Dr. Mary Christina Simpson of SeaMist MedSpa is back on the podcast today to discuss whether men can utilize the vast world of medical aesthetics to help them look and feel their best! Spoiler alert: They can! Dr. Simpson shares all the ways she has seen men, and everyone for that matter, take advantage of all that her field has to offer! Tune in to this episode to see if you or your man might want to give yourself a little something extra before the big day!
I am so excited to have you on again. When we had you on last time, we joked that we couldn’t forget the men in our life. And now you’re back to talk about just that! Introduce yourself again, Dr. Simpson!
My name is Mary Kristina Simpson. I am a physician who works in Rhode Island and I own a medical spa called Seamist Medspa, down in South Kingston and in Newport. We serve men, women, any gender, ages 18 to 99. And we take care of all people and for different events- from just normal everyday self care to preparation for weddings. I’ve been in medicine for 20 years and aesthetics for the last 5 years.
Let’s jump right in. I’ve heard the term “Brotox” – what’s the deal with that?
It’s just a silly pun on words. But “Brotox” is just Botox for men. As a reminder, when we say “Botox”, it’s a generic phrase – like Tupperware or Kleenex. There’s lots of variations of Botox that are on the market, like Xeomin, Dysport, Jeuveau, Botox and DAX FY.
How do you know what to use?
Definitely leave that up to an educated provider. Some people do have a preference (and others have none) but that plus your timeline will impact what we choose. If someone has an event in three days, we need something faster. If someone has more time or wants to be more frozen, that’s a different toxin.
That’s amazing. So, when should men start treatments for their special events?
So you really have to decide what your biggest problem area is. When you go into a provider, you can say “okay, I love this about myself, but I’d really like to improve this thing”. Depending on where the issue is, we’ll discuss the timelines but face and body are different timelines.
If we’re talking about Botox specifically, we want to plan at least a month ahead of time because it’s going to take about seven to 10 days for the Botox to kick in. Then, if we need to do it again or make adjustments, we’ll do that about 2 weeks out. Remember, these neurotoxins last for 3-4 months in most cases. So, ideally people can test them out before their event (3-6 months) and know what you love.
What are common areas people want to correct?
Men often want to correct the line that’s in the center of their eyebrows. So the single line, the elevens, the three lines: they’re seeing these lines after being outside or in the sun and want it corrected. Another area men like to treat is under their eyes – what we call the “tear trough”. A lot of men have dark circles and want to replace that volume. One of the quickest ways to do that is a dermal filler (hyaluronic acid filler) that will absorb water in those tissues. That can last between 6-18 months depending on the filler.
That leads me into my next question about fillers. Are there any other spots that you’re seeing men use fillers?
Absolutely, so we’re seeing them under the eyes and the cheeks in the jawline. Some men do their lips. You know, we treat men very similar to how we treat women in terms of products and such. We just treat them for the features that they are looking for. For example, a male jaw is usually more squared. A woman isn’t. A lot of men just want to look refreshed and add youthful volume.
What are some other tools that you are using to help stop or slow the aging process with men?
Skincare is huge. Doing things like a HydraFacial, or chemical peel to really help exfoliate off the top layers to cleanse the skin is beneficial. You know, glowing skin on men is as youthful as it is for women. Men tend to shave so they tend to exfoliate their face daily, whereas women dermaplane maybe monthly or maybe never at all, but they’re not tending to normally shave their face. So men tend to age a little more gradually because they actually are exfoliating when shaving.
We also do a lot of laser hair removal for areas of the face that guys don’t want to shave. They don’t want to shave their upper cheeks or the back of their necks. If you’re thinking about doing a series of laser hair removal before a big event, it takes about six weeks between treatments and about six treatments total. So you really have to plan ahead for that but that’s a really great way to have hair reduction there. For example, if you start now, you’ll be doing it throughout the winter and early spring before you start to get a lot of sun exposure again, which is great. Laser hair removal works best when you don’t have a lot of pigment on your skin.
Now, what are you doing with laser hair removal for men – like what areas?
I would say the most popular area that we’re treating is the upper cheek, where the beard tends to grow above the beard line and the upper cheek under the chin. The neck, the back of the neck, the back is a huge area for men. We do do other areas as well, you know, just like we do with women. But most men typically treat either very hairy backs or super hairy chests or things like that. That they want reduction, but not necessarily complete hair removal.
Back to the Hydrafacials: what exactly is that doing beyond brightening the skin?
