Ready to Fix Your Skin? Where to Start? Dive into Cosmetic Dermatology with Dr. Hakim of Divina Dermatology and Cosmetic Center

Ever wondered at what age you should start considering Botox, or if "baby Botox" could actually hold the key to preventing wrinkles? This episode promises to shed light on these burning questions. We take you inside Divina Dermatology and Cosmetics Center for an insightful discussion with my dermatologist, Dr. Hakim. We don't just stop at Botox; we're opening the Pandora's box of cosmetic procedures and the secrets to maintaining that elusive youthful glow, even tackling the personalized skincare regimen  Our chat goes beyond the surface, literally and metaphorically. Tune in for an episode that's not just skin-deep.

Dr. Jacquiline Habashy Hakim's IG:
@beverlyhillsderm

https://www.divinadermatology.com

Dr. Habashy Hakim Double Board-Certified Dermatologist 
& Cosmetic Specialist

Dr. Habashy Hakim earned both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees at the prestigious University of Southern California. Her primary focus was on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, supplemented by a minor in Biology. She further honed her expertise with a Master's degree in Global Medicine.

Subsequently, Dr. Hakim pursued her medical education at Western University of Health Sciences. Her outstanding leadership and academic achievements during medical school led her to the prestigious position of President of the Dermatology Society.

 For her Dermatology residency, Dr. Hakim underwent training in Miami, Florida, where she had the opportunity to learn from renowned experts in cosmetic, surgical, and medical dermatology. As a senior resident, she played a crucial role as a key opinion leader in aesthetic medicine for Doctors Reaching for Excellence and Achievement in Medicine.

Dr. Hakim is deeply involved in the dermatology community and holds membership and advisory positions in several professional organizations, including the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), the Women's Dermatology Society (WDS), the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), and the Skin of Color Society (SOCS). Her expertise has been recognized through numerous publications in esteemed peer-reviewed journals and presentations at prestigious conferences nationwide.

 In her practice, Dr. Hakim specializes in cosmetic, surgical, and medical dermatology. Her commitment to providing top-notch care is evident in her approach, treating every patient with the same level of attention and care as she would her family. Dr. Hakim is renowned for her ability to produce natural and transformative results, leaving her patients feeling and looking their best selves.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi guys and welcome back to Confessions of I Want to Meet it Girl. Today's episode if you're watching along on our YouTube channel might look a little bit different because we took this puppy by this puppy I mean this show on the road to visit the brand spanking new Divina Dermatology and Cosmetics Center. I'm so excited for this episode. Dr Hakim joins us on the pod to give us the skinny the T about all the amazing dermatology and procedures. We talk about everything from how young is too young to have Botox to what her favorite laser is and why, and so much in between. We're talking about body skin. We're talking about face skin. I know that there can be a lot of questions and also I have been asked a million questions and I'm like how did I get deemed the LA friend who should know all these things? Here's the truth. I don't. So she breaks it down for us in this episode. She is an absolutely amazing dermatologist. She's been helping me through my acne journey and it's also helping me to prep my skin for my wedding. So, without further ado, I'm not going to gatekeep her any longer. Let's dive in.

Speaker 1: 1:14

Welcome to Confessions of I Want to Meet it Girl. I'm your host, marley Fraging, and I'm here to help you filter out all the bullshit and become the next thick girl. This podcast explores the reality of what it really takes to make it out there. As it turns out, it is way less Instagramable than I thought it was going to be. I'm still very much a work in progress, but there's simply nothing else I'd rather be doing than chasing my dreams. So let's learn from my mistakes and work together to achieve our dreams with more confidence, clarity and direction. Let's get after it, hi guys, and welcome back to Confessions of I Want to Meet it Girl. Today I am joined by Dr Hakim, my dermatologist. You couldn't tell we are not in our normal set up. We are at the beautiful new Davina Dermatology and Cosmetic Center, so I'm so excited to talk to you. Thanks for coming. Oh, thank you for having us.

Speaker 1: 2:09

And your beautiful brand new office, thank you. So I feel as though I've been deemed the friend who's supposed to know all the LA like skin plastic surgery filler tips and tricks, and I honestly don't know them, as I've told you before that I don't know them as quite as well as I would like and I feel what I'm here for. People are dying to know, they want to know the things and since we have been together since the start of my Accutane journey, which we might touch on, which you're allowed to talk, about yeah, which you're allowed to talk about seeing.

