Tune In: Why Regenerative Dermatology Is The Future Of Healthy Aging + Tips

Some of the most exciting areas of innovation in beauty are through regenerative dermatology1 and skin care. Taking a page from the field of regenerative medicine, this area of advancement focuses on how to restore vitality to the body and skin at the cellular level—using the latest and greatest research on whole-body health. 

While much of mainstream cosmetic dermatology focuses on tweaking the external, regenerative care goes internal. "Aging of the skin is a symptom of what's already happening on the inside," says board-certified dermatologist Julie Russak, M.D. "You cannot have regenerative skin care without understanding what's happening in the body."

One of the reasons Russak and Hanway work together is because the role of nutrition cannot be overlooked when you discuss healthy aging of the skin. Because as Hanway tells us, "You need to give your body the raw materials to regenerate." 

No matter where you are on your skin health journey, the important thing is that you've started. But as Russak notes, the earlier you can start this process, the better.

"When we're talking about longevity on a cellular level, what we're concerned with is the decrease in energy production—it's a slow down of the metabolic and cellular processes. People need to know to start caring for yourself early, when you are still metabolically active, when you still have enough energy in your cells to regenerate," says Russak.  

She goes on to explain that "people wait until it's too late or until they're already showing signs of aging that they want to correct, but that's much more difficult," she says.

When you're at this point in mainstream cosmetic dermatology, practitioners may only rely on injectables to treat the appearance. "We had things in our toolbox that would mask the signs of aging. We would use fillers as a Band-Aid over the aging process. We would mask the loss of volume and we would mask some lines. But we got ourselves into a problem where people look overfilled. Maybe they don't have a line, but they also don't look human," she says.

One thing I'm always astounded by is that as we learn more about the most innovative ways to care for our bodies, it still always comes back to the basics.