Treating ageing skin needs to be done in a preventative and holistic manner. It also needs to be planned by looking at the advantages that each season offers, along with deciding how to address the skin accordingly. Written by Dr Alastair Clark

Most of our anti-ageing decisions are made by what we see in the mirror. The purpose of your doctor, with a special interest in aesthetic medicine, is to provide actionable steps in achieving the goals you set based on those elements you would like changed. Very often, these actionable steps are extremely simple: see a problem, fix the problem.

For instance, Patient “A” arrives with a wrinkle or a frown line, and the most appropriate treatment is administered to alleviate the skin issue. But what if our approach to ageing was far more holistic and preventative? How else would we treat the ageing skin if we, instead of simply fixing a visible flaw, corrected or reversed an underlying skin issue that would offer improved long-term advantages to the patient? We most often take this approach at our practice, which we call prejuvenation.

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Why prejuvenation treatments?

Prejuvenation treatments weave prevention and rejuvenation mechanisms together in synergy. For a procedure to be labelled as a prejuvenation treatment, it must prevent, delay or reverse the signs of ageing in a minimally invasive and non-surgical way.

This requires the understanding of the intracellular skin matrix; what causes the skin to lose its structural integrity, tone, and youthful qualities; along with the many individual facets that need to be considered:

Skin goals
Skin quality
Underlying cellular damage
Lifestyle (stress and location play a significant role)
Seasons

The wonders of winter

In this article, we want to highlight the importance of using seasonality to alter your treatment plan to better treat your skin and achieve your anti-ageing goals. With the cold months ahead, we focus on minimising the risk of presenting with common winter skin ailments.

These include:

Dry skin conditions
Flakiness
Dermatitis
Inflammation
Redness
Itchiness
Brittleness and a feeling of tightness
The appearance of patchy problem areas
Chapped skin

The cooler months offer two significant advantages to those wishing to embark on a rejuvenation or prejuvenation journey.

First, take advantage of the cold. These cooler months make it easier to recover in private. Patients can recover up, stay indoors and hide behind woollen scarves. How perfect for body shaping treatments?

Second, the UV index in winter is low, making it the ideal time to undergo more aggressive skin rejuvenation and prejuvenation treatments.

Winter-specific treatments

Skin needling or PRP therapy

Skin needling is an ideal prejuvenation treatment because it successfully achieves all of the requirements. It stimulates collagen and elastin production, delivers vital skin nutrients, and provides moisture. Similarly, PRP therapy delivers a boost to your skin, using your bodies own plasma for cellular rejuvenation.

Both of these treatments ensure cellular health and robust cellular functioning, with winter being the ideal time. Supplemental prejuvenation treatments include, but are not limited to:

Skin boosters
Laser therapies

Chemical peels

Capitalising on the low UV index allows deeper and more aggressive chemical peels to be performed. This means less risk being associated with revealing deeper and blemish-free layers of the skin. Not only do chemical peels address unwanted pigmentation damage, but they also clear out dead cells that would otherwise result in a dull complexion.

IV skin brightening

With less sun exposure in the winter months, winter is the perfect time for skin brightening protocols. We believe in using IV skin brightening year-round as a prejuvenation staple treatment as they offer deep hydration.

Furthermore, this procedure will always benefit the cellular function, while safely and successfully achieving brighter skin, while addressing areas of hyper-pigmentation.

Homecare: moisturise, moisturise, moisturise

Moisturising is vital to skin health all year long, but in the cold, dry winter months, it has a massive impact on the skin’s appearance. In saying so, your moisturiser does need to change as the seasons do. You no longer need to be weighed down by greasy, heavy moisturisers in the cooler months.

Look out for ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, which are specifically added to many high-end products to aid in maintaining skin hydration.

It is also important to note that all prejuvenation treatments should be supported with skincare basics including sunblock, daily cleansing and skin-specific serums.

Make sure you work together

In closing, there are numerous ways we can treat any aesthetic condition. The ideal way is to work as a team with your doctor. Allow for prevention techniques and take advantage of the cooler months to kickstart the process. The results will be worth it. In return, watch out for some key environmental elements that can exacerbate existing issues and create new ones in the winter months:

Cold air that holds no moisture (in the Highveld)
Windy days that can dehydrate our skin
Indoor heaters that make the air even drier
Long hot showers or soaks that strip natural skin oils

These small tips and tricks can make all the difference, and when working with a professional, you should always ask the questions to help you understand why and when the treatments are being done. Prevention is better than cure, and sometimes a little kick-start is needed… this winter could be the ideal time.

Prejuvenation – the mechanism of action:

Minor treatments, when done on an ongoing basis – harness cellular function to effect and achieve long-term aesthetic goals. By addressing the natural ageing process on a regular basis, you can facilitate and stimulate cellular function that will fight against visible ageing from developing.

Examples of ongoing mechanisms of action include: promoting cellular turnover, skin hydration, and boosting cellular function, such as skin essentials vital for stable dermal structures.

Kick starting prejuvenation with accurate and restorative treatments that build a skin matrix of healthy cells from which to build.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice.

Dr Alastair Clark

Sandton Aesthetic Institute | +27 0(11) 883 3116 | myskin@sandtonaesthetics.co.za | Website

MBBCh . General practitioner with special interest (GPSI) in Aesthetic Medicine.

Dr Alastair Clark is a full-time Medical Aesthetic Practice at his clinic Sandton Aesthetic Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa. He designs and delivers courses in the disciplines of filler volumisation, neuromuscular modulation with botulinum neurotoxin, non-surgical thread lifts, IPL and laser, chemical peels, as well as physical treatments of the skin. Dr Clark has presented and given live demonstrations at numerous international congresses in Europe, Asia and South Africa, including IMCAS Paris and China, World Congress Aesth Med in Monaco, AMCSA and Tehran, Iran.

He has had a career-long commitment to education and training Aesthetic Medicine to develop a competent and safe faculty in South Africa. He is the current president of the Anti-Ageing and Aesthetic Medicine Society of Southern Africa (AAMSSA).