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yeah. Well, the maxing never seems to end. But yes, I do so quite a while ago, this concept of maximizing your balls came across uh I think it actually came across my group chat, uh, my friend's group chat. And uh we all just sort of rolled our eyes and made stupid jokes or sent funny emojis or something and moved on. But then we started to do this and talking about all the maxing, and I thought, oh, we need to revisit that. So what is the situation with ball maxing?

SPEAKER_05 10:16

Injecting saline into your scrotum to make it look bigger.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Got it. Yeah. Okay, of course that's what it is. That's I mean, what else could it be? So maximizing the size. Whereas a lot of times when we talk about max, they're ta they're maximizing, you know, the performance possibly, like when it comes to sperm or an egg, or they're, you know, maximizing the uh the amount of sun damage you can you can receive, you know, that sort of thing. But in this case, we're just maximizing the size of a scrotum.

SPEAKER_05 10:55

Yeah, and like why why? I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

To make your walk super uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_05 11:01

Are there women out there or men out there looking in their significant other for like a larger stack? I mean, I don't know. Personally, I would say smaller is better.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Yeah. Yeah. Not a fan of the scrotum?

SPEAKER_05 11:18

I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Less is more for you.

SPEAKER_05 11:20

It's not the most attractive part of the anatomy, is it?

SPEAKER_01 11:25

If we're being serious here. I don't, you know, ask the dudes who think about it so much. I yeah, I don't what a dumb idea.

SPEAKER_05 11:32

Yeah, and why yeah. So anyway, I mean, obviously injecting saline, saline is not gonna last very long. It's gonna get metabolized by your body. But the problem is that I mean, there's a lot of very sensitive structures in there and blood supply. Right. And, you know, if you put disinjected in the wrong place or just the sheer volume of it compresses some of these things, um, you could have some real problems in terms of those little testicles that live in there.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah. Yeah. I yeah. No, I can't imagine being and I I'm certain that this is happening in the, you know, influencer, like attention-seeking young people. Like people our age aren't doing this. And so I mean, I I don't know. But yeah. That so I can't I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 12:26

And who does it appeal to to be like, let me stick stick a needle in there? Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

That's what I was getting at. Is like, so these are the young these are the people like with no, you know, control, no experience injecting anything, and they're just gonna do this at home. They're just gonna order some I know some saline and some random needles. Random needles. Hopefully they got the right size and infection risk.

SPEAKER_05 12:49

I mean, the whole thing is just a recipe for a lot of potential disaster. But again, I go back to like is this really something? Like, why, why I need to hear from people to tell me why you would do this.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

It's just it's gotta be it's the attention economy that controls the algorithms and what we see.

SPEAKER_05 13:11

Aaron Powell But I'm not seeing like tons of people posting pictures of their giant scrotums.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Like, so they're doing it for Well, yeah, because that sort of stuff gets probably you know, it gets taken down. You can't just I guess I mean I'm sure there's certain websites you're not going to.

SPEAKER_05 13:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

All right. Well, where you can maybe see pictures of that, but I mean this no, this was like in a legit, I don't know, newsweek.com or USA Today. I forget the link that was forwarded to. But it was uh yeah, it was eye-opening.

SPEAKER_05 13:42

I would say not a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Okay, so let's yeah. If your kids come to you and say, Hey, can we do something about this? I've got this tiny scrotum. And I think I think my life would improve if I could just make it bigger.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

Uh yeah, I would say talk to a doctor.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Okay. Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Moving on. What uh what else what else caught your attention you wanna do?

SPEAKER_05 14:11

Yeah, so I saw that um Vaseline, the brand Vaseline, which is your favorite.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

You love that company.

SPEAKER_05 14:20

Oh my god. Well, I do have a love and hate relationship with Vaseline because obviously I love Vaseline. Well, the petrolatum jelly.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Petroleum jelly.

SPEAKER_05 14:31

It's pet not petroleum. Oh, they don't. Petrolatum. Okay. All right. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Um I thought I'd seen it on the generic tubs. It's called petroleum jelly. No? No. They just they they got rid of they got away from that.

SPEAKER_05 14:43

Petroleum has like some very negative.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Yeah, no, I get why they would change it in today's wellness influencer, you know, world.

SPEAKER_05 14:51

But anyway, there's nothing wrong with Vaseline people. Use your Vaseline, love it.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:57

Anyway, yes, my love hate is the fact that I do love it, and I love the few products besides the Vaseline ointment that I've tried. But they have a lot of other products, but they refuse to send me any. Like I hate to be a jerk about this, but like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

You have been like, you know, singing their praises for everyone.

