The Signature Dr. Nerina Wilkinson + Associates Journey
By Skincare Specialist Kim van Zyl
Everything we do in life is a journey to create the perfect picture of our story. In the same way, we have carefully puzzled together The Signature Dr. Nerina Wilkinson + Associates Journey for a holistic approach to skin health, beautification, and becoming your most confident self.
Our skin is at the mercy of many forces: sun, harsh weather, stress, and bad habits (to name just a few). How your skin responds to these forces will also depend on a variety of factors: your lifestyle, diet, your DNA, etc. There are so many things to consider when it comes to individualised treatment for your specific concerns! In pursuit of beautification, we have created a signature journey to help each of you achieve your desired results. A bespoke experience never repeated, but with one goal in mind – to help you become your most beautiful and confident self in the most luxurious way possible.
SO WHERE DOES YOUR JOURNEY START?
It starts with understanding your skin, concerns, and goals. Your signature Dr. Nerina Wilkinson + Associates Journey therefore starts with a VISIA Skin Analysis. The VISIA is a digital imaging system that evaluates your skin not just on the surface, but on sub-surface levels. Think of it as a high-tech photo booth that provides you with an easy-to-understand, objective analysis of your skin and its focus areas in eight categories:
Brown spots – Pore size – Red areas – Bacteria & oils – Surface spots – Texture – Wrinkles – UV spots
Each category of the complexion analysis we measure helps us to select only the most appropriate treatments for your signature journey. The VISIA doesn’t lie! We can also view your skin’s true age and do an aging simulation! What is interesting, is how often patients’ priorities (to what they thought their main concerns were) shift after seeing their VISIA Skin Analysis results. Let’s take a deeper look into these categories and what this first step in your signature journey can do for you…
ESTIMATED SKIN AGE
One of the most eye-opening results the VISIA provides is the percentile score and rank of your estimated skin age. This result is based on the amount of sun damage and change in your skin compared to others who are the same age, gender, and skin type. You may think you have a young-looking complexion but hiding below the surface can be years of damage. If not addressed, this underlying damage will make its way to the surface eventually. We’ve all heard they saying, “prevention is better than cure”, and it could not be more true with skincare.
AGING SIMULATION
Depending on which you choose, we can do a basic or advanced aging simulation. Our basic aging simulation can show you how your skin looked five to seven years ago so you can see how it has changed, or it can project five to seven years to show you how your spots and/or wrinkles will progress. From there, we can tailor a treatment to address those issues.
Our advanced aging simulator can show you, based on your current age, your skin’s progression from ages 18-80. We can only capture this from a front-facing position, but it is immensely eye-opening, as it shows our clients how their current state will play out in the future. We’ll then customize a plan to minimize the areas contributing most to a negative outcome down the road.
BROWN SPOTS
Brown spots are deeper pigment in the skin. We classify brown spots as freckles, moles, age spots, and melasma. These spots are caused by an increase in melanin production; the more melanin there is, the darker the pigment. Individualised spots are caused by melanin clumping together. By pinpointing how large these spots are and their exact location, we can recommend the most appropriate targeted treatment to break these cells apart and reduce the visibility of spots.
PORE SIZE
Pores are the openings for oil ducts and can easily become clogged with dirt and an overproduction of oil, leading to breakouts. When pores are enlarged, it can indicate they’re clogged or are more susceptible to becoming clogged. This system distinguishes between spots and pores, seeing where clusters may indicate oily, breakout-prone areas.
RED AREAS
These areas can be caused by inflammation in the skin, broken capillaries, acne, or rosacea, and the VISIA Skin Analysis shows us exactly where these spots are located. This kind of accuracy makes treating the exact location of these imperfections easier and therefore leads to optimal results.
BACTERIA’S AND OILS
Also call porphyrins, these bacterial excretions block pores and can lead to breakouts. When areas, where porphyrins are located, are detected early, we can accurately recommend spot treatments to stop breakouts before they even start. This report also helps us recommend the best ongoing skincare routine for your skin type and therefore help your skin barrier function at an optimal level.
TEXTURE
You may not always feel the small irregularities in skin texture that needs special treatment, so this is one of the more sophisticated reports of this system. The device evaluates the overall texture of your skin and provides a detailed report to help us recommend the right kind of exfoliation. Raised areas, like dead skin cells and blemishes, are indicated on the report in yellow. The indentations caused by open pores and fine lines are indicated in blue. The differentiation allows us to recommend the right treatment for the right area of texture irregularity.
