Doctor Youn.

"Hands down, the most effective topical treatment for thinning hair is Minoxidil. Minoxidil works by stimulating hair follicles and increasing blood flow to the scalp, which helps to encourage hair growth. For women, I typically recommend the 5% strength. There's really no reason to use the weaker 2.5% versions that are often marketed to women. Minoxidil comes in either a liquid serum or a foam, but most people find that the foam is easier to apply and better tolerated. Results don't happen overnight. It usually takes about four to six months to start seeing improvement."

"The gold standard topical treatment for thinning hair is Minoxidil, better known as Rogaine. Now, it used to be prescription only, but now it's available over the counter, and you can even get it on Amazon or at Costco. It comes in both serum and foam versions, but I recommend the foam, and I actually use the foam myself everyday. And here's a great tip from the dermatologist, Dr. Shireen Idris: you can apply it using a toothbrush to get more of it onto your scalp and less of it on your hair where it won't do anything. Now, it can take around four months or more to see a noticeable change, but I encourage you to stick with it. It works. And keep in mind that Minoxidil is toxic to cats and dogs."

"Beef tallow is filled with healthy fats, fats that are anti-inflammatory. Plus, it can be quite moisturizing to your skin and it has a lot of healthy vitamins for your skin. So, beef tallow isn't necessarily bad for the skin, but it's also not necessarily anything that will technically deage your skin. Beef tallow can be a great moisturizer, and if you like it and you don't mind smelling a little bit like a burger, then it's okay to apply it on your skin. But a couple of caveats to that. Number one, beef tallow can be comedogenic. So, if you have a history of acne, then be careful with it and make sure that you're tolerating it fine and it's not causing breakouts. Beef tallow can eventually go rancid. So, ideally, you want to go with a commercially prepared option. And the third thing is don't expect that beef tallow is going to create those changes that you're seeing in these people's skin. While beef tallow can be an effective moisturizer for your skin, it's not something that's truly anti-aging like a retinol moisturizer or other actives."

"If you have darker skin colors, this may be the best treatment for non-invasive skin tightening for you because some of the other treatments can cause issues with pigmentation problems in people with darker skin. In my opinion, the gold standard for non-invasive skin tightening today is radio frequency micro needling, otherwise known as Morpheus8. During this treatment, you undergo micro needling where tiny needles are used to puncture the skin to a certain depth, but these needles are insulated all the way up to the tip of the needle, which emits radio frequency energy or heat. RF micro needling like Morpheus8 heats the deep skin by using radio frequency energy. With RF micro needling, essentially you're getting a twofer: the micro needling creates tiny punctures in the skin that can cause the collagen to tighten up and for the skin to be smoother and tighter overall, and the radio frequency heating of the deep skin can cause that skin also to tighten up in its own way. In my office, we do a lot of Morpheus treatments and we follow it up with application of exosomes on top of the skin, and we found that by applying exosomes you can reduce the redness afterwards, and some people find that within 24 hours their skin looks and feels almost back to normal."

"Softwave uses ultrasound energy to heat the skin but it does it in a fractional pattern. There's a lot of online hype about this treatment, but the question is is it superior to other therapies. A lot of doctors are on board with being big fans of Softwave, but it is kind of the new treatment on the block. If you have darker skin colors, then this may be the best treatment for non-invasive skin tightening for you because some of the other treatments can cause issues with pigmentation problems in people with darker skin."

"I've been applying the Minoxidil 5% Foam onto the top of my scalp and under my crown and it's really easy to apply. I've had zero reaction to it. After about 3 to 4 months I did start noticing that my hair was definitely thicker in the areas that I had been applying it, and this improvement actually has increased after switching to the foam. Applying Minoxidil to my scalp seems to have had the biggest effect of all of the treatments that I've been using."

"Renua is a relatively new off-the-shelf fat filler, so essentially it's like injectable filler but it's actually made of a donor's fat. Reportedly the results can last for many years. It's quite expensive and at this point it's not being used all that commonly. One of the doctors who used to work at my office did try it on one of my employees where they injected Renua into her hands as a way to rejuvenate her hands, and afterwards it looked lumpy for many many months. That kind of scared me away from using it, even though I know that there are some great plastic surgeons who are big fans of Renua. I have not used it because of that experience that I've seen."