Speaker 1: 2:47

She is a medical professional. So I want to start basic here and work our way up to the extreme things we might do to our skin. We're going to focus much more on the cosmetic part of the practice, but we'll kick it off with an easy one. Sure, how young is too young for Botox?

Speaker 2: 3:10

It's a great question. I get this question all the time. And it's so personable Like I started my Botox at the age of 27.

Speaker 1: 3:17

I was 25.

Speaker 2: 3:18

Yeah, there's no, like hard rule to say this is the age. So the literature, of course, because it's more of a want than a need, is when you start having wrinkles at rest, so when you're not making expressions, if you start seeing lines at, like the classic areas, as we both look into the camera move our eyebrows up the forehead lines. I'm totally do so, don't say too much and then my 11s or crow's feet.

Speaker 2: 3:41

those lines that rest are classic areas we treat, and so on average it's like late 20s, early 30s that that usually starts.

Speaker 1: 3:49

Do you believe in the term baby Botox?

Speaker 2: 3:52

Yeah, I actually use it too and for I think maybe some people have different definitions of it. I title it as like a lower dose. So when we're younger and we're barely starting to have some fine lines, you may not need the full recommended dose on label. So the full recommended dose on labels like 62 or 64 units and like I term baby Botox, about 30, sometimes even less.

Speaker 2: 4:13

So it's about half dose at our office when we label it baby Botox and it's for the younger people that are trying to be preventative, that are starting to see some fine lines, that might still want a little bit of movement and not completely frozen, and even people at older ages just want just some subtleness and we kind of just have the dose.

Speaker 1: 4:31

So baby Botox is a real term. Real term Do you think baby Botox always means preventative, though, or can somebody who's already fully experiencing wrinkles still have baby Botox?

Speaker 2: 4:42

Yeah, no, that's a great question. You can have baby Botox at any stage of how, your age or how much wrinkles it's just a lower dose. And so again, for those patients that want, like, maybe, more movement and just a little softness, baby Botox would be appropriate.

Speaker 1: 4:56

That being said, Botox is usually linked to our favorite word aging. I know, yeah. And so what are the first signs of aging that might appear that we might be looking at that we should, if we want to address Sure, absolutely, and aging is such a privilege.

Speaker 2: 5:17

So there's a lot of things that are anti-aging or whatnot. We want to age gracefully so I try to change that language when I talk to patients or just people, because it is a luxury to age. But we want to look our best as we age, and so our face specifically, because we age everywhere, but our face specifically ages on different layers, down to the bone. So we start losing bone resorption in this area. It's called your piriformis aperture and that's where people will start noticing, like their smile lines or the nasal labial folds, maybe looking a little deeper, we lose some bone resorption there. We also lose a little bit of volume under our eyes. That that's typically classic areas of the aging process. So if you start seeing those areas, that's usually when people start coming in and asking about hey, what can I do to rejuvenate this? Or I'm noticing deeper smile lines, my under eyes look more sunken in. Those are some of the first earlier signs.

Speaker 1: 6:08

What is it always have to do with age, or genetics will also play a role into this as well right, correct.

Speaker 2: 6:14

Yes, absolutely so. Obviously, we see people of all different types of backgrounds and you see all these celebrities, and some claim to have worked, some claim to not have worked, but genetics do play a large role and that is a huge play in it as well.

Speaker 1: 6:28

So those first areas, maybe the round, the eyes under the eyes and the smile lines what is the treatment then.

Speaker 2: 6:35

Perfect. Really, when we start losing volume loss, we want to give support. So filler is classically an area there. In all, we lose bone, we lose fat and we lose collagen, and that all starts happening around the late 20s. And so I always tell people there's different things you want to treat at different levels of the aging process and as we start losing collagen, you want to do something that's increasing collagen. So that can also mean lasers or micro-needling to just induce collagen and slow down that progression of the loss of it.

Speaker 1: 7:10

OK. So I've heard a lot of people talk about filler, fear about how it can move or doing too much, too young. How do you know how to handle those situations from filler or product?