SPEAKER_05 15:19

Yes. And like I've actually I like reached out multiple times. I know you guys are gonna all feel sorry for me, but anyway, I still will continue to love, you know, Vaseline Ointment. Anyway, they're trying to get a little bit into the I guess be more into the beauty space. Um so they are launching starting out in uh some in in Thailand and the Philippines, but US launch is expected later this year. They're going to launch a brow tamer, um, which basically this product originates from the fact that people will just rub Vaseline onto their eyebrows to tame them, you know?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Oh, for people with excessively crazy eyebrow hairs.

SPEAKER_05 16:02

Or they want them to like lay a certain way. Oh, oh, oh. Or what have you, I mean, sometimes people like sta style their brows by having them like be really straight up.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 16:14

I don't know. So anyway, you can use Vaseline to do that. And so this is just a product. And I haven't I haven't seen it yet. So I don't it's I suspect it's essentially just going to be petrolatum jelly in some kind of easy applicating applicator type of device to put on your brows. Got it. But it's just creating a product because people were already using it for this use.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Grabbing a tub that they already owned and a couple of Q-tips and doing it themselves.

SPEAKER_05 16:46

And it'll probably be like $20 for this thing or something where you can get a tub for a cooler out of it.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

And sitting there.

SPEAKER_05 16:51

Yeah, so smart. And then they're also going to launch a highlighter. So same deal. People will put Vaseline on their face to give like a little bit of a shine in certain areas. We talked about this We did at some point about contouring. I think it was maybe last episode or the episode before, where we talked about using sunscreen or contouring.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:11

So part of that is highlighting. So you will use something to like create a little shine or a lighter area on the skin. And people do use Vaseline for that sometimes. And now they're gonna create a Vaseline highlighter.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 17:28

So good for them. Yeah. I'm sure I'll never get one.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

No. There you go. You can just badmouth them. Again, nobody feels bad for you. We have so much free crap always being sent. Seriously, all I do is break down boxes all day, it seems like. Okay. Again, no sympathy. Nobody cares about that.

SPEAKER_05 17:47

Oh, and then this other trend that I've been seeing. Oh my gosh, there have been a lot of trends this last week. Um, tan lines, apparently, are huge right now in the teen tween.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Like you're saying, the creation of them.

SPEAKER_05 18:03

Yes, like apparently they want tan lines.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 18:07

Like even they will get a spray tan, which you could get nude and not have any tan lines.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Right.

SPEAKER_05 18:17

Right. So you get a spray tan.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

That's one of the benefits of a spray tan versus real tan.

SPEAKER_05 18:21

Right, to not have tan lines.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

You can stand in the booth naked as opposed to sunning yourself naked and get it complete. Yeah. And now they're saying they're just you're seeing kids are just like going into the booth for the spray, but keeping their clothes on or wherever they want a line.

SPEAKER_05 18:36

Yeah, and I haven't seen this, but I imagine there's kids using self-tanner over this too to create this look. But anyway, they're after the tan lines. Apparently, it's like kinda fun and I guess.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

I mean, whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:51

You know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Fashion trends come and go, but I remember, you know, in our day.

SPEAKER_05 18:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Because our day is long past at this point.

SPEAKER_05 18:58

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

But in our day, tan lines were a thing to avoid, right?

SPEAKER_05 19:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Like when I was a young teen walking down the beach, and there was the chance, the odd chance you would see somebody like taking their swim top, you know, their swimsuit off at the top in hopes to prevent lines, you know, that was like seeing gold. I remember that. That was great. And now they're like, well, let's just add another layer or piece of tape so we can get a fun line. Spell a word.

SPEAKER_05 19:30

Yeah. I don't know. That's it's bizarre. That that that is a very bizarre trend to me that I can't pretend to understand. I mean, then you're like wearing normal clothes. I I mean, I guess that's the point. Then you're wearing normal clothes and you see the tan line, but like that just looks awful to me. Like, you know, you're wearing a dress and then you have like this giant.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah, these tan lines of like a bikini tan.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

I mean, it I don't know. I guess I don't know what's cool anymore.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

No, we're too old. Like I said, our day is long gone.

SPEAKER_05 19:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

We're in a new day.