"There are several animal studies that do show that when animals take rapamycin they tend to live longer and healthier. Now because rapamycin is a generic drug unfortunately there will probably be very few studies on rapamycin and anti-aging because no drug company is going to fund this. But there are biohackers who are using rapamycin as a way to potentially prolong their lives. I'm not recommending it for the general population just yet. It's only available as a prescription and at this point we still need to learn more about rapamycin to be sure that this truly is an anti-aging drug, but the promise is definitely there."

"IPL stands for intense pulse light and this is similar to a laser in that it uses light energy to basically zap away dark spots. IPL has been around for decades and it really really works if you've got age spots or sun spots that you want to get rid of. Within a week of your first treatment you should see those spots that you're unhappy with start to turn dark and even start to fall off. The reason why this is such a great bang for your buck is because these treatments usually aren't more than several hundred, compared to aggressive laser treatments that can cost in the upwards of thousands of dollars. If you want to get an even better result, combine IPL treatments with a skin brightening cream to suppress the melanin in your skin combined with some type of an exfoliating cream like a retinol."

"Radiesse is one of the permanent or near-permanent fillers that I am definitely not a fan of. While these fillers may get you the result you're looking for at least initially, my concern is if you develop a complication. If you have too much filler injected, how do you get rid of them? With hyaluronic acid fillers there is an antidote called hyaluronidase which is an enzyme that can melt that filler away. If you get the dreaded intravascular occlusion where filler is accidentally injected into an artery causing loss of blood flow to a part of your face, we can try to melt that filler away and reestablish the blood flow. The problem is if you have one of these permanent or semi-permanent non-HA fillers and you get a complication like this, then you're basically just kind of screwed. You can do supportive treatments like warm compresses or hyperbaric oxygen, but if you've got an intravascular occlusion and you have a part of your face that's not getting enough blood supply because that filler has clogged up that blood vessel, there's no antidote to remove that filler from the blood."

"There are other fillers that I am definitely not a fan of and these are the permanent or near-permanent fillers such as Bellafill, Radiesse, and silicone. Now while these fillers may get you the result you're looking for at least initially, my concern is if you develop a complication. If you let's say have too much filler injected, how do you get rid of them? With hyaluronic acid fillers there is an antidote called hyaluronidase which is an enzyme that can melt that filler away, some of it within literal seconds. The problem is if you have one of these permanent or semi-permanent non-HA fillers and you get a complication like this, then you're basically just kind of screwed. You can do supportive treatments like warm compresses, like Neosporin ointment, like hyperbaric oxygen, but if you've got an intravascular occlusion and you have a part of your face that's not getting enough blood supply because that filler has clogged up that blood vessel, there's no antidote to remove that filler from the blood."

"Bakuchiol is derived from the bobi plant and this is a natural product that has been used for centuries in ayurveda and Chinese medicine. There was a study that compared the effects of bakuchiol to retinol head-to-head and found them to have very similar anti-aging properties for the skin but one big difference was that bakuchiol did not result in the skin irritation that retinol did. So for those of you who maybe have tried retinol and you found that it wasn't great for your skin because you got real dry and flaky and it never went away, I definitely recommend trying bakuchiol. Or better yet, even if you are doing well with retinol, why not add a bakuchiol moisturizer to the mix? You don't have to use just one anti-aging skincare ingredient. You can potentially use two if you have the means. If I had to pick two anti-aging ingredients to use every night for the skin, I would pick retinol and bakuchiol."

"If he has some of that filler melted away from his lips, if that filler was from hyaluronic acid, he may notice that those nerves can rebound a bit. The good thing with nerves is that they can regenerate. They can regenerate very, very slowly, but they can regenerate. It's just that they've been literally killed off, which could be a major problem for him. So stopping the filler and melting some of it away is what I would also recommend."

"Melanotan 2 is actually a black market product. It is not available for use in Europe, Canada, or the United States. It's not technically legal for use yet, but people are injecting it under their skin as a way to make their skin darker. There are major risks that can be associated with this injection, including skin cancer. It's still in a testing phase. So it sounds like they're getting experimental melanotan 2 type of injections, which is something you should definitely stay away from. Don't do it."

"If you're going to get skin tightening treatments utilizing some type of a heat-based treatment like Ultherapy, you may want to be careful with parts of the face like, let's say, the cheeks, in which you don't want to lose volume. I still have patients who undergo treatments with Ultherapy that tell me that their face looks thinner after these procedures are done. Be very careful with the upper part of the face."

