MENOPAUSAL SKIN Get that glow back!

Many clients going through menopause experience a deterioration in their skin because of a decline in their bodies’ production of oestrogen and progesterone. You can help these clients bring the glow back to their skin with products and services specifically designed to address the symptoms that occur during and after menopause.

Jacob Lund_Shutterstock

The onset of menopause, usually between the ages of 40 and 58, sees a reduction in oestrogen, which produces collagen, and oil production may become erratic. When oestrogen levels decrease, the body’s ability to retain moisture is reduced, and the skin becomes dry, dull, and crepey, with a visible loss of elasticity and youthful plumpness. There may also be intense skin itchiness, which can affect all areas of the body, particularly the face, chest, elbows and legs.

The dreaded age spots may start to appear. There may also be an increase in androgen (male hormone) levels, increasing the chances of developing adult acne, particularly if a client suffered in their youth.

Menopausal women are more likely to get acne rosacea, causing redness in the central part of the face, pimples and dilated blood vessels with a combination of dry, sensitive, or irritated skin all at the same time. The skin on the hands tends to become noticeably thinner and fragile, bruising more easily.

Treatment must be effective but also gentle, as dry, non-elasticised skin is more vulnerable. It’s not just hormones that are depleted during menopause but also essential hyaluronic acid, which keeps collagen and elastin hydrated and youthful, plumping wrinkles.

Dermal collagen support

RégimA offers a wide range of products and treatments that aim to alleviate the negative effects of the menopause. RégimA Zone Quantum Elastin Collagen Revival is a home care product that uses an innovative biomimetic collagen repair complex, combined with advanced peptide technologies that support the activation of the cutaneous repair process. This synergistic activity repairs and strengthens the dermal collagen support system, resulting in a multifaceted improvement in the tone and elasticity of the skin and a reduction and smoothing of facial lines and wrinkles. It contains hyaluronic acid, elastin pseudo-dipeptide, specialised tetrapeptide, tripeptide, centella asiatica, and red algae.

The product enhances skin firmness, tone, and elasticity, reduces fine lines and wrinkles, and promotes healing through healthy cell renewal, using youth collagen and hyaluronic acid.

RégimA Rapid Rejuvo Masque/Peel is a quick lift-and-glow in-salon treatment. It is a fast-acting multifunctional, superrejuvenating masque/peel that safely and effectively smooths the skin leaving it silky soft with a healthier youthful glow.

It contains a synthesised biomimetic version of a hydroxy acid naturally present in royal jelly, which rapidly and significantly decreases the number of active sebaceous glands, is antibacterial, inhibits development of P. acnes bacteria and is anti-ageing.

Meadowsweet regulates oil secretion, balances hormones, and provides antiseptic action, ideal for menopausal skin. Its anti-ageing botanical complex ensures hydration, stimulates skin micro-circulation, and protects against free radicals.

Lactic acid combats pigmentation, as well as rapidly exfoliating, smoothing, rejuvenating. Salicylic acid unblocks congested skin, as well as rejuvenating it. Penetrating pro-vit B5 stimulates fibroblast proliferation and repair with deep moisturisation.

Vitamin A fix

When it comes to menopausal skin, clients complain of dry skin, thinning skin, loss of collagen, elastin, adult-onset acne, and loss of volume. It is essential to know your ingredients and their benefits when addressing these concerns.

DermaFix MD Vitamin A Propionate is an effective Vitamin A serum and should be incorporated in the night-time routine to improve collagen production, balancing skin moisture levels and improving skin elasticity and volume. Through the improvement of skin balance and desquamation, Vitamin A is also a key ingredient in assisting with problematic skin and acne concerns.

DermaFix Hyalu⁷ Boost contains hyaluronic acid which hydrates the skin and aids in the production of collagen in the skin. It offers advanced hydration with seven molecular weights of hyaluronic acid for instant plumping and hydration of the skin, as well as long-term wrinkle reduction.

Fortifying the skin barrier

Peri-menopause and menopause presents a new set of challenges for women, requiring them to navigate through teenage acne and pregnancy-induced pigmentation, highlighting the complexities of skin erratic behaviour. The signs are unmistakable – fine lines, wrinkles, sensitivity, dullness, and sagging skin become unwelcome guests on our faces.

Look for a nourishing daily moisturiser containing skin-identicals such as root 4’s Face Crème Originale boasting ceramides, squalene and d-panthenol along with a troop of other skin barrier loving oils to fortify even the driest of skins. Look for treatments such as skin boosters where micro-injections of hyaluronic acid into the skin act as a water reservoir, attracting and binding moisture to revitalise dehydrated skin.

Retinoids are the secret weapon in many a dermatologist’s toolkit, and for good reason. Winner of Luxury Lifestyle Awards Best Luxury Face Oil and deemed the antiageing ‘Cream of the Crop’ pick by A2 Aesthetics, root 4’s NovA Oil with its triple fusion advanced strength retinoid formula is simply unparalleled when it comes to stimulating collagen production. It provides the benefits of a prescription retinoid but without the irritation and can even be used on the delicate under-eye skin and neck.

Rapid repair

Offering both topical and machinebased treatments, SIX Aesthetics offers a wide range of solutions for clients going through the menopause. Rapid Repair Vitamin Mask includes intensive active ingredients, such as, vitamins A and C to aid collagen synthesis, promote enzyme activity in the skin, work as an antioxidant and inhibit sebum oxidation. Another ingredient includes liquorice root that acts as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and sugar cane which boosts moisture retention. Using this mask results helps to restore dry, ageing and sensitive skin and reduce pigmentation, resulting in silky soft and glowing skin.

Machine-based treatments

The mature skin requires different and more intensive skin care to act against dryness, thinning and sagging of the skin. RedTouch PRO, developed by DEKA Lasers, is a 675nm new selective wavelength system. It is the only laser device in the world to interact directly with collagen fibres. It emits powerful fractional beams of red coherent light @ 675nm, which has never been used before in the aesthetic market and is the most selective for collagen.

RedTouch PRO works on three levels: wrinkles, dyschromia and vascular, allowing you to obtain total skin regeneration in all seasons and all skin types. Compared to other systems currently on the market that target water present in the skin, the RedTouch acts directly on the collagen contained in the dermal layer.

The MOVEO technology incorporated in the system broadens its application to dark phototypes or tanned skins and reduces treatment time.

The RedTouch PRO handpiece with an integrated scanner system has been designed to get the best performance in transmitting energy to the skin with an optimised ergonomic design. The direct action induces an immediate consecutive collagen fibres denaturation that leads to a neocollagenesis process. RedTouch PRO stimulation of the new fibre production is a more effective and results in a true regeneration of the tissue. These characteristics, together with the fractional emission of the energy and the embedded cooling, allow higher efficacy without damage to the epidermis, keeping downtime to a minimum. It is a fast and pain-free treatment with excellent results in non-ablative rejuvenation treatments for chrono and photoageing.

RedTouch PRO is available from Hitech Lasers, the sole Sub-Saharan distributor of DEKA Laser systems.