Therapeutic vs. Cosmetic Skincare: The Difference is YOU

“Therapeutic,” also known as “pharmaceutical-grade” skincare products and treatments are increasingly in-demand at About Face in Bondi Junction. If you are not familiar with this game-changing approach to skin beauty, please allow us to enlighten you.

Let’s Play Doctor…NOT

Are you a doctor, or are you just playing one at the skin care counter as you try to figure out which product is best for you? Be careful. If you make the wrong diagnosis, you may end up with skin that looks look worse instead of better. “Superior skincare starts with therapeutic products created for you, not the mass market,” observes Dr George Marcells. “When prescribed by a medical professional, therapeutic products can help to improve skin dramatically.”

Cosmetic skincare products, not so much. “I’m not against over-the-counter products,” says Dr Marcells. “For patients who want the highest-strength ingredients in formulations designed to enhance delivery and promote outstanding skin rejuvenation however, the answer is therapeutic skin care.”

Cosmetic Skin Care for Surface Changes Only

Topical skin care products such as moisturisers, cleansers, and eye creams are widely available at pharmacies and department stores. The rejuvenating effects of their formulations do not penetrate beyond the outer layer of your skin, the stratum corneum. For this reason, they are referred to as cosmetic skin care and the TGA prohibits manufacturers from claiming these products effect skin structure and/or function.

In other words, while cosmetic-grade skincare products may smell nice and feel pleasant to the touch, they don’t really have much going for them (or you) when it comes to long term skin health and beauty.

Deepen Your Relationship with Therapeutic Skin Care

In Australia, the TGA says that only those products with the ability to trigger biological actions on the dermis, a skin level beneath the stratum corneum, can be labelled “therapeutic.” Unlike cosmetic products, therapeutic skin care has the ability to help:

• Target and repair skin issues
• Prevent future damage

Therapeutic skin care products are formulated with pharmaceutical-grade ingredients whose effects have been documented in comprehensive research. The ingredients are at higher strengths than could be sold safely over-the-counter. “Vitamin A is a common ingredient in skin care products, along with other acids, isoflavones, and other active ingredients,” explains Dr Marcells. “Without professional supervision, a patient could easily over-apply a Vitamin A skin care product and end up causing excessive peeling, redness, and other skin damage.”

For this reason, therapeutic skin care products are only available under the careful eye of a prescribing professional. At About Face, we provide our patients with in-room micro peels using therapeutic skin care products from trusted companies such as Dermaceutic Laboratoire. “Dermaceutic understands the value of customisation in skin care,” says Dr Marcells. “Their anti-ageing peel comes in four concentrations, allowing us to use a strength that is an ideal match to my patients’ skin.” Patients used micro peels to:

• Reduce signs of skin ageing
• Improve skin tone
• Improve skin texture
• Stimulate collagen
• Stimulate elastin
• Reduce the appearance of acne
• Soften hyper-pigmentation

We also offer a wide collection of post-peel treatment products that allows patients to take skin beauty into their own hands, literally. We also offer a range of non-surgical facial rejuvenation treatments using the most modern approaches available to help you get the clear, youthful skin you seek.