"I published one of the first papers many years ago that showed fat loss by Thermage treatments and some of my patients way back then they would undergo a Thermage treatment and that Thermage would not only tighten up their skin but it would cause their face to look thinner afterwards. Supposedly those protocols have been changed a long time ago and that isn't so much of an issue anymore but I still have patients who undergo treatments with old style Thermage and even now they tell me that their face looks thinner after these procedures are done. So buy or beware if you're going to get skin tightening treatments utilizing some type of heat-based treatment like Thermage, you may want to be careful with parts of the face like the cheeks in which you don't want to lose volume. Usually it's not a big issue with the neck, most people don't mind getting rid of a little bit of fat there, but be very careful with the upper part of the face."

"When you add a little bit of filler into the cheeks maybe into the nasal labial folds, which are these wrinkles, you can help the face to look softer and more volumized and you can do it naturally. But when too much filler is added to the face it can make the face look overfilled and even stiff looking. The key with filler is not necessarily to avoid it entirely but to have a little bit of filler kind of spaced out. A little bit of filler can go a long way and if you're seeing somebody for the first time, maybe start with just a little bit of filler, get used to it, and then come back a month or two later for a little bit more if you want."

"Crest White Strips are little strips that you put over your front teeth that contain hydrogen peroxide and typically wear them for about 30 minutes and you do it every single day for about 10 to 14 consecutive days and every day when you look at your teeth you're going to see that they look just a little bit whiter. They've also come out with Express whitening where it's basically a white strip that is extra strong and you wear it for literally just an hour and you can see results immediately afterwards. They use hydrogen peroxide which is very commonly used for whitening of the teeth and it definitely works. They even have a complete system that you can buy that combines the express white with the regular whitening and LED whitening that's a type of light therapy for optimal results. If you've got staining of your teeth from let's say old smoking habits from drinking too much coffee or tea then this can definitely help with your teeth."

"The Foreo Bear is a microcurrent device that uses a very small electrical charge to stimulate the smooth muscles under your skin to lift and tighten up. By using this electrical current you can stimulate the smooth muscles to contract underneath the surface of the skin causing the skin to look tighter and lifted, and the results can actually be pretty impressive from these devices. If you want to turn back the clock by five years or so literally in the span of a short at-home treatment then these devices could definitely be worth your while."

"Dr Obagi started the skin care line Obagi as well as ZO Skin Health. Dr Obagi always recommended a pretty aggressive approach to skin care. He recommended using tretinoin or Retin-A at the highest strengths, he recommended using prescription strength hydroquinone and aggressive physical exfoliators. If you get on the original Obagi formulas you can get dry flaking red inflamed skin, skin that literally looks like you are erupting, and that can persist for a couple of months. But the interesting thing with Obagi and his recommendations is you give it a few months of this skin that's just literally peeling off your face and red and irritated and it can really aggressively reverse the aging process. For people who have really sun damaged thick age skin being aggressive with skin care can create some very impressive results. But the problem is this type of aggressive skin care may be good if you've got really aged sun damaged skin but it can be actually not so good if you've got skin that already looks pretty good."

"Health Dr Obagi always recommended a pretty aggressive approach to skin care. He recommended using tretinoin or Retin-A at the highest strengths, he recommended using prescription strength hydroquinone and aggressive physical exfoliators. If you get on the original Obagi formulas you can get dry flaking red inflamed skin, skin that literally looks like you are erupting, and that can persist for a couple of months. But the interesting thing with Obagi and his recommendations is you give it a few months of this skin that's just literally peeling off your face and red and irritated and it can really aggressively reverse the aging process. For people who have really sun damaged thick age skin being aggressive with skin care can create some very impressive results. But the problem is this type of aggressive skin care may be good if you've got really aged sun damaged skin but it can be actually not so good if you've got skin that already looks pretty good or if you've got skin that's sensitive or if you have dry skin. If you've got thin skin then by being really aggressive you can actually cause damage to your skin."

"Exosomes may actually work in a very similar way but there is very little scientific evidence so far that using exosomes helps with thinning hair except for one small study out of South Korea. But even though there's not a lot of scientific evidence it does not mean that exosomes don't help you with your hair, it just means that the studies haven't been published yet. In my opinion using exosomes is an exciting new way to potentially improve hair loss but more data really is needed to determine exactly where this treatment lies compared to all the other options for thinning hair."