Speaker 2: 7:22

Well, it's a great question and it's super important to go to someone that has an expertise in it.

Speaker 1: 7:28

And so we see a lot.

Speaker 2: 7:29

I see complications here all the time. It's really important to choose the right filler product for the right patient for the right area in their face, and not that you can only do that to solve these problems. Like we were saying, stimulating collagen can come in different many avenues, like lasers or micro-needling, and maybe filler is not the best option for certain people and they do like PRP or Pure-Off injection, so there's different avenues to fulfill that. But filler does have a place in the aging gracefully approach and who you go to is really important.

Speaker 1: 8:01

What is PRP? So you brought it up.

Speaker 2: 8:04

Yes, prp is platelet-rich plasma. So we draw your blood out and we increase. Yes, beautiful, it's like you're giving blood and we collect it. We spin your blood and then we collect the PRP, which is the platelet-rich plasma. It looks like a little yellowish. We have technology now to also heat and cool it to make it kind of like a gel. So it kind of mimics the filler, but it's your own body. It lasts not as long, but it's something that's a good intro for patients that might not want to do filler or want a more natural, regenerative approach.

Speaker 1: 8:35

And what about is the downtime or pain or discomfort that comes with that, or is it like magic bond?

Speaker 2: 8:42

You know, nothing is too bad and we make everything tolerable, hopefully. But there's topical numbing and other ways we make you comfortable with any type of injection. So whether that's filler or Botox or PRP anything that's introduced through a needle, we do topically numb and the downtime is possible, bruising. Anytime you poke the skin with a needle there's always a chance for a bruise to come, so you just want to be aware of that. Bruising can last for up to two weeks, but beyond that there's really no true downtime. People come in and we were talking about this earlier and they go down to red carpets right after they get a little plump or whatever.

Speaker 2: 9:16

We're going to definitely dive into that one a little bit, because I think there's a lot of curiosity about how celebrities handle cosmetic work and whatnot.

Speaker 1: 9:24

So before that, though, I wanted to ask you about seeing WeMet, because I had acne. We went on Accutane together and we went through this whole thing. But why do people get acne? And it can be personal, as I know.

Speaker 2: 9:38

Yeah, and I think that answer is different. So there's multifactorial reasons. A lot has to do with genetics. It can also be involved with hormones. So we know the start of acne starts from excess oil production and then that can escalate into something called the comadone or those little bumps that haven't become red or come to a full head. They can then get infected and then they can become cystic. So there's a different array of different levels of acne and on that spectrum is different causes.

Speaker 2: 10:06

And so people can just trigger it from lifestyle habits that are not great. If you work out in the sweat it's just sitting. From products that you use on your hair that hit your face. Different outside world factors again, genetics, hormones again and then just bacterial content on the skin or exposure. So there's an array of cause. But I tell people sometimes if you are more acne prone, that's almost like your skin type, so you really want to focus on products that don't initiate acne. Be cognizant of something that's non-congestive. There's products that say non-acne forming and they're studied for those reasons non-comedogenic. So you're not initiating that process in that cycle to create acne.

Speaker 1: 10:47

So with somebody who might have acne and whatnot. And it is coming from another root cause. How do you handle it topically and just getting it fixed. But then what about the internal health issues? How do you start to look at both at the same time?

Speaker 2: 11:02

I get this question often about oh, is it about the foods I eat? Or when I eat healthier, I notice this kind of go away, and I tell people that foods can make a big difference, but it's not the root cause of why you have it. So there's something called an inflammatory skin condition Acne is one of them and then certain foods like gluten and dairy fast foods, we know create inflammation. I'm shocked. Yes, whoa. So there's inflammation and inflammatory markers that rise in our body when we eat certain foods, and if you have inflammatory conditions, those conditions can worsen, and so that's kind of one of those things that you can always make better, but it won't cure it, unfortunately. Right, well, and with me personally.

Speaker 1: 11:41

yes, maybe I do have a slight hormone issue I need to treat, but for the most part I think I'm pretty healthy and I just had acne, absolutely. Like who knows it was for?

