# 640. The Brutally Honest Anti-Aging Episode: What Actually Works (And What’s a Waste of Money)

An episode of [The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1529800263), 19 Jun 2026, 1 h 00 min.

Audio: https://episode.flightcast.com/fz4lfas33xl9i93s4hcbf58y.mp3

What if everything you've been told about anti-aging is only half the story? In this brutally honest episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on my complete anti-aging routine and sharing exactly what I do, what I've stopped doing, and what I believe is actually worth the investment. From thyroid health, hormones, collagen, protein intake, and inflammation to skincare, red light therapy, exosomes, lasers, Botox, fillers, and even surgery, nothing is off limits. I'm also calling out the beauty industry myths that drive me crazy and exposing the expensive treatments that delivered little to no results. What you’ll learn: • The surprising place anti-aging really begins • Why one common health issue may be accelerating aging faster than you realize • The treatment trend that might be doing more harm than good • The skincare products that actually moved the needle for me • What I wish I knew before spending thousands on beauty treatments • The anti-aging technology that completely changed my perspective • My honest thoughts on Botox, fillers, and where many people go wrong I walk you through the inside-out approach I use to support healthy aging, including the role hormones play in skin quality, why collagen and protein matter more than most people realize, and the treatments that have made the biggest difference for me personally. You don’t want to miss this one! Amie's Favorite Products: https://health.dramie.com/beauty-guide! Grab your Thyroid Fixer here: https://betterlifedoctor.com/ New here? Use code LISTEN20 for 20% off your first order Returning customers can use code LISTEN10 for 10% off SHOP DR. AMIE’S FIXXR® SUPPLEMENTS: betterlifedoctor.com LET'S GET YOUR LIFE BACK...Connect with Dr. Amie Hornaman Book a free thyroid and hormone solution call: https://dramiehornaman.com/pages/book-a-call CHECK OUT MY FREEBIES... JUST CLICK BELOW Thyroid Optimization Guide: https://health.dramie.com/thyropause 7 Day Thyroid Healing Kickstarter: https://fixyourthyroid.com/7daykickstarter Thyroid on Trial: https://health.dramie.com/thyroid-on-trial-optin RATE, REVIEW AND FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS Show your love for Dr. Amie and The Thyroid Fixer Podcast! If you’re enjoying our journey together, I’d be thrilled if you could take a moment to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. Your support helps me reach and help more people just like you, guiding them towards their optimal selves! Just click HERE, scroll all the way down, give us those 5 stars, and share what you enjoy about my episodes in a review. Haven’t subscribed yet? Make sure to follow The Thyroid Fixer Podcast to catch all the new episodes that come out every week. Follow HERE and never miss out on a moment of the journey! CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Join my exclusive Facebook Group and get questions answered LIVE weekly, Just Fix Your Thyroid, for a Community of HOPE and SUPPORT in your thyroid journey. https://www.facebook.com/groups/dramie/ Like me on Facebook: Amie Hornaman Nutrition and Functional Medicine Subscribe on YouTube: Dr. Amie Hornaman Follow me on Instagram: @dramiehornaman

## Transcript

[0:00] There is no judgment on anybody and there shouldn't be judgment from you on anybody else either. If somebody chooses to do something, that's on them. If somebody chooses to not do something, that's on them. We all have to choose our own path. But isn't it nice just to have the information laid out in front of you so that you can actually make the best decision?
[0:22] Welcome to the Thyroid and Hormone Fixer podcast. If you've been told everything is fine, but you're gaining weight despite doing all the right things, struggling with brain fog, mood swings, low libido, or feeling like a stranger in your own body, you're in the right place.
[0:38] I'm Dr. Amy, the thyroid fixer, and I want you to know right now, I see you, I believe you, and you don't have to figure this out alone anymore. We're going to do this together. But I'm also not here to play nice with bad medicine or empty promises. This show is meant to disrupt the entire health space. We're gonna challenge the status quo, connect all the dots other providers miss, and give you real practical science-backed tools you can use today.
[1:07] You're not going to get any more recycled biohacking advice, just truth, strategy, and hope. Let's get you back to feeling like the badass human you're meant to be.
[1:22] Can we just talk about the fact that even when your thyroid and your hormones are optimized and your labs look amazing and you're doing all the right things, that your hair can still get dry and break and get wispy and thin and you're like, I can't even style it. Your skin still changes. It's still getting older. It's still wrinkling. Aging is still happening.