SPEAKER_05 20:01

Yeah. Um, what else did I see? Uh a res well, this is actually kind of a resurgence because I saw a little bit of this a while back and then didn't see anything for on it for a while. And now I've seen some other uh content creators kind of commenting about this trend. So I guess they're they're seeing it more too. Um, and that is drinking urine and using urine directly on your skin.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Hmm. Getting into the golden showers aspect of beauty. Fun. I now uh are these people drinking their own urine, or is it just anybody's will do? Do people have like higher quality urine for these purposes?

SPEAKER_05 20:44

Well, from what I've seen, it's people drinking their own urine. And apparently the best urine is when you first wake up in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Oh, of course, because it's been what?

SPEAKER_05 20:53

Concentrating?

SPEAKER_01 20:54

All night long. Yeah. Yeah. You've just been like brewing the best batch.

SPEAKER_05 20:59

Yeah. So, you know, I was like, okay, what do these people think this is doing? And it's real generic benefits of like they think it's like rejuvenating and antibacterial in your body, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Um But there's a myth that you know our urine is is completely sterile.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

And it isn't.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

And I remember growing up with that myth being repeated. I don't know by whom. It may just have been other kids or other parents. I don't remember it specifically in a health class. Right. But yeah, okay. Well.

SPEAKER_05 21:36

So I mean, go ahead, drink it up. Yeah. I mean, there's no there's no proven benefits of this. There is actually some risk in terms of like electrolyte imbalances, hypernatremia.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

I mean, sure, but think about how concentrated it would be. Wake up in the morning, drink it, get full again, process that again through the bladder. That's the thing. This is in the kidneys, and then boom, it's even more concentrated. That next batch is gonna be so healthy. We're curing everything. The thing is at that point, that like triple distilled urine. The third time it passes through, it's gonna be just like a tiny vial, and it's gonna be the purest, yellowest, most urine maxed. Yes. We will have urine maxed. Come on to something. I'm not gonna drink it, but I'll just pretend I did and just add some food color.

SPEAKER_05 22:28

But I mean that's the thing. Like urine is like, you know, your body is getting rid of all of these, the all of these toxins and things that I shouldn't say the word toxins. Um your body is getting rid of all of these things that it does not, you know, need or want. It is literal waste cleanup.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Right.

SPEAKER_05 22:51

And then you're drinking it? Like why?

SPEAKER_01 22:53

We've evolved these fantastic organs to do this on their own so that we don't get sick, we don't have to deal with it.

SPEAKER_05 22:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Yeah. So And they're just like, yeah, because again, attention economy.

SPEAKER_05 23:04

I guess attention, but there seems like a good number, I mean, of people commenting on these posts and things like this and talking about their mourning urine and what whatever and like dietary things they can do to like change it up. Uh insanity. Now, topically, it's a little less insane, but still insane. Um, so this, I imagine drinking it also has origins going way back, but for sure, in like early beauty circles, your urine was a thing to use on the skin. So our skin actually has something called urea, which is a component of urine in it.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

So this could be where they're getting it.

SPEAKER_05 23:49

Yeah. So I mean, there is like a reason here. So um our skin, the very outer layer of it, contains something called natural moisturizing factor. And it is made of a bunch of molecules of which urea is one. And basically the point is to hold water in and make the skin like really um pliable, flexible. Um, so and and and um improve the skin barrier. So that's kind of the origin of like why someone would think about you know using urine. Um, that urea is can be used, made in a lab. Okay. That's how it is in products today, many products today. Um, it's it's synthetically created, it's not derived from anyone's urine.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

So we've figured out in a lab how to make it without, you know, uh having to distill urine or something.

SPEAKER_05 24:43

Yes, no, other animals. Yeah, it has nothing to do with another animal or person. Um and it is a great moisturizer at lower concentrations. It really works to help hydrate the skin. At higher concentrations, um, you can use it to help with like calluses, for example. It helps like thin the skin and like really kind of exfoliate the skin. Um so definitely some great uses. I recommend it many times in various products throughout the day.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Okay. Um, but so people are just like, hey, I'm gonna save money, make it myself. I'm already making urea. My dermatologist just recommended this urea product for my super dry skin area. And now I'm like, wait a minute, urea, I know where I can get more of that. Right. Not have to spend anything.