Speaker 2: 11:53

you if you don't mind.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 11:56

Now for you is more like just your genetic skin type. You're more predisposed. But even with hormones, like you mentioned, there can be a hormone component, but your hormones might not be out of balance or abnormal. There's just hormone receptors on the skin that you might, at this phase, have more oil production, because it happens yeah, it's certain parts of the menstrual cycle and that's quote unquote like within normal range. It doesn't have to be abnormal to have that.

Speaker 1: 12:18

See, that's so comforting because I also think there's so much about swinging the pendulum, one way of being like all holistic or all Eastern or Western medicine, and I'm just like I kind of think there's both here and we don't need to freak out Totally, so there's a balance and it's good to be healthy in a holistic way for sure, just for overall health and wellness.

Speaker 2: 12:39

But there's a place for medication and we people worry, and we were talking about Accutane for a second. Accutane is vitamin A, so if you want to be natural, that is a very natural form of it, but dose and produce to create a certain endpoint, which it worked, by the way. It worked really well and it's an amazing medication. I'm very happy I did it.

Speaker 1: 12:58

So, that being said, with everyone's routines and I would say TikTok and Instagram, I feel like people might be horribly overdoing it with their Sephora products. What are your?

Speaker 2: 13:10

feelings. Every day I talk to patients about their skincare routines. There's so much misinformation and, as a dermatologist, that's what I'm always most concerned with. So I try to use my platform more as an education because I see so many common mistakes. One of the biggest ones is the natural and all-organic skincare products which I tell people. It's great to eat organic foods, like we were talking about, be holistic and healthy, but we have a normal flora that lives on our skin, so we have bacteria and yeast and different things that live on us and when we use certain products like that, you actually can feed them and if you have inflammatory conditions, you can make them worse. So there's lots of little things that people jump on trends and you just have to be careful.

Speaker 2: 13:53

I always tell people talk to your board certified dermatologist. If you want a good skincare routine, you can take a deep dive, figure out your skin type, and that's the other thing. What works for one person may not work for you. Like I have a sensitive, dry skin. You have more acne, oil-prone skin. Our products probably don't look the same. If you're raving about a certain product. It may not work well for me because I have a completely different skin type. So there's a lot of misinformation out there and I think people just need to be directed.

Speaker 1: 14:21

Because it's super personal depending on your skin and what and what your goals are. Right, ok, that's another thing. For instance, at one point we talked about if I wanted to get rid of the freckles on my nose. Yeah, and I was like I don't know, I have no idea, I haven't thought about it. You're like well, some people do, but it's like I had never thought about it.

Speaker 2: 14:40

I think even to like in the sense of like overall hyperpigmentation, because there's options. If you have hyperpigmentation or scarring that have left marks on your skin, certain treatment options will reduce all types of pigment. So it's just one of those things that, like you know, do your freckles follow it depends on you.

Speaker 1: 14:56

Are you? Because we?

Speaker 2: 14:56

might clear them out with the full treatment, or do you want them and we'll avoid that?

Speaker 1: 14:59

And I was like if they go, I won't be bad, but like.

Speaker 2: 15:02

I never thought about it?

Speaker 1: 15:03

I've never thought about it.

Speaker 2: 15:05

Are you?

Speaker 1: 15:05

familiar with the drunk elephant kid.

Speaker 2: 15:08

Of course. I've been on articles now with New Beauty. We were talking about this because there was a huge rave about skincare and the teens and pre-teen group of patients and it's not bad, I think, for patients even at that age to have a skincare routine. I think there is overkill and there's like do they need to be using retinol? I don't think so. So this is the whole thing with retinol specifically Like so retinol is a form of retinol or tritonoin. It's a vitamin A cream.

Speaker 2: 15:38

I'm on the tritonoin blood yes, so it's the cream version of like an acutane right. So it's all vitamin A If they have acne. I have patients that age that are on prescription tritonoins because they are breaking out with acne, so we have them on it. But no, they don't need to be proactively preventative. They do need to protect themselves from the sun. I think doing certain products we were talking about in the article just a gentle moisturizer and some sunscreen and a gentle cleanser unless they actually have skin concerns and conditions that need proper treatment, they wouldn't need anything else.

Speaker 1: 16:09

So like they don't need like a full.