[1:45] And there are days, and I know you because I'm there as well, there are days you look in the mirror and you go, did I just age five years overnight? I'm not quite sure that this is possible, but I swear to God it's happening.
[2:01] I understand. And, you know, aging is, it's tough. And maybe for some of you, it's easy. Maybe for some of you, it is easy. But for some of us, it is tough. Nobody gave me a handbook that said, wow, as you, you know, go into your 50s and absolutely crest 50s.
[2:20] that you're going to start looking around at all of these celebrities and movie stars and rock stars that you grew up with and go, wow, they really age, wait a minute, I'm the same age. And then you realize that you're aging too. And it's a blow. It's a tough, tough blow to many, many people, including myself, including myself. Now, I am a self-professed
[2:46] Huge anti-aging junkie. And yeah, I have haters out there. My gosh, there's many, many people that have nothing better to do with their time than insult other people while hiding behind some kind of social media, you know, screen platform avatar that probably isn't even them. But I understand that many of you might look at me and go, well, you do too much, Dr. Amy.
[3:09] Okay, that's your prerogative. And then I look at other people and go, man, if girlfriend would just get a facial or do some Botox, like maybe she wouldn't look 80 when she's actually 55. So, you know, both sides of the spectrum.
[3:26] You have to fall where you're going to fall. And you have to figure out where you want to land and how much you want to do. But what I want to do is pull back the curtain today on my full beauty, anti-aging, everything routine from hair to skin to lasers to collagen support to inflammation reduction, detoxification, detoxification.
[3:46] skin tightening and basically aging better from the inside out. So if you ever wondered all the different things that I do, then we're going to go over that. And really, I'm going to shed a light on what I've tried that hasn't worked as well, because there's a lot of things that you really shouldn't be doing.
[4:06] Okay, so big disclaimer why I am doing this episode. Before we dive in, let me just tell you what drives me bananas. The celebrities and the Instagram influencers that claim that they all use their non-toxic skincare products and like some magical face oil. And that's all they do. And meanwhile, they've had Botox and filler and lasers and skin tightening and treatments and maybe surgery.
[4:30] But they're trying to convince you that their collagen powder and their multi-level marketing moisturizer are the reason that they look 32 at the age of 57. So I'm calling bullshit and I will never fake you out. How honest have I always been with you? I am honest, always, always honest with you. I always tell you that I don't eat perfectly. I'm never going to stand on a stage and say, I avoid seed oils all the time. No, I freaking don't. No, I don't. And guess what? I don't avoid gluten all the time either. I don't.
[4:59] Because I'm not celiac and it absolutely slips by the goalie. And I don't care. So I'm certainly not going to lie to you about what I do from a beauty routine, surgery, skincare, Botox, blah, blah, blah. No, I'm not going to lie to you with that, with any of that information. I'm going to be upfront and honest because I don't even know what the point of lying is. We can see right through you. We can totally tell that you've had surgery, Kim Kardashian, right?
[5:27] or Khloe, or whatever Kay Kardashian there is out there that hasn't hit the scene yet. My God. So I really don't care if people judge me, because at least I'm not lying to your face pretending some beauty cream is the only reason.
[5:41] that my skin looks the way that it does. And listen, I'm also fully aware, I feel like we need a ton of disclaimers with this episode. Not every woman is into anti-aging the way that I am. And that's completely okay. Take what you want to take from this episode and leave what you don't. Just tailor this to your goals, your budget, and basically your level of interest.
[6:07] Me personally, I am absolutely, like I said, a self-professed anti-aging beauty nut job. And I fully admit it and I embrace it all at the same time. And honestly, one of the reasons I wanted to do this episode too is because I have wasted so much money over the years on like the overhyped skincare, the trendy treatments that are out there that I absolutely get roped into, procedures that did not move the needle whatsoever, total waste of time and money.
[6:35] and expensive products with zero real results. I want to break that down for you as well to try to save you some money. So I'm not just going to tell you what I love. I'm going to tell you what I would not spend your money on, what I would not spend my money on ever again, and what actually worked and what didn't work.
[6:52] work and what's really overhyped. So at the end of the day, I don't think women should feel ashamed for wanting to look good, feel confident, or age in reverse like Benjamin Button. We haven't figured that out yet, but you can still want that and you can still try for that. And maybe one day in our lifetime, there will be that option to literally age backwards.
