For Scottsdale, AZ facial plastic surgeon Kelly V. Bomer, MD “timeless beauty” is a topic she could talk about for hours. But her best, succinct advice to patients: Start early and adopt the lifestyle. “Timeless beauty is something that can only be achieved if a person is committed to the path,” she says. “It’s not something that you can purchase, and it is not something that somebody can give to you. You must be an active participant in the process. Ideally, you can start while you are young—that’s when it’s going to really work the best. But if you start when you’re older, that also works…you just may not have the same results.” Here, she offers her biggest takeaways—including the ingredients she loves—for achieving it.
Prevention Is Key “Wearing sun protection when we’re young is huge! Protection is the biggest thing to help prevent the skin damage that is irreversible. Of course, in reality, most people don’t get that kind of protection when they’re young—they have to get to a place in their lives where they have control over their own lives, and that is typically in their 20s. I can’t stress this enough: Parents can have a huge impact on children in developing good skin-care habits. In my case, I didn’t really have that as a kid growing up in Southern California. But, nowadays, there’s a lot more awareness that you can take care of yourself—and that includes focusing on smart sun behavior.”
Acne Avengers
“Besides sun protection, acne is a huge issue in your 20s. It’s a big topic. Eating healthy if you have acne is particularly important because our diet translates into our skin directly. Retinoids—done not too aggressively—and kaolin clay masks can be very helpful to help dry up and clean up the pores. Salicylic acid is also a great ingredient for treating acne.”
Wrinkle Erasers
“As we get into our late 20s and early 30s, we start developing some lines and you start having some loss of the fat pads in the face. This is the time where, for certain people, it makes sense to engage in some preventative neuromodulators. For example, if you are a 30-year-old who’s very active in the glabella or forehead area, if that goes untreated, those wrinkles and the depth of those wrinkles get deeper all the time. Of course, it’s not the case for everyone, but certain people have a propensity to constantly raise their eyebrows or always be furrowing their brow. That kind of repetition when you’re young leads to some deep wrinkles. In those cases, injecting a neuromodulator early is very, very helpful. The nice thing about starting younger is that you don’t need to do it as often.”
This patient was 43 when she presented to us for rejuvenation. She is 53 in the after photo. She has been diligent with sun protection and daily medical grade skin care. She has also received filler and botox as well as in office skin treatments several times a year to enhance and maintain her beauty. She has not had any cosmetic surgery.
The Filler Formula
“Nowadays, we can also inject filler in the nose and chin to improve the profile—we do a lot of that in our practice. We have younger patients in their lates teens and early twenties seeking us out for that and their lips, and they are very educated about their face. Patients in their 20s or 30s often want a structural change to their face to help them with proportions and symmetry and to address early signs of aging—it’s really game-changing to have it done well. Strategically and safely placed nonpermanent fillers and neuromodulators that enhance aesthetics and obscure the signs of aging are what the majority of our patients seek. In our practice, we develop a trusting relationship with patients and that trust is based on safety and beauty—those are the two main things I really am focused on.”
The Turnover
“As a general rule, we really want to be doing skin care twice a day, with the understanding that the main goal with skin care is to increase the rate at which we make new skin. As we get older, our skin turnover slows down and that’s why our skin ages along with the sun damage. The products that really work are the ones that speed the skin cycle up—like the retinoids, the alpha hydroxy acids, the glycolic acids. Peptides have come a long way in supporting retinoids and alpha hydroxy acids with skin renewal. Vitamin C has been shown to be very helpful at reducing the damage in the skin, and there are others that are antioxidant-focused products help reduce damage from sun and pollution.”
Peptide Power
“The best way to think about peptides is that they are kind of biostimulatory. They’re basically like food for your skin and body that help to make more collagen and elastin. A retinoid is going to stimulate your skin to do more turnover, but if you have some more ‘food’ in there it will help boost the college and the elastin even faster. That’s when the peptides come into action.”
This patient was 32 when she first came in for skin treatments and a skin care program. She progressed to regular Botox and fillers. She is 49 in the after photo. She has not had any cosmetic surgery.