Speaker 2: 16:11

They don't need like a 12 step routine. No they don't.

Speaker 1: 16:14

That being said, how do you feel about all the facial tools that are out there Like?

Speaker 2: 16:18

I need the wash off the ice roller.

Speaker 1: 16:21

I personally love them, but then I've started to worry. Are they pulling on my skin? Yeah, and do I need to be aware?

Speaker 2: 16:27

These are good questions With all of those devices and like more self-care. Are they actually helping you? Probably not. Are they hurting you? Probably not. So it's one of those things that like, if you love it and it's like part of your self-care routine, I'm all for it. If I'm hungover, that ice thing feels great.

Speaker 2: 16:44

No, the ice feels good. You get some lymphatic massage, there's some instant gratification, and that's fair. Now, is it giving you long term results? No, but is it hurting you? No. So if you love it, enjoy, and if not, it's fine, totally you can skip it Exactly.

Speaker 1: 16:58

Exactly. I feel like we can bump it up a level and talk about a little bit more serious stuff. So let's talk about lasers, yes, which are a little bit more intense than just no coming in for Botox or filler. Your day to day, you know skin routine Totally. What are your favorite lasers, yeah, and why and what do they?

Speaker 2: 17:15

do so many, it's like asking what your favorite kid is oh God.

Speaker 2: 17:18

It's just OK. So with lasers and technology, I have seven different lasers, all state of the art, newest ones, but they all target different things and so I think that's where you have to filter it. My personal go to these days like I'm currently in my clear and brilliant phase. It's a. It's a mild laser, it's like one of those, like introductory lasers, but it has something that helps with pigmentation. That I love. Really great for me. Texture improvements those are like some of my focuses, right now.

Speaker 1: 17:46

So that's my clear and brilliant, like baby version of Fraxel nailed it yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:51

Same company. It's just a little lighter on the power, and so with the Fraxel you might need like one treatment, one to two, but the downtime is a little longer. You're you know you're red and scabby for quite like about a week, solid week, with the clear and brilliant. You can go out and about on that day and no one would know you did anything so it's a popular one because of the minimal downtime you do need about four treatments.

Speaker 2: 18:14

So it takes more time it takes more, but it's a slow build versus like a strong builds. But that's one of my favorites and the Morpheus is probably my starting.

Speaker 1: 18:22

All right, tell us about the Morpheus. I feel like that one is really popular. I mean, I see billboards with it.

Speaker 2: 18:27

And the Morpheus is actually not a true laser. So it's micro needling with radio frequency. Radio frequency is just considered like an energy based device where lasers are specific, like wavelengths that were focused and on. But in the world of like skin tightening, rejuvenation, collagen stimulation, morpheus is my go to for that.

Speaker 1: 18:45

So if you are somebody who's looking for tighter skin, yes, you want to do Morpheus.

Speaker 2: 18:50

Yeah, radio frequency based devices.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Yeah, and if you want to get rid of pigmentation, ear complexion, yes, clear and brilliant.

Speaker 2: 18:58

Yes, okay, we're finding there's, like so many other lasers that we have and other different things. It just really is your what. It depends on your concern.

Speaker 1: 19:08

So if you're on a general mission to have, like the celebrity, clear skin, you have sun damage, you have acne scars. It's almost like I'm talking about somebody I know. You maybe see seemingly enlarged pores Like what order do you need to address? Does it matter?

Speaker 2: 19:26

Yeah, you know a lot of these treatments. You can probably hit most of your concerns with one certain treatment.

Speaker 2: 19:31

So, like sun damage and you know the pores, a clear and brilliant would. You'd hit like both of those, right, if you have like reds and browns, there's something called broad based lighter a photo facial. That's super common and it kind of hits a couple of things. It can hit rosacea, acne pigmentation all in one treatment, broken capillaries in one treatment, and then sometimes we combine them so they're with acne scarring. Some people have like textured scarring and you need something like a micro needling or resurfacing laser to improve those and you can do them on the same day on the. You know. Just, you build it depending on your goals. So there's no wrong way to start and a lot of the times we combine treatments to maximize the time you're with us and we can probably hit all your concerns within one day.