[7:15] Okay, so let's start with the foundation because beauty starts internally. So we're going to work from the inside out. You cannot separate thyroid function, hormones, inflammation, mitochondria, nutrient status, collagen production from hair and skin quality. They all go together.
[7:36] So if your thyroid is in the toilet, if it's not being properly treated, addressed, adjusted with the right combination of thyroid hormone, and that does not mean that you're on Levo or Synthroid. If you're on Levo or Synthroid only, it doesn't work. And this episode is for you because your skin is going to be dry and your hair is going to be garbage. That's just what happens with a low functioning thyroid or a non-optimized thyroid.
[8:03] Now, if you're on T4 only, we've talked ad nauseum about reverse T3. You can go back and listen to a ton of different episodes on reverse T3. When reverse T3 is elevated because you're on T4 only or you're taking natural desiccated thyroid, and that NDT, which is 80% T4, is also driving up your reverse T3, and nobody's paying attention to it.
[8:24] But you should be, that elevator reverse T3 is going to create a lot of inflammation. And what's going to happen is your skin's going to be very, very dry. You're not going to have that nutrient delivery to your skin. So there's no way that you can build collagen and elastin in an inflamed state. You also can't get the nutrient delivery to your hair follicle, to your skin when you're in that inflamed state. And when your thyroid is low and slow, that circulation just isn't there.
[8:54] We know hypothyroidism affects hair quality, so you can lose hair. You can have an autoimmune flare and actually lose patches of hair and it turns into alopecia areata, or you can just have hair thinning, dry skin, brittle nails, all of that with low and slow thyroid function. Then we move over to the hormone side. And if your estrogen is
[9:16] low. If it's below 50 picograms per milliliter, then you don't even have the bone, brain, breast, and heart protection, let alone anything for your skin to go off of. Collagen and elastin require enough estrogen. That is why you feel like you are aging rapidly because you are when you are in perimenopause and definitely menopause. I'll tell you a quick story. Back when,
[9:45] uterine cancer. I was on, because I do really, really well on higher doses of estradiol. I feel good. My skin stays plump. It's amazing. I get zero side effects. I do great on it. Well, of course, for a month, that first month, you know, you get that big C diagnosis and you start freaking out a little bit and you start listening to other people other than yourself. And so I admittedly lowered my estrogen. I didn't pull it out completely. I'm
[10:14] I just lowered it down to a dose that would still be considered high for most of you. I actually lowered it down and I was putting on 2.1 milligram patches. So I was essentially taking in 0.2 milligrams of estradiol in the patch form.
[10:31] twice a week. And I would change those two patches out twice a week. And it still wasn't enough. I swear to God, I swear to you, my skin aged, I would say probably about three years in the matter of three to four weeks.
[10:48] And I thought I was losing my mind. I'm like, am I really seeing what I'm seeing? So I checked in with colleagues and they go, yep. Yep, that can happen. Because that's what happens to women in menopause when they enter menopause without hormones. They age rapidly, rapidly. Because that drop in estrogen, there's no amount of collagen supplementation that can override the drop of estrogen and how that affects your skin quality. Right.
[11:15] So first and foremost, you better be on BHRT as you enter perimenopause because if you go into menopause without hormones, your skin's going to age rapidly. And I don't know if anything that we talk about today is actually going to matter. If you're walking around with low thyroid function, it's not going to matter either.
[11:33] So we have to start with the inside and work our way outside. Now, still on the inside, we need to discuss protein intake because you need the proper amounts of amino acids on a daily basis for you to have building blocks for collagen and elastin and to...
[11:50] feed your hair. Your hair requires amino acids. Your nails require amino acids. Like those are the building blocks. Amino acids are required for collagen, keratin, tissue repair, muscle preservation,
[12:06] And let's face it, most of you under eat your protein. You're not getting in the proper amount of grams of protein per day. You're not taking digestive enzymes with your protein to break down and help your body utilize those amino acids.
[12:22] So this is where a couple tools come into play. So key on aminos, I use those every single day. I have those in my water bottle right now. This is my second scoop that I put in. I drink these at least two to three times a day. I throw a scoop in two to three times a day into my water to keep the amino acids flowing.
[12:40] I will also put in a scoop of Fixer formulas, collagen protein Fixer 2.0, because that has bioactive collagen peptides in it, which is proven to improve skin elasticity, reduce wrinkles, reduce cellulite, and actually improve connective tissue integrity and hair structure support. So I add that in with my aminos into water. It just disappears or I'll have my collagen in my coffee in the morning.