"When you're injecting the forehead, you have to be very careful to mind the muscles of the forehead and do it very carefully. Sometimes we'll inject Botox in a V shape coming up the forehead to reduce the wrinkles of the central forehead, still leaving the eyebrows laterally moving up and down as they need to. If you're going to get Botox for the first time, one tip I would give you is to possibly consider avoiding the forehead. That takes a lot more skill to get a nice result. If you just want to try it and dabble in Botox, start with the glabella or with the crow's feet. You're much more likely to get a reasonable result that doesn't create too much of a change. Then when you've gotten used to how Botox works, you can progress to the forehead in future sessions."

"CoolSculpting has been around for a long time and it works by basically freezing the fat below the skin. The skin itself is much heartier than the fat underneath it and so when you chill it to a certain temperature those fat cells can crystallize they essentially die and your body clears it naturally. The issue that I have with doing this procedure on Mama June is that you can reduce the thickness with CoolSculpting by maybe 20% with a neck like Mama June's that's going to be like spitting in a lake it's not going to do anything significant to her neck. If you have a little bit of extra fat in the double chin area then this can definitely help it, but there ain't no way this CoolSculpting is going to take care of a neck like that."

"Dysport is a type of botulinum toxin similar to Botox and it really is the number one competitor to Botox today. The reason why this is a great bang for your buck is because for most people you can get a very similar result as you get from Botox but it's less expensive. Botox really works well to smooth out wrinkles of the upper face, to slim the jawline, and to even improve unwanted sweating, but it only lasts about three to four months and so it is pretty costly. So anytime you can get a procedure like that at a discount and still get a great result, that's a good thing."

"The only fillers that I recommend are hyaluronic acid fillers like Restylane or Juvederm or Teoxane. With hyaluronic acid fillers there is an antidote called hyaluronidase which is an enzyme that can melt that filler away some of it within literal seconds so if you have a lump that you're not happy with we can inject hyaluronidase to melt it away. Or if you get the dreaded intravascular occlusion where filler is accidentally injected into an artery causing loss of blood flow to a part of your face then we can try to melt that filler away and reestablish the blood flow."

"The only fillers that I recommend are hyaluronic acid fillers like Restylane or Juvederm or Teoxane. I'm also a fan of Sculptra in certain patients but there are other fillers that I am definitely not a fan of and these are the permanent or near-permanent fillers such as Bellafill, Radiesse and silicone. Now while these fillers may get you the result you're looking for at least initially, my concern is if you develop a complication. If you let's say have too much filler injected, how do you get rid of them? Well with hyaluronic acid fillers there is an antidote called hyaluronidase which is an enzyme that can melt that filler away, some of it within literal seconds. So if you have a lump that you're not happy with we can inject hyaluronidase to melt it away. Or if you get the dreaded intravascular occlusion where filler is accidentally injected into an artery causing loss of blood flow to a part of your face, then we can try to melt that filler away and reestablish the blood flow. The problem is if you have one of these permanent or semi-permanent non-hyaluronic acid fillers and you get a complication like this then you're basically just kind of screwed."

"I use a zinc oxide based cream, you guessed it a diaper rash cream all over my face. Zinc oxide is gold, it will help repair your face and heal your skin while locking in hydration, and when I wake up the next morning my face is as soft and smooth as my baby's butt. If you've got really dry irritated skin, zinc oxide which is the main component in Triple Paste is a good occlusive and it can help to improve that dryness, that real irritated, unhappy type of skin that you may have. However, the group of people who should exercise caution with this face basting is if you've got acne issues, this can potentially worsen them in the wrong patient."

"Tretinoin has been scientifically proven to improve fine lines and wrinkles, to thicken the dermis with a deeper layer of the skin, to smooth out the skin, to exfoliate the skin, to fade age spots and do a ton more. It really has been proven to be the most effective anti-aging cream that there is. But because it's hard to tolerate, most people do well with its younger cousin retinol."

"Not a good idea at all, horrible idea. Neosporin is an antibacterial, not only can it cause skin irritation, but you're also disrupting the microbiome on your skin, the microbiome, that are the trillions of bacteria that live on the surface of your skin. And if you use Neosporin, you're killing that bacteria, that bacteria is super important for your skin health. You do not want to do that."

"Head and Shoulders is antifungal, so it helps fungal acne. You guys, it worked. Look at my skin. She's healing. I cannot believe that this actually worked. Head and Shoulders cleared my skin in 3 days. So, is this something that you should try? Well, only if you have real fungal acne. Fungal acne is technically not acne like you may think it is. It doesn't create pimples. It doesn't cause breakouts that most of us who have acne have. Fungal acne is more of a folliculitis due to a type of fungus. And yes, this type of fungus is the same type of fungus that can create dandruff in your scalp. So, it's true that Head and Shoulders can treat that type of fungal acne, but technically, once again, it's not like the acne that you're used to. Now, fungal acne typically presents as tiny little bumps that are often itchy. Once again, not sounding like pimples and normal acne breakouts. So, if this is something that you think you have, my recommendation would be to see a dermatologist and get that confirmed. If however you have true acne, then Head and Shoulders is definitely not a solution for you."