Speaker 1: 20:18

That being said, what usually is the pain level for these things and downtime.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Yeah, I mean, we can take, we can break it down. The clear and brilliant is zero pain because you're numb. Yeah, Without numbing, I've done it and it's like a maybe three out of 10 on a scale you feel like there's like little price but it's not the worst.

Speaker 2: 20:37

I numb, I, we have numbing and we offer it. I say, do it just to make yourself comfortable, but really with numbing that's about a zero. The Morpheus is classically known to be a little bit more uncomfortable, but you just have to properly numb, and so we numb for the proper amount of time. I also give other things to help during the treatment, like nerve blocks, and we have other devices here that make it comfortable.

Speaker 1: 20:59

Beautiful.

Speaker 2: 21:00

People scale that one around a four out of 10. So you kind of know something's happening, but it's tolerable, um, and it only hurts during.

Speaker 1: 21:07

There's no like lingering pain, so you don't go home and like, try to put your face and like the air conditioning at all times.

Speaker 2: 21:14

There can be some warmth, but it's. It's not bad, it's it's people walk out and they're fully comfortable. That's um and and beyond, like the moment it's happening. They really don't feel much.

Speaker 1: 21:23

The one thing I will say that is so funny about the numbing experience is like your top, if you it was going over your top lip. That's the weirdest part. Like I feel like I have a big top lip with the numbing.

Speaker 2: 21:34

I don't love the numbing, although. I do it when I'm doing certain lasers, because it also just makes, like my skin feel cold and weird, and which is kind of a nice combat if you're heating up this, but it's just a funny feeling.

Speaker 1: 21:47

Well, talking about that, some of these things take down time and discomfort. I want to jump back to the celebrities.

Speaker 2: 21:53

Yes, we were talking about absolutely.

Speaker 1: 21:54

I mean, I think we're getting more open about our treatments. Some celebrities not all, you know they're like all I use is olive oil is absolutely ridiculous and I don't believe you at all. Yeah. I want to know how celebrities like get away with doing treatments and, yeah, you know, not have downtime or not. Yeah, what?

Speaker 2: 22:18

not. I mean, I have a lot of my celebrities that come in and we'll plan out their year based on like filming schedules, awards shows, red carpets, and so we are calculating everyone's downtime based on their time in front of camera or face-to-face time on a red carpet, and so that's usually like the go-to in a lot of my treatments. Downtime is very minimal. Anything that has longer downtime has to be pre-planned. But we get a lot of patients that will come after hours, you know, or right before a red carpet, want to do a certain treatment, to just glow the skin and get it prepped, or do a little bit of a plump, whatever they're interested in, and a lot of that doesn't have much downtime. Worst case scenario if there was something with a needle that's obviously disclosed and you can cover it with makeup. There's nothing.

Speaker 1: 23:04

That's usually so that being said, I was told by you about the red. You called it like the red carpet facial.

Speaker 2: 23:10

Yeah, because you're talking about the wedding. Yes, and what is the best thing to do before the wedding? Tell?

Speaker 1: 23:14

me about this treatment. And anyone's wedding. Anybody can do this treatment and it lasts. Tell us about it.

Speaker 2: 23:20

This is probably the most common treatment I do for like patients that go to red carpet events or are on red carpet or in front of camera. But it's microneedling with infusion, so we do draw out your blood, like we were talking about with that PRP, and that goes into a vial. I also I just mix the cocktail based on your goals. So sometimes we'll do brightening serums, we'll do a little Botox and filler. It doesn't get injected like normal, so a lot of people freak out. They're going to be like oh my God, you're injecting Botox everywhere. It's just micro-infused in the surface of the skin. It can reduce redness, it reduces sweating or overall flushing and it gives you that glass, glowy skin look where makeup looks amazing on. It's just a smooth texture and it's microneedled throughout your whole face. So you get the benefits of microneedling and then fusion of all the. We call it like the cocktail that goes in.

Speaker 1: 24:05

You can do that like right before, right before.

Speaker 2: 24:07

Like the day of the day before in your skin is like perfection For at least the week. It lasts for about a month, but within that week we always say like if you have an event that week, that's the ideal time.