[13:08] But you need to have the collagen and amino acids, collagen and amino acids. Because if you don't have that collagen and the amino acids, you have nothing that
[13:18] As a building block, you're not giving your body anything that it can build from. So what it's going to do if we don't have enough protein and amino acids, it will actually break down our muscle and break down our hair in order to steal the amino acids and the protein that our bodies need.
[13:38] Now, collagen becomes even more important as estrogen declines because collagen production naturally drops as your estrogen goes down. And that's why you're aging so quickly. And that's why I saw my skin age so quickly when I reduced my estradiol dose is because you need collagen and you need estradiol as that building block. When estradiol drops, collagen production drops as well.
[14:04] So this is one of those things where really consistency matters. You can't be willy-nilly with your protein or your aminos or your collagen. You need to be feeding your skin, your hair, and your connective tissues on a daily basis from the inside out.
[14:21] Now, if you struggle getting in the grams of protein in food, then you should be taking in Power Protein Fixer 2.0, which is a bone beef collagen isolate. So it's a bone broth-based protein powder.
[14:37] It's beef isolate from grass fed cows. In my opinion, the best tasting protein powder on the market, especially when it comes to the beef isolate, because so many of them out there taste like you're eating a cow. Like I want to drink a chocolate milkshake here. And it tastes like I'm drinking chocolate dirt or chocolate steak, which that's not a great combination whatsoever. Yeah.
[15:00] So if you need to get in more protein, then add in my fixer formula protein because it's honestly the best on the market, full array of amino acids. So you got to be adding those in because you need to be feeding your hair, your skin from the inside out, from the inside out. Okay, now we're kind of working on the outside. What about detoxing? So let's talk about how important it is to detox your skin.
[15:26] So I use my sunlight and sauna about three times a week. I use that anti-aging program because you're getting the infrared exposure, you're getting the stress reduction, the detoxification, and then the improved recovery and you're improving circulation. So as you improve your circulation,
[15:44] in your body as you detox toxic chemicals that obviously anytime that we can detox, we are improving our skin health because you're getting out the garbage that is obviously going to oxidize on your skin. So those reactive oxygen species or ROSs, those
[16:03] accelerate aging of our skin, just like they accelerate aging internally and cause various disease states. So we need to be detoxing and sweating from a hormonal standpoint. We want to be detoxing our hormones. We want to be detoxing toxins that we are exposed to on the daily. But our skin, which is our largest organ, also requires that same level of detoxification. Now, when we're in the sauna, we're going to be detoxing.
[16:31] We are sweating, we are detoxing, we are improving circulation, but we're also reducing inflammation, which is going to improve our skin. Now, you don't want to jump into the sauna after having some kind of laser or skincare treatment done because that can irritate the top layer of your skin.
[16:49] But this is for the in-between, like in between your, let's say, laser treatments or anything that you're doing to your skin. You want to do the sauna where it's not going to be irritating, but you are going to get that flush, that redness and that sweating coming out of the skin, which is going to help with circulation and detox.
[17:06] Now, I think we really underestimate how much chronic stress accelerates aging. So when we're pumping out cortisol, when we are chronically stressed, and that can be emotional stress, that can be physical stress, that can be environmental stress from things that we're exposed to on the daily basis that we're not getting rid of.
[17:25] That really does accelerate aging. I mean, have you ever seen someone, maybe it was you, maybe it's a friend of yours, a family member, go through something really, really stressful, a death, a divorce. You know, you just know they've just gone through the ringer. And you look at them, and again, it might be like, wow, wow.
[17:45] Bob really aged like seriously, like 10 years. And in the last couple of years, it's craziness. And that is from stress. You know that Bob or Sue or Jane went through a tremendous stressor and you could see it in their skin. It's like, what the heck happened? And, you know, it's not the stress itself didn't put bad things on their skin. This was an inside job.
[18:13] This is proof positive that stress increases inflammation to a level that we can't even comprehend, but we can comprehend it when we see it, when we can visibly see stress age a person. And we all know somebody. I'm speaking right now and you're all going, oh, yep, yep, I totally know exactly who she's talking about, my friend, my neighbor, my husband, my wife. Yeah.
