A Peek Into the Future of Skincare

Dr. Jennifer Levine, a Modern Aesthetics® Editorial Board member and Chair of the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery’s Emerging Trends in Technology Committee, discusses what she learned during recent trips to Korea and elsewhere about skincare trends that could eventually make their way to the United States.

Why do you travel around the world to learn about skincare and other aesthetic trends?

I am always looking to get out of my own comfort zone and see if there are different ways of treating patients to get the best possible outcomes, so innovation and technology are at the forefront of my practice. I want to learn the best, safest, most effective ways to treat my patients, with as little downtime as possible. Doing that involves observing what other people are doing and what trends there are in other countries. Obviously, Korea is at the forefront of aesthetics.

What exactly do you do during these trips?

I meet with manufacturers and visit different clinics to meet with other doctors. A combination of industry and clinics provides a sense of both the manufacturing processes and how these products are being used. We also go to retail establishments such as Olive Young, where they have a lot of makeup but also a lot of skincare products.

What are some overall trends you have observed in Korea?

Obviously, one of the staples in Korean skincare is highlighting the cleansing process. There is a lot of double cleansing. There are a lot of different sheet masks. That is incorporated into almost every Korean skincare routine. They are all looking for that poreless, glass skin. Sunblock is a very important part of the regimen. In Korea, a large percentage of people walking around in the summer have umbrellas for sun protection. People put a really strong emphasis on skincare, and Korean beauty standards are also different than in the United States. Their issues are not necessarily the same issues we see in this country because the standards are different. For example, in this country, everyone is trying to be tan; in Korea, everyone is trying to not be tan.

What kinds of interesting products did you see there?

Obviously, there is a lot of discussion of growth factors, exosomes, different types of hyaluronic acid, and other molecules such as polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN) that they are using either alone or in combination to really improve skin. Perhaps the biggest difference is that they have infusion systems that are able to infuse these products during treatment. That is something that we cannot do right now in the US. As they are performing a microneedling procedure, they simultaneously infuse one of those products—exosomes, PDRN, etc.

How well does that work?

It seems to work really well. It is one of the most requested treatments. It helps with giving them that glasslike skin. I think we eventually will be able to infuse during treatments in the US, but we may not be able to combine products as much as they do.

You mentioned hyaluronic acid also?

Some of these low molecular-weight hyaluronic acids are available in the US, but in Korea, they are being infused into the skin. Obviously, they can be injected also. Basically, skin boosters in Korea can involve combining something like a toxin with a hyaluronic acid product simultaneously.

The key is that the emphasis on the skin starts with the procedures. There are procedures and there is skincare, and these various products are available both as procedures and as topical skincare. They may have skincare with PDRN in it, skincare that has hyaluronic acid in it, skincare that has exosomes or growth factors in it, etc.

Is there anything you have seen abroad that was interesting but might never make it to the US due to regulatory concerns or other factors?

Any time a product has multiple ingredients in it, that will make it challenging for the FDA to approve. Oftentimes, products that we may be familiar with as topicals are available for injection in countries like Brazil. There are just too many ingredients in them for the United States. If a product has several different peptides, for example, then the FDA will want to see research showing that each of those ingredients is effective on its own. Who is going to study 50 ingredients? Because of that, a lot of these cocktails are available in South America and other countries but probably will not get approved in the United States.

Were there any other interesting trends in South America worth noting?

In Brazil and other countries in that region, they are very concerned with the body. It is important to understand that skincare trends do not stop at the face or neck. The decolletage, the arms, and the butt are areas of significant interest as well. The popularity of GLP-1 agonists in Europe has made skin quality and skin tightening a major focus there as well. As a result of all this, in these other parts of the world, they are incorporating a lot of these skincare treatment trends and procedures into those other parts of the body. We need to keep this in mind as we are moving through our own evolution: We eventually will need to extend whatever we are doing on the face all the way down.