Speaker 1: 24:18

Well, I feel like we talk a lot about skin on the face because that's what everybody thinks about when they hear dermatology. Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 24:25

But we have skin everywhere. It's the largest organ in the body Right, which is so fun and exciting.

Speaker 1: 24:31

You know I want to talk a little bit about, like body skin. You know what can you do for skin dimpling or cellulite.

Speaker 2: 24:39

Yeah, Cellulite is an interesting one because it's commonly mistreated. But if you think about cellulite there's I know, hopefully the cameras catch it but there's a band that pulls under the skin. It's like a ligament band and so it kind of creates that curvature on the top. So there's different people that treat from the outside. But unless you're actually cutting that band, that cellulite and that dimple will not be released so minimally invasive. The most effective way is to go in and cut that. We do a procedure called subsision, where we numb that area, so you're comfortable, and we go in with a blade that has two-sided blades to go in and cut the bands. It's comfortable, You're comfortable during that process, but there's no other way to actually get rid of it unless you take care of that band.

Speaker 1: 25:25

So like there's no, like other, no quick fix for that.

Speaker 2: 25:29

There's no quick fix. I see some people like you'll get skin improvements and skin tightening, and I think that is also a common misconception when they see dimpling, like if you pull your skin and the dimpling goes away, it's not cellulite, it's just skin laxity which happens that everywhere. Right, so we were talking about it on the face. Morpheus is one of my favorites for that. Can you do it on the body as well? And you can do it on the body? Yeah, interesting, we do it everywhere.

Speaker 1: 25:51

But before you go in and do Morpheus or what was the other one called? We were talking about clear and brilliant. No, no, no for the dimpling. Oh sorry, subsision, subsision, like, can you look at it and tell which one it is?

Speaker 2: 26:02

Yeah, so we you would come in to get examined and we kind of test it out and you know, if everyone has cellulite, that you know it's just like one.

Speaker 2: 26:09

Exactly Everyone has it. As we continue to age, our skin just loses the last in collagen, like we were talking about, and that happens everywhere, not just the face, like you mentioned. And so Morpheus on the body is one of those things that kind of helps with laxity, and then subsision is what you really need to get rid of cellulite. And then what about stretch marks? Yeah, you know stretch marks. It's tough because stretch marks are a form of a scar, but it's a scar below the skin, it's at the lower layers of the skin. Oh, so it's not on. I would definitely thought it was on the top. Yeah, so it's a scar that happens right below, but you see it from the top and scars just never go away. And so stretch marks won't go away, but you can make them better. And so there's two forms of stretch marks. We can get nerdy a little bit.

Speaker 2: 26:51

We love nerdy, there's like the red stretch marks that some people have. Those are some of my favorites to treat because you can take the red out. We can laser, the red away.

Speaker 1: 27:00

And so my mind, I thought the red men, it was still going, and then the white men, it was done.

Speaker 2: 27:06

Yeah, there's some like thought process to that. Really, the red people can have forever too. It's just that there's a blood vessel in it, or there it's a vascularized stretch mark, so you can see the blood vessel. So you can zap those blood vessels away and it just turns white and that's great. It's an easy fix for the color which for some people stands out the most. Other options, really for micro or micro needling for stretch marks to just reduce the size.

Speaker 2: 27:30

There's nothing that'll take it away for 100% or forever but you can minimize it, cutting it out, yeah, but then you're switching a scar for a scar. Yeah, and then it becomes like what's actually worth it, but something that's like stimulating collagen and just contracting the skin. So resurfacing lasers or micro needling are great in office options for those.

Speaker 1: 27:49

I love that, so let's say everyone has stretch marks, everyone has it. It's just like so real and I feel like the mentality around it's changed a little bit. Yeah, but you know, I don't know. It's a good question I think that people think a lot about. On the body?

Speaker 2: 28:05

Yeah, absolutely, and it's important to take care of skin everywhere, right?

Speaker 1: 28:09

I've got to, because I think we do only think about the face and we don't think about, you know, covering up our skin when we're in the harsh sun as well. So let's say you have a big event in about a week. You know you could do a couple of things, but you're freaking out. You don't want to try out too much new shit before this big event you have in a week. What are you doing seven to 10 days before?