[18:38] rapidly aged when they went through this massive stressor. And it's just the truth. So even getting into your sauna and getting into that parasympathetic state, getting out of sympathetic where we're go, go, go, and getting some nervous system regulation going where we're reducing our inflammation or reducing our stress response is highly beneficial to our skin as well.
[19:01] Now, moving on from the sauna and detoxing, I want to talk about skin care and, you know, kind of doing this in chunks, like moving from one station to the next, really. So now I want to talk about why topical skin care usually doesn't work. So, okay, we worked on the inside. We're sweating the toxins out. We're getting in the parasympathetic. We're reducing inflammation. Okay.
[19:31] Now, what are we putting on our skin? So let's say we come in from the sauna, we get a nice shower, we're washing our skin very gently with a nice organic wash. I don't care what you use there. I use Karina Organics. I'll use the One Skin OS One, just skin prep. They're very, very clean facial wash. And then I will also use Yungoos.
[19:56] They're just basic cleanser. So cleanser, I'm not really like overly anal about. Just using something that's very, very clean and non-stripping of your skin. You know, you don't want to be washing your face with toxins. So, you know, finding a nice gentle foaming cleanser or a nice milky cleanser if you have dry skin, I think is perfection. But then we move on to, okay, what do we do after we wash our skin?
[20:23] So now there's a variety of different skincare techniques, like whether you're doing an exfoliant or retinol or retin-A or any of that. But I'm just going to talk about here's what I do. But let's start with why most skincare doesn't actually work. As I've talked to experts through the years and really dove into this, most skincare just hydrates temporarily. You're just putting it on the surface. It's not actually penetrating deeply. Right.
[20:49] And it's just giving you this smooth hydration plumping for like 20 minutes to an hour. But it's not actually changing your cellular signaling. It's not stimulating any kind of meaningful collagen remodeling or collagen production.
[21:06] It's not impacting tissue regeneration. So basically, it's not doing anything to truly age. It's helping you in the moment. It's an expensive moisturizer. The problem is, though, that these products, they're just not formulated to get deep enough into the skin to actually create any kind of transformation. They're working on that surface layer. So that's why I became so interested in true regenerative aesthetics.
[21:33] peptides, exosomes, the red light therapy, treatments that communicate with your skin on a cellular level. So first of all, when we're in the sauna, we're getting some infrared light, but then there are products that we can do to literally target our skin and get it really nice and close. Because when you're in the sauna, you're getting the infrared, the near infrared, the far infrared, the mid infrared, all on your body.
[21:57] you know, on your face, on your back, on your arms, on your legs, you're sitting away from the light. And it is penetrating, yes, and you're getting all the benefits of the sauna that we just talked about. But it's also amazing to wear a really high quality red light therapy mask. Because what we know about red light is it works. It actually freaking works as one of those biohacking tools that I have done...
[22:24] I really have done my due diligence in trying to debunk the benefits of red light. And I can't because all the benefits are just tried and true and they're proven. They're not hyped up whatsoever. So I use, I'm sticking with the sunlight in line and we'll have all of these links and discount codes in the show notes. Yes, I'm talking about some sponsors. I'm also talking about things that they're not sponsors, but I use them anyways. But any of my sponsors...
[22:50] I'm talking about them because I love it. Like they're not going to be a collaborator. I'm not going to work with anybody that I don't vet, that I don't use, that I don't love, that I don't literally use on a day-to-day basis. I know there's some influencers out there that do. And that's literally how they make their money is just churn through promoting products and pushing products. And I know you all know some podcasts that have really gone like cray-cray with this.
[23:16] really off the charts, in my opinion, because you don't even know what to believe. But anything that I talk about, I've used for an extended period of time. I have vetted, I have seen results on, that's why I'm partnering up with them. And I mean, I've loved Sunlighten for years now. I'm
[23:33] My gosh, I mean, I talk about them even when we're not working together directly. I talk about Sunlighten because they're the only sauna company that I would use. So when it comes to red light masks, you know, you've seen a lot of Instagram and TikTok videos of people walking around with their goofy looking red light mask on. Here's why I like Sunlighten. So I have two or three of these red light masks. I like Sunlighten because number one, it's comfortable. You don't have a wire hanging out that's attached to an external little control panel. Right.
[24:02] The everything is right on the mouse. So you can walk around your house freely. You can see through it. Yes, you look like an alien, but you can see through it.