SPEAKER_05 25:32

So it might have to do with that. It might also have to do with, right? Like the whole thing, like natural is better. So maybe it's better if I don't buy this product that has urea in it and I use it from my own urine. Yep. But products with urea are also gonna have other things in it to help, like other moisturizers and so uh Okay. Yeah. I think urea has an interesting story though.

unknown 25:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:56

Related to the skin.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Okay. Well, all right, people. Think of the smell.

SPEAKER_05 26:01

Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

And be like, hey, did you notice how nice my skin looks today? Like, no, I didn't, but I did notice the fact that you smell like pee.

SPEAKER_05 26:11

Right. What was the other thing? What what was it like? Bite, some kind of bite. People were always like, Bite? You need to like pee in it. It was like a friends episode. Uh jellyfish sting.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Oh, I think, yeah, there's that myth that urine, if you get stung by a jellyfish, that urine can help relieve the the the sting.

SPEAKER_05 26:32

Yeah. I mean, I think I think it does have like some anti-itch kind of qualities, but I don't I don't think that it truly is gonna take the sting out of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

I've never seen any marine biologist or any pharmacist or anybody recommend.

SPEAKER_05 26:49

Yeah. I just that just dawned on me. I just remembered it.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Yeah. I do remember that episode. That made for a funny episode. A funny bit.

SPEAKER_05 26:57

Yeah. I don't remember who was trying to do the peeing.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

I think it was uh Monica got that? Yeah, Monica, I think, got stung and Joey and Chandler had to try to pee on her. On her.

unknown 27:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

There you go. That's important stuff that takes up room in my brain. Those are the Those are the facts that I remember. Moving on from topical items to everybody's favorite listener questions. Let's do it. Alright. So, first one, somebody, and I think this question is great because I want to know what else is going on in this person's life where this came up, but they asked, How do you tastefully tell someone that they need a skin check? Ooh. Like, what was going on? What would what was the context here? And they were like, looking at this person, like, holy crap. Someone needs to get their skin exam.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Uh but I guess I can't really say it that way because they would be offended. I don't know. I don't know. That's uh Well, you're you okay, look, let's put it in your your perspective. Yeah. You can look at people, at least the parts of skin that you could see on a daily basis. Have you ever been like, whoa, like this person needs a skin exam? Like that's what I'm saying. Well, I mean, but that's like catches my attention.

SPEAKER_05 28:19

I mean, if you're in the setting of a doctor's office.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

No, no, I know. I'm just talking about you being out and about.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

Yeah, I think that's different. Like, I mean, I definitely have had like people who've come to see me for one thing. Like, I'm just gonna give an example. They come in to see me for like acne or hair loss, and I'm like, um, you know, I can I can see you've had a lot of sun exposure. Are you getting your skin checked? And like that's pretty easy. But I think what you're asking me is like if I'm out and about and I see someone.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:46

I mean, I've never just been like, oh my God, someone has so much sun damage they need a skin check. But once in my life, I did see something. I think I was in a grocery store. This was like many years ago. And on somebody's neck, there was First of all, you in a grocery store.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

So this was many years ago. This must have been a lot. Were we even together? Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 29:09

Uh-huh. Uh so it had a large, uh suspicious, brown, irregular, hideous-looking spot on the neck. And I did say something to this person, like, uh, I'm in healthcare, and maybe you should get that spot on your neck checked out.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

And how did they react?

SPEAKER_05 29:33

I mean, okay, kind of like, okay. I mean, they were like a little shocked. Maybe a little shocked, but it wasn't like insane.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

F off, woman. I don't know. I know what I look like. Thanks for pointing out my flaws. Get the hell away from me.

SPEAKER_05 29:46

Yeah, it wasn't like, it was just kind of like, okay, thanks. And I don't know. I I debated, had this huge internal debate before I even did it. So I was all like self-conscious anyway. So I was basically like, deliver the words so I can feel like I've helped someone go to sleep. Who cares what they say and get out.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Right. Okay. Well, I can see why you would approach it from that. But uh and then there was a do you do you remember the story about the hockey player and the fan who saw the hockey player through, you know, the plexiglass shield that they put around the rink, and she's a dermatologist. And she pointed out when they were up against the glass, you know, or against the wall there getting, you know, having a a bit of a fight over the puck, I think. She noticed a spot on the dude's neck or something and tried to point it out to him to get it checked. He ultimately did. It was cancerous and it made the news anyway. So Yeah. Yeah. It could be life-saving. Yeah. But some weirdo approaches you in public and says, get a skin exam.

SPEAKER_05 30:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Just take heed. No, I d you know.

