Combination Treatments are the Next Big Thing, according to Dermatologists.

By Mala McAlpin, Dermal Clinician & Freelance Aesthetic Writer.

If you value education and consider yourself a leader in the beauty industry, it's likey that you're constantly on the lookout for ways to be innovative.

You want to know what’s new, what’s emerging, what can you do differently to get better results. You can usually find most of these answers at conferences. But there are SO many to choose from and so little time.

If you work in the beauty sector, you may not consider dermatology education as a relevant or necessary part of your educational calendar. However, as literal skin doctors, dermatologists may have a lot more relevant teachings than you might have thought. More specifically, cosmetic dermatologists.

The Australasian Society of Cosmetic Dermatologists (ASCD) hosts a couple of educational events per calendar year, including their most anticipated ASCD Symposium in Melbourne every March.

Even if you aren’t working in the field of dermatology or medical practice; if your specialty is skin, you’ll find some exceptional tips and information to help improve your treatments - much more than you might have imagined. This is because the field of dermatology is extremely evidence-based.

Physicians are not wildly experimental and certainly not trend-focused - they base their practices on what the current research says is safe and effective. What does this mean for you as an attendee? Well, a couple of things.

First, you know that any treatment being discussed, works. It isn’t just a fad, it’s been backed by peer-reviewed, quality studies. And you usually get to see some of these studies presented to you on the screen.

Second, if a physician derives their practices from studies, it means they are constantly reading and researching. I.e., they are at the forefront of what’s happening in the research field. And wouldn’t you rather receive your news and information from someone who discovered that in a quality peer-reviewed source rather than social media or industry buzz?

If these points resonate with you, perhaps a cosmetic dermatology event may be more relevant to you than previously thought! As for this year’s ASCD Symposium, there was one common theme that stood out among multiple speakers, and that was combination treatments.

Those working in skin, dermal, and cosmetic medicine will likely have noticed a shift towards combination therapies recently. This may be due to the fact that no one device can improve every indication, and so multiple modalities are required. It may also be attributed to the fact that cosmetic treatments are continuously becoming more and more popular, acceptable, talked-about, and ‘on-trend’, that clients are more willing than ever to try new things.

Many topics at this year’s event were therefore geared towards answering the questions of how to pair injectables with lasers, or lasers with needling, or needling with RF (radiofrequency). As always, ASCD brought us an impressive lineup of local and international speakers, specialising not just in cosmetic dermatology but plastic surgery, dermal sciences, and cosmetic injections. Here are my two key takeaways, as translated by a Dermal Clinician & Beauty Therapist.

1. Before selling a client/patient on a string of costly treatments, use the ‘foundation then concealer’ rule - if you apply foundation first and see how much coverage you achieve, you may require less concealer than first anticipated.

I.e., when it comes to combining injectables with treatments like RF, needling, lasers etc., conduct the skin modalities first. Then assess how many/how significantly their concerns have been addressed before going in with toxin or filler. Perhaps you can achieve a considerable amount of skin plumping, wrinkle reduction etc. so that less toxin and/or filler is required. This not only saves costs for the client/patient but also improves the effects and longevity of the injectables due to improved skin quality, dermal hydration, and collagen network.

2. If you’re conducting any treatments that induce dermal heating, i.e., RF, IPL, Tixel, and just about any laser, there will be a loss of hydration in the tissue. When you’re structuring your treatment plans, you should therefore factor this in, either with great skincare or supplementary treatments.

For example, one speaker described how he would follow each RF needling treatment with a certain bio-remodeling filler for hydration after two weeks, in order to address the loss of dermal hydration due to bulk heating, before returning to another RF session. The lesson here is this - think about any potential downsides of the treatments you’re conducting and address them accordingly.

ASCD’s next event is their annual one-day Emerging Trends in Cosmetic Dermatology in Melbourne, November 12th, with the next Symposium scheduled for March 22-24, 2024.

Mala is a freelance writer & marketing expert creating feature articles, copywriting, and business support services for the beauty and aesthetics sectors. For more information visit malamcalpin.com.au