[24:11] And it has different modes. So it's got red light, which is your collagen production, your skin rejuvenation, targeting fine lines and circulation. You have infrared light for deeper penetration, healing, inflammation reduction, and mitochondria support. And then you've got the blue light, which is acne support, antibacterial effects, and it calms breakouts. So you can go between all three programs with the sunlight and red light therapy mask.
[24:41] as often as I possibly can. I mean, I'll use it seven days a week if I'm home and I think about it. What I try to do, and here's how I use it, and I'll get into the products that I use too. But what I try to do is I will wash my face at night and usually I'll dermal roll about once a week. Then I will put on a serum, which I'll go through the serum. So I'll,
[25:03] The Vitaly Exosomes I put on first, then I put on a GHKCU serum, and then I will put on the sunlight mask, the red light therapy mask, because then with the dermal rolling and the serum, I'm going to put on a GHKCU serum.
[25:20] That's going to push everything even deeper. So the red light therapy is going to work with the serum to even be more effective. Now, you don't have to dermal roll. I don't always dermal roll. Like I said, maybe once a week, once every other week. But I will still wash my face, put my serums on, and then throw the red light mask over it. And then what you will see on your face when you're using it on your face, more healing, more glowing.
[25:45] more collagen support, improvement of fine lines. Now you can always move that red light therapy mask down onto your neck and shine it on your thyroid because we know that red light therapy also helps your thyroid. So if you're going to buy something, why would you buy like a thyroid red light device? Like buy one for your face so that you can use it on your face. You can use it on
[26:09] You can put it on your head as a little hat and get the benefits of your hair and your scalp as well. You don't need a different red light device for everything. Like those neck ones are goofy. It's like, why would you just want to put it on your neck? Now you can't use it anywhere else. Like it's hard to put the neck one on your face and get your whole face, but it's easy to put the whole face one on your neck. So my opinion, more bang for your buck to get the sunlight and red light therapy mask and use it in multiple places.
[26:37] Now, as we're moving on to hair, like I said, you can put it on your head. So dermal rolling of your scalp, it's a bigger dermal roller. It's specifically for the scalp and you dermal roll your scalp. And this is where I use the One Skin Hair Serum because I got to tell you, before and afters of my friends that have used it, patients that have used it, absolutely unbelievable, like jaw dropping.
[27:05] I mean, I'm talking if you have, especially around your hairline, ladies, or on the top of your hair, along your part or the back of your head, like the crown, if that's starting to thin out and you're starting to see skin or scalp.
[27:20] If you do this religiously, if you add in the one skin, OS one hair every day, you don't even have to put the red light mask on. Just add that to those areas. You will see regrowth in like three to four months. The before and after pictures are incredible. Absolutely incredible. I wish I had been more consistent with it.
[27:44] Because my hair as of late has been really, really dry and brittle and icky. So what I'm going to do is get back into my dermal rolling of my scalp, especially in the thin areas. Ladies, did you know that we get like a five and a six head as we go into menopause? So dermal rolling along the hairline, along the scalp, along the part, and then putting that serum on. And then, yeah, if you can hit it with a red light, that's just 10Xs your results.
[28:13] But the One Skin Hair Serum, oh my gosh, absolutely amazing. So we're derma rolling. We're applying the One Skin Hair Serum. We're using the Red Light Therapy Mask on our scalp for circulation, follicle support.
[28:27] mitochondria support, enhanced absorption of that serum, and then a healing response and a calming of inflammation of the scalp, which also helps with circulation and nutrients. So we're basically combining mechanical stimulation, topical signaling, and the red light therapy all together, all together. Now, what we will do next is go into the regenerative beauty and exosomes talk. So
[28:57] Vitaly has exosomes and you can apply them to your face. Wait, I thought I had to like get them from a fetus and from, or bone marrow or something. No, no, no, no, no. You're thinking of stem cells and stem cell therapy and all of that. These are exosomes. So they are basically tiny little signaling messengers. Think of them like, like little communication packets that tell your cells to repair, right?
[29:27] regenerate, heal, produce more collagen, reduce these wrinkles, make the skin look better. And so they literally help with firmness, elasticity, texture, your glow. This is way different than just moisturizing the surface of your skin. We are talking about cellular communication and exosomes are the only things on the market that do this.
[29:53] Retin-A doesn't. Retinols don't. GHKCU does not. Exosomes do. They actually reduce inflammation. They support healing. They support recovery. They support skin regeneration and collagen and elastin production. So you will actually see a difference. How many moisturizers and skincare serums and anti-aging serums have you purchased that you're like, I've gone through two, three bottles now.