SPEAKER_05 30:56

I mean, it is awkward and like, yeah, I don't know what this person's situation is.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

It's like how do you tastefully tell someone that they need a skin check? I mean, uh the the the answer is you you just express it in a way of like you're concerned. Yeah. I'm just simply concerned about you.

unknown 31:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

It's easy for you. You can say I am in the medical field, or even uh say I am a dermatologist.

SPEAKER_05 31:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

You should Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

Like, I mean, let's say that you you let's say you saw someone in the grocery store that had like not not even full of sun damage, but like they have like on their back of their neck, like some giant, hideous, clearly out of a dermatology book picture. Right. Would you say anything to them? No. I would assume they know what's going on with their body and but it's on the back of their head, their neck. They can't see it.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah, okay. They don't ever get their hair cut. I mean, what what's the hairstylist isn't doing anything to help either?

SPEAKER_05 31:49

I just you're just gonna look away.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:51

I mean, I don't know. And that's different because like you're not a doctor. But I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

But we don't know that this person is either. So this person wanted to know how to tastefully do it. I don't know if there's an answer how to tastefully do it other than just express it as a you know, as a concern. As I'm a worried, yeah. You could even make up a story about how somebody had did that for you or you were in a tough one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:15

An ethical question, kind of.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah. We could uh discuss the ethics of skincare. I'd love to get into the ethical questions sometime. But anyways, moving on.

SPEAKER_05 32:26

Let's keep it let's keep it dumb.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah. Keep it dumb. Well, it could still be dumb. Anyways, next. Uh question number two here is this one, this person wants to know what the best option for sun damage on the face is laser versus peel. I'm guessing there's other, but they're specifically wondering about laser versus peel when treating sun damage on the face.

SPEAKER_05 32:51

Yeah. A little tough to say. I mean, in general, when I hear someone say sun damage, for me, I'm thinking, is it like brown spots from the sun that are called litigenies? Um, is it freckles from the sun? Um, sometimes redness in the skin, broken blood vessels goes along with sun damage. Um, obviously wrinkles can be a part of sun damage. So I don't I'm I'm gonna go with just like pigment changes. Yeah, so the answer is it depends on it kind of depends on what it is the kind of damage you have. Um, but I'm gonna kind of like answer this thinking it's more pigment changes. And so both lasers and peels can help with brown spots. Um there's multiple different types of lasers and multiple different types of peels.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Um peels tend to air on the cheaper side, though, right? Versus lasers?

SPEAKER_05 33:45

Yeah, I would say usually.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 33:47

Um microneedling is also something that could help with uh pigmentation changes. Um the one like for sure thing that I can say in this question is that if there's any part of it that's redness in the skin, like a red tone or broken blood vessels, that's always laser. There's no peel that is gonna help that has to be laser.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

So a combination of things.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

All right. Well, there you go. See your dermatologist, weigh your options, consider your costs, move on from there. Make your decision. Get informed. I'm brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Wear your sunscreen.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Wear your sunscreen. Yeah, whatever. Uh question number three. Hey, this person's just like you. I'm menopausal and have blackheads on my face.

SPEAKER_05 34:42

Wait, wait. Can we like confirm what that means? The menopausal No, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Uh okay, that was a throwback to the previous episode for those who listened.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Uh okay. The question is, I'm menopausal and have blackheads on my nose. Will trentinoin help, or is there something else? And also extraction versus or extraction via a facial as an option? What do you okay. What do are menopause and blackheads associated with each other? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 35:12

Not necessarily. I mean, you can definitely have blackheads at any point in your life. Uh you know, maybe even as, you know, young as a tween, you know, uh young skin along with acne can have blackheads. Um it may be related just in the fact that, I mean, okay, so I guess let me back it up a little bit. A blackhead is when you have an open pore that looks black. Um, the reason it looks black is because our skin makes something called keratin and it gets trapped, you know, in those bowls of the pore. And then as it sits there, it gets oxidized by oxygen and it turns black. Um, so that's actually what is in those things. So you the size of your pores may increase with age slightly, um, but they don't like fluctuate in size. Like sometimes you'll see products that say, oh, shrink your pores. Nothing does that. Um, but you can make your pores look better in certain ways. But going back to this question about related menopause.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Is pore size just determined as just genetic, typically?