"I actually take Nutrafol every day to treat my thinning hair. Nutrafol has now released vegan Nutrafol for women. Instead of containing animal-based collagen, it works to stimulate your body's own natural collagen using Maldavian dragon head, and this has been clinically shown to promote your body to synthesize collagen. Vegan Nutrafol also contains amino acids and minerals to add additional nutritional support for those of you who are on a plant-based diet. Like other Nutrafol products, it can take many months, four maybe six months, to see a result from this treatment, so you really have to be patient. I've heard from many many patients who swear by their Nutrafol, and I definitely recommend combining an oral supplement like Nutrafol with other modalities and topical treatments like low light laser therapy and serums."

"The CurrentBody helmet contains 120 LEDs that emit a spectrum of red light that research shows can optimally penetrate the scalp and stimulate hair follicles. This range of light has been shown to support hair growth and scalp health. The helmet comes in two different sizes, and many users see stronger, denser, healthier hair in about 12 weeks. In fact, one study showed a 123% increase in hair growth. You can also combine red light therapy with topical treatments, or you can use it on its own. The improvements can be impressive. The treatments are incredibly convenient because you can do them at home in complete privacy. Wearing the helmet is easy and you can even multitask while using it. It's FDA cleared, HSA and FSA eligible."

"I'm a huge fan of red light therapy because honestly this is one of the few things that you can do at home safely and that works. It's believed that the energy of red light therapy is transferred to the mitochondria of your cells causing them to create more ATP. Now mitochondria are the powerhouses of our cells and as we get older our mitochondria don't function as efficiently, they're not these great powerhouses anymore, and so the idea behind red light therapy is that the energy from that red light will help to power those mitochondria that can essentially energize your cells, cause them to act and function as if they're more youthful. There are studies that look at red light therapy and they've actually taken split face studies where they have treated one side of the face with a sham laser and the other side with red light therapy and found a significant increase in the collagen and the elastin in the side that was treated with red light therapy. They've also seen an improvement in fine lines and the overall fullness of the skin afterwards."

"Red light therapy is good overall for complexion. Red light is really good because the idea behind it is that it gives energy to your mitochondria so the mitochondria are the powerhouses of our cells, they create energy in the form of ATP, and if you use red light therapy the idea is that the energy from that red light can be infused into your cells powering your mitochondria. There are studies to show that if you do red light therapy that it can help improve the collagen of your skin, it can improve the elastin of your skin, and the wrinkles of your skin as well."

"Microcurrent devices use a very small electrical charge to stimulate the smooth muscles under your skin to lift and tighten up. By using this electrical current you can stimulate the smooth muscles to contract underneath the surface of the skin causing the skin to look tighter and lifted and the results can actually be pretty impressive from these devices. If you want to turn back the clock by five years or so literally in the span of a short at-home treatment then these devices could definitely be worth your while."

"Exosomes really are the future of skincare. These are essentially little messenger packets that will cause your skin to act in a certain way. Right now, we're kind of in the infancy of exosome serums in that they can help reduce redness, possibly improve fine lines, but I think we've got a lot in the future that exosomes can do. A lot of patients post treatment that use it say they feel like their skin heals a lot quicker, but that also is maybe attributing to the anti-inflammatory, getting rid of redness. I would knock one or two off because they're damn expensive. But it's replacing some other stuff if you look at it like that."

"Vitamin C is the most popular antioxidant in skincare and most big skincare lines have a vitamin C serum, but there was a study that found that if you combine vitamin C with vitamin E you can get a synergistic effect, and what that means is that their antioxidant abilities are actually much greater when you combine vitamin C and E than when you use them separately. This is why Skinceuticals C E Ferulic is one of the most popular vitamin C serums of all time."

"Nutrafol Women's Balance is one of the few supplements formulated specifically for post-menopausal women, and it contains many of the ingredients that help support hair health, such as ashwagandha which can help reduce the body's stress response, and collagen peptides. Early studies suggest that collagen may help keep hair in the growth cycle and collagen also provides important building blocks for hair structure."