[30:23] and I don't really notice the difference. Exosomes, you will. And if you put these on after microneedling or after lasers, oh my gosh, it's like 10x. But just even using it every single day, every single day. And if you want a dermal roll and then put the exosomes on,
[30:40] Angels will start to sing. I swear. Angels will start to sing. The Vitality Exosomes, by far my favorite. Like if I have to shuttle my skincare budget and narrow things down, I'll take other things out. Like I'll take out the moisturizers. I'll even take out the GHKCU topical. And I will just...
[31:01] do the Vitaly exosomes because the exosomes are more expensive. Every exosome product out there is more expensive. So I will just do the Vitaly exosomes. And then on top, I will throw on the Young Goose hyperbaric mask, which I also love and call it a day. And that'll be it. That, that will be all I will use. Now I do, I mentioned GHKCU topical copper peptides
[31:28] So GHKCU, you know, when you start looking into that information and those studies, goes all the way back to the 1970s, where there are studies out there that say, oh, my gosh, GHKCU 10X is retinols and retin-A. And that used to be, like, retinols and retin-A used to be the only thing.
[31:50] that would actually produce any kind of anti-aging effect or reduce wrinkles because it was the only thing on the market at the time that would go deep enough to actually stimulate that collagen production. Now we know the GHKCU topical copper peptides do that. They stimulate collagen. They help with healing, skin tightening. They're anti-inflammatory. You can use it on your hair as well. You derma roll your hair. You can put the GHKCU topical copper peptides on your scalp.
[32:18] that supports your hair growth as well. Now you can also inject these. They do come as a peptide that you can inject as well, but you can, honestly, I find better results using them topically than internally as an injectable peptide. I will use them as an injectable peptide post-surgery, but honestly, trying them on a daily, now again, whenever you're using injectables,
[32:43] an injectable peptide, you don't know what you would be without it, right? You can sit and go, I don't really notice anything, but where would you be without it? So it's not like I've noticed a tremendous improvement injecting the GHKCU copper peptides, but I do notice them topically, especially when combined with the exosomes. Those have been the two that have really moved the needle outside of the lasers I'm going to talk about. Those are the two that have really, really moved the needle on my skin overall.
[33:09] Let's see, what else did I want to discuss before we move on? Oh, before we go on the lasers, let's talk about daily protection and overnight repair. So the one skin tinted SPF moisturizer has now become my new favorite. I've talked about it on social media as well. I can put it on and avoid using foundation. Like I can literally use that. Now, a lot of that is because of everything else that I'm talking about, of how I take care of my skin and the different lasers I've done.
[33:36] to allow me to use a very light tinted SPF protection. But with one skin, you're also getting the peptide support. They've added a layer of protection with their peptides and their tinted SPF moisturizer where it's protecting you from blue light. Because I had no idea. I had no idea that literally this blue light that is shining on my skin right now as I record this episode
[34:00] is damaging my skin. It's producing oxidative stress. This is environmental aging. It's not just the sun. It's not just the sun that we have to protect our skin from. It's chemical exposure. It's the crap that's in the air that lands on our skin. It's the blue freaking light that we're exposed to every day. And it pisses me off now. Now that I've learned it, it pisses me off.
[34:22] But at least there's something we can do about it. And at least even if I'm not going outside, I'll still use the One Skin Tinted SPF moisturizer because of the protection of the blue light and the UV rays and the screens and the oxidative stress and the inflammation all day long.
[34:39] all day long. So the One Skin SPF moisturizer is actually supporting my skin health while protecting it at the same time. Then at night before I go to bed, I mentioned the Young Goose Hyperbaric Mask. That goes on top of the exosomes for overnight repair, hydration, like your skin will look better.
[34:59] like a baby's bottom in the morning, barrier support, because nighttime is when your skin naturally shifts into repair mode. So that's when I put on products that support that regeneration process. Okay, now we'll move on to the Fun Fun lasers. I've tried a bunch of them.
[35:17] And I'll tell you what works and what doesn't. So BBL laser. BBL is good for pigmentation. It's broadband light. It's good for sun damage. It's not dramatic for tightening or wrinkles. If you do have a lot of sun damage, you know, a lot of those brown spots or age spots, you baked in the sun like I did as a kiddo or as a teenager, you hit those tanning beds like I did as well.