SPEAKER_05 36:21

Genetic.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

But about what what I'm just about to say related to menopause is like, you know, you're older. Um, just with age, you lose collagen. With menopause and rapid reduction of estrogen, you you lose more collagen. And when you have less collagen in the skin, it's not holding pores closed as well.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Got it. So skin is too saggy. Yeah. Pores can't help it.

SPEAKER_05 36:43

Yeah. So uh they're not supported as well. And so the pores can be a little bit bigger potentially. So, yes, it is possible related to menopause, but seen in all ages. But the way you treat these will be to do things like deep cleaning the pores, you know, getting getting that um black keratin out of there with um certain cleansers that help break it down, like salicylic acid is a really great uh cleanser to help.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

You specifically asked about tritinoin.

SPEAKER_05 37:13

Oh, yeah, about the tritinoin. So my point was like deep cleaning the pores, but then also using products to help keep the cells turning over so they don't get clogged and keeping the pore. Tretinoin basically works to also keep the pores really cleaned out. Um so yes, tritinoin can help. Tretinoin also over time can improve collagen. So could also help support the pores a little bit. So kind of two ways it could potentially help. Um, I think the other question was about like extractions and facial part of it.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Getting a facial, will that help extract the pores, the blackheads from the pores?

SPEAKER_05 37:50

Yeah. So do you know much about with facials? A lot of times people do what's called an extractions.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Oh, see, I don't know. I don't know facials.

SPEAKER_05 37:58

Yeah. So that's you use like a tool or a needle to basically like get in there and kind of like pop the blackhead out. Oh, geez. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

That's gonna be time consuming and maybe like uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_05 38:14

Yeah. Uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Um And that doesn't really address it. It's just gonna fill back in. I mean, right.

SPEAKER_05 38:21

But I mean, it's all gonna kind of it it is there's nothing you're gonna do that's like gonna really cure it, right? I mean, the tr no one can help support it. Um, you can keep them deep clean so they don't look as obvious. Um, but yeah, extracting it is just gonna be a temporary fix. Um, I don't love facials for a lot of reasons. Maybe that's another episode. But um more aggressive procedures that help to improve your collagen over time. So things like lasers, um, go and like a blade of laser or microneedling, those could give more improvement to your more support to your pores so that they don't tend to look as noticeable.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Got it.

SPEAKER_05 39:01

Mm-hmm. All right. Have you ever thought much about your pores?

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Mine? No. Okay. No. But I figure you'd tell me if they were a problem.

SPEAKER_05 39:10

Okay, yeah. They need some they need some shrinkage.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 39:17

They're not filled with anything, so you're keeping your skin clean, so that's good. Woo-hoo.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

See? One battle at a time over here. Um lasers? Can lasers shrink pores?

SPEAKER_05 39:26

Well, I asked about that. I was just mentioning that lasers and microneedling are two things that can stimulate collagen and help give the pores some more support so there are less.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

I remember you, because you've lasered me a couple of times. But it was never for the intent to reduce pore size. Right. It was just for old range spots and pigs. Yeah. So but that was a byproduct, if it was going to happen at all, it could have also shrunk force. Got it.

SPEAKER_05 39:57

Well, we didn't really do it aggressively enough to try to shrink force.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Oh, is that one of the most aggressive settings?

SPEAKER_05 40:02

Most aggressive, but you know, baby steps for you because you're a wuss.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

I am not.

SPEAKER_05 40:07

Yeah, we'll have to do an episode talking about how well you handle cosmetic procedures and what we've done so far and you know, new things to do.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

My next one is Botox.

SPEAKER_05 40:18

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

I've never had Botox before. Outside of getting it in my armpits. Which by the way, we need to do.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Because Botox in the armpits is fantastic. Forget about deodorant or antiperspirant, I mean, for months. That is the best. Do it every summer now.

SPEAKER_05 40:37

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

And we're just a little late doing it this time.

SPEAKER_05 40:41

But you're gonna get it for the I'm gonna get it in the jaw for the TMJ. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

And my nighttime grinding. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 40:52

But yeah, we've never done it on your face, so you really don't.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

No. I got a wrinkle-free. Need that somehow. Perfect. You're looking at perfection.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Whatever. Alright.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Well, we'll wrap it. Let's wrap it. Okay. Well, thanks for listening. And I know we haven't said this in a while, but uh give us a like. Give us a subscribe. If you're enjoying this, that goes a long way to help. We appreciate it. Uh all those who've been listening so far, thanks so much. And we'll see ya in the next one. And I'm pretty sure this is the best one we've ever done. Bye.