UV DAMAGE
If there’s one thing skin care professionals everywhere can agree on, it’s that sunscreen is the single best investment you can make in your skin. The damage from the sun’s harsh UV rays is the biggest contributor to premature aging and collagen damage. Our skin produces excess melanin to protect itself against these rays, leaving our skin with sunspots. Most of these spots are often undetectable at first because the melanin clumps below the surface of the skin. This mapping system allows us to see and treat the areas with the greatest amount of sun damage.
WRINKLES
We offer a variety of skincare solutions dedicated to treating wrinkles. While you can see most of the wrinkles on your skin, you can’t always tell the depth of those lines and wrinkles. Why does this matter? It matters because your treatment plan can be devised around the depth and size of your wrinkles. Deep folds will require a different treatment than superficial fine lines. The reports we get differentiate between deep and shallow lines. Fine lines show up as light green while deep creases appear dark green, and the expression lines on your unique face may run the gamut in between.
VISIA DONE… IT IS MORE THAN JUST SKIN…
Our signature journey goes deeper than just skin… after your VISIA Skin Analysis with a Skincare Specialist, you will visit our Next Motion booth for a 180-degree photo session to gather images of your face and neck from all angles. This becomes important during aesthetic treatments, especially where sculpting is involved, as you will be able to see your visible changes and improvements on camera and have access to your own images as time goes by.
Once complete you go on to see one of our world-class Aesthetic Doctors to advise on the concerns that lie deeper than just your skin. I always say that the skin is a window of what is happening inside our bodies, and that is why having the opportunity to have a specialised Aesthetic Doctor (who can look a little deeper) as well as a Skincare Specialist on your side working on your customised aesthetic treatment plan together, gives us the opportunity to have a holistic approach to achieving the best results. With so many concerns that can be discussed and treated by our team of doctors, let’s take aging as an example…
With aging the skin loses its elasticity and gravity causes drooping of the eyebrows and eyelids, looseness and fullness under the cheeks and jaw (leading to jowls and that dreaded “double chin”), and longer ear lobes.
Facial movement lines become more visible after the skin starts losing its elasticity (usually as people reach their 30’s and 40’s). Lines may appear horizontally on the forehead, vertically on the skin above the root of the nose (glabella), or as small, curved lines on the temples, upper cheeks, and around the mouth. This is where facial structure comes in and where your Aesthetic Doctor becomes the artist in facial sculpting by replacing the volume that has been lost.
THE POWERS THEN COMBINE!
Our Aesthetic Doctors and Skincare Specialists work very closely together in creating a specialised plan just for you. As with exercise we also don’t believe in quick fixes and one-off visits (as it simply does not work), we believe in the journey of achieving results and maintaining those results with proper care and ongoing commitment. After your aesthetic couture consultation, you will therefore receive your first 6-month plan that will either include skin clinic treatments only, or a combination of aesthetic procedures and skin treatments topped with world-renowned at-home care. Every six months after that, we will evaluate your progress and adapt where needed – beautiful.
THE SIGNATURE JOURNEY THEN CONTINUES EVEN FURTHER
Being poked, prodded, photographed, and analysed is part of the journey (this is how we achieve results), but it might not seem that luxurious at first… As soon as you are handed your first “choose your experience” card on arrival, however, the “experience” will start to take shape. The holistic approach to our signature journey is further shaped by introducing signature scents, elixir teas and binaural beats customised to the “mood” you relate most to upon arrival. Whether that is relaxation, revitalization, or rejuvenation – YOU choose the mood for your treatment, and we adapt the experience details to help you achieve even those desired results.
THE PERFECT PICTURE
We all follow a life journey to create our own perfect picture to one day look back on and smile, that’s why we believe in creating a signature treatment journey wrapped in a beautiful blanket of Aesthetic Couture treatment plans, skin science, experience, and love.
Why did we go to these lengths to create a signature consultation and treatment journey? Because you deserve signature results.
To start your aesthetic couture journey, email capetown@drnwilkinson.co.za to get started today. Go on, it’s your time to shine!
Written by Kim van Zyl