Speaker 2: 28:33

that, yeah, absolutely I. Actually, if you've never, if I've not seen you or if I have and you're like hey, I have a wet, my wedding coming up, I don't actually do anything, you've not tried, I won't try something new on you, because I say just come back after your wedding, like your wedding is not the time now, like the week, of try something new, let's try this out on your skin Right? Don't try a new hairstylist, try a new eyebrow person. But people do what they panic.

Speaker 1: 28:57

They're like it's the week before my wedding. I should get a facial from. This needs to be pre-planned.

Speaker 2: 29:02

Yeah, go to your people. If you don't have people do a trial run, I always tell like how?

Speaker 1: 29:08

early should we do the trial run?

Speaker 2: 29:09

Yeah, no, I say at least six months before your wedding because that way like, for example, botox or any of the neuromodulator is, it lasts for three to four months. Try it If you've never tried it before and you want to do it for your wedding. Make sure you love it Right, but make sure, like you find the right person, they do it the way your ultimate goals are, and then you have it for all your pre-wedding festivities and then before your wedding, I say one month, yeah, try to get it before, because it takes about two weeks to fully kick in. If, god forbid, you need a little touch up or a tweak, you still have that time to also recover and it's perfect by your wedding. That's ultimate goal.

Speaker 2: 29:46

Now, if you're someone that we've had a relationship and I've seen you and I know what you like and we know what our goals are Right If you're in a big event or a big event, you could do it a week before and that I call it my, like Davina, gold tip needling is that one I would for sure do the week of any event just to get like a skin glow and get your skin looking good. So we know that skin.

Speaker 1: 30:08

You know it can take a lot of money, it can take a lot of time. Yeah, it's a lot effort. Not everything is always available to everybody Absolutely. If you weren't able, you know, to come in or afford or take the time to do any of these things, what would be the one thing that you would maybe recommend you do on your own just to get better?

Speaker 2: 30:27

skin, absolutely. I mean, skincare is huge and I tell people what we do here. It's like I'm your trainer at the gym but you still need to work out. Yeah, and that's your at home skincare. I agree that up keeps your results. That is like something you can do on your own consistently and maximize your results for everything. If there were two products and I know I'm a dermatologist, so I feel like I'm probably like saying this everyone's gonna be like, yeah, but you're a dermatologist sunscreen goes so far because it's so preventative and so 90% of the aging process from the outside world happens through UV radiation. That's wild, that's a large amount. So no matter how good your genetics are in all other factors, you can be super preventative by just doing that and then on the other end so if you did that sometime during the morning hours and then that night use a retinol you are so far ahead of the game. And those two things you can get at appropriate price points from multiple outlets. What are?

Speaker 1: 31:23

the two things, like in the retinol and the sunscreen we should look for, cause I know that they're not all made the same, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 31:30

To start with sunscreen, I always prefer a mineral based sunscreen, so it might say mineral or physical on the bottle. If you're not sure, you can either look for the ingredients and it can say zinc or titanium. Those are the classic things. Even you want an SPF over 50 or 30, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 31:47

Over 30 is great. Anything over is like almost similar. So SPF over 30 or more. And then if it says broad spectrum, that's ideal cause it has UVA and UVB coverage. For retinols I aim for a medical grade product, and so that's just like my rule of thumb, with like octaves. There's some great over the counters, but medical grade has been tested to show it's doing what it's supposed to. It's at the right molecule size. So those are my tips for those products.

Speaker 1: 32:16

Oh, my goodness, yeah, dr H Hbashi Hakim. Yes, all the H's, all the H's. Thank you so much for taking the time. Absolutely, it's my pleasure To do the podcast. Tell everybody first, before we say bye, where they can find you.

Speaker 2: 32:30

You can find me on Instagram at Beverly Hills Dermatology Derm. Actually, I just got it approved, you guys.

Speaker 1: 32:36

So that was.

Speaker 2: 32:37

Beverly Hills Derm Our Davina Dermatology on Instagram. We're located in Beverly Hills at 436 North Bedford Drive, so let us know if you need anything.

Speaker 1: 32:48

Thank you so much for listening to Confessions of a Want to Be Ikrl. Don't forget to rate and subscribe to the show. As always, we'll see you next Tuesday.