So it’s cleansing the pores and exfoliating the top layers of the skin. By doing that, you’re brightening the top layers and cleaning all the areas. Then, we infuse actual serums back into those open pores. Depending what kind of solutions we use, we can do anti-aging, hydrating or acne control to treat the condition of the skin.
Ideally, you can do it every four to six weeks. But I think more typically people are doing it seasonally and throughout the year. Doing a series of them is really effective because you can treat cyclical acne and target with the products you have.
Okay, so we’ve talked about how to prep your face for the big day. But what about prepping your body?
Absolutely. So when we talk about men specifically, there’s a few treatments that men focus on more than women. One is hair loss. A lot of guys come in and their hair is thinning and they’re not really comfortable taking pictures because of the progression. So, we have PRP-D injections, which are platelet rich plasma injections, taken from your own blood, spun down and injected back into the scalp to help stimulate the hair follicle. Now, this is done in combination with other medications that have vitamins to stimulate growth and prevent future hair loss. We see a lot of younger guys doing this, especially as a preventative measure, if they see what’s happening with their father, grandfathers. Genetics scare them.
If you want to just do it before your event, consider starting 4-6 months before your wedding. It’s a monthly treatment for about 4 months in a row. You won’t see any hair growth for 2-6 months.
What are some other things that men can do to prepare for their big day?
A lot of men come in, worried about their abs or other parts of their body. They want to really just maximize their gym routine with us. So we recommend things like emSculpt, Neo or CoolScupting. There are different machines that treat fat and muscles. They’re essentially stimulation devices that are equivalent to 20,000 situps in 30 minutes. The Neo helps burn about 30% of fat each treatment cycle, which is 4-6 weeks. So you really want to plan for that a few months ahead. CoolSculpting helps get rid of stubborn fat areas – flanks and lower abs are popular for men. You need to plan a good 15-16 weeks before the wedding and you’ll do your second treatment about 12 weeks but it will take about 3 months to see those results.
The fat loss is permanent – about 25% with each cycle. emSculpt will last about 6 months so you’ll need maintenance for that. Like any muscle you stimulate, if you let it go, it’s going to go back to atrophying. It’s like the gym – you can’t just stop going and expect to continue to see results. With CoolScupting, you’ll do it once or twice and will generally be done there unless you gain a ton of weight.
Remind us again the differences between those options.
emSculpt and Neo are both muscle toning devices. They use a magnet to help those muscles vibrate through the simulations. With that, you burn some of the fat in those areas. CoolSculpting is decreasing fat by using cold temperatures. Another thing you could do is B12 injections to help boost your system. This is a larger dose than you’d get in your food. It helps to boost your metabolism, weight loss, and those things. To be clear, it’s not something that everyone needs but it might help you! It can also help with sleep, too.
If you have a true B12 deficiency, it’s going to really affect you more than someone who has a normal or high level. We have a lot of vegans and vegetarians who come in and they’re not consuming a lot of B12 in their diet, so they’re normally a little low. These supplements can help supercharge them. Thinking about energy, we also treat a lot of second time grooms who are getting married again or later in life, as well as many fathers. They come in because of their decreased energy. So we can also do hormone treatments with testosterone replacement. Oftentimes, we’ll test these levels and their testosterone is low. Bringing that up can help with energy, weight loss, and feeling fatigued.
There’s so many things they can come in for!
Yes! And don’t forget, we can do an IV party with your bridal party. Everyone can get a hydration IV or hangover relief. You can also do things like HydraFacials. But, doing these as a group activity is a really nice way to hang out and get some self-care.
Wrap-Up Question
What are some key points that couples should be asking their medical provider when they’re inquiring to make sure that they are working with a professional company to ensure that their wedding day is going to be an absolutely perfect event?
Make sure you’re working with a trained medical professional when having medical treatments done.
Don’t forget to go in for a consultation well before you’d want to have treatments done so you have time to plan accordingly.
Determine what the cost will be financially for your treatments and plan for that. It’s nice to be able to create a schedule for our clients.
What We Discussed
What’s “Brotox”? (3:44)
How to Slow the Aging Process (7:30)
Laser Hair Removal (9:06)
Tips about B12 Injections (19:11)
Wrap Up Question (21:45)
Links Mentioned in the Episode
You can find Seamist MedSpa: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
You can subscribe to this podcast from wherever you’re listening so you never miss an episode. And, we would so appreciate it if you left a fabulous review for our show on Apple podcast! Even better, share it with a friend. It’s a great way to show your support and let us know what you think. Thank you so much for listening!