[35:41] then you want to do the BBL because you want to get rid of that sun damage. You know, skin just does look better when it doesn't have those brown spots in age. That's why they call them age spots. They used to call them liver spots, you know, with our parents, grandparents, like the liver spots on their arms. Now we're calling them age spots.
[35:59] because they do appear more as we age. You know, they start off as cute little freckles when we're in our teens and 20s, and then they become age spots as we get into 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. But yeah, BBL is great for that, great for pigmentation, not dramatic for tightening your wrinkles. I've also done Halo. Now, Halo is a modified, it's kind of a hybrid laser where it is affecting the surface of your skin, and it's penetrating to the deep layers to stimulate collagen production.
[36:29] But I will tell you, I think Halo is incredible for the right person, but my skin does not like it, does not tolerate it. When I did Halo, yes, you have about a seven-day downtime. You swell up. You look like a freak. And you have all of these little brown, they call it like microscopic endothelial. They call it the men's. Microscopic endothelial. I can't believe I'm remembering this. Dermal something or other.
[36:55] And it's just basically your sun damage coming up to the surface and flaking off. So you look like a freak for about a week. Well, I broke out so bad that I had to spend six months on antibiotics. So I no longer do the halo. And I will tell you in looking deeper into Korean skincare, and I'm going to talk more about this, but the Korean skincare model is you do not damage the surface of your skin.
[37:20] You stimulate collagen production from within. You don't damage the surface because you're stripping away that protective barrier. And you're going to damage your skin and age faster as you damage your skin. So all of these like CO2 lasers, halo, all of that, got to be a little careful because you're literally stripping your skin. Really do your research and look at reviews and look at before and afters and the whole deal.
[37:44] I've also done Moxie, which is a baby Halo. Very, very subtle results. I didn't break out like I did with Halo, but underwhelming for texture and wrinkles. I just personally, personally did not see enough change to get really excited about Moxie.
[37:59] Now, the one that I am really excited about is the Neogen Plasma Laser. So about a month ago, I did the Neogen Plasma at Dr. Steve's office in Scottsdale, Arizona. I will put a link down below because, again, not a sponsor. This is me just, I knew I was going to be in Arizona. There are very few Neogen lasers out there. And I really wanted to try it based on everything, all my research on it, where it goes deep
[38:26] It stimulates collagen production, but it doesn't destroy the surface of your skin. It does not destroy the surface of your skin. I am blown away. Like, I am blown away. So I will have Dr. Steve's info because I was at his office and I was like, I literally said to him, like, Dr. Steve, you need to come on the podcast and we need to talk about this and you need to give my audience a discount code. Like, I don't want anything from it. Throw me some skincare. I don't know.
[38:52] But we need to talk about this because there's too many bullshit lasers out there that I've done them. I've done IPL2, IPL, BBL, Halo, Moxie. What else have I tried? There's like a Genesis laser that's good for surface if you have acne scars. Oh, I've done, I did an ablative one. What was it called again? I've done it.
[39:13] It's some kind of an ablative laser under your eyes. And again, like you're red for six months. It's very, very ablative. You're oozing. Your skin is oozing. No, I don't want to ablate my skin anymore. The Neogen laser, virtually no downtime. Virtually no downtime. Total game changer for me. So I'm actually going to do a full podcast that we talk about everything Neogen plasma laser
[39:39] what to expect, the skin tightening, the texture improvement. But I saw it in a week. I'm like, my skin has never looked better. And it still continues to improve. I mean, Dr. Steve was like, you haven't even started on the collagen remodeling. I'm like, I know that my pores are smaller and my skin is glowing. And it's like beautiful and glowing and smooth. And I love it. And I can already see the wrinkle reduction, especially the crepiness around my eyes. It is insane. It's insane.
[40:02] So if you end up clicking the link below and booking with Dr. Steve, make sure you mention Dr. Amy. He's going to give you $250 off the Neogen Plasma Laser Treatment. You got to go to Scottsdale, Arizona to see him. He is the best. And he has this gel that he uses called the Synergy Gel where you'll have no downtime. Now, if you have a lot of sun damage, because I've done BBL and IPL, I don't have a lot of sun damage anymore.
[40:28] If you have a lot of sun damage, you can't use the Synergy Gel. You're going to be a little bit red for like a few days and you're going to flake off a little bit, but it's not damaging the surface of your skin. It still is treating the brown spots and the age spots underneath the surface, but you're not damaging the surface of your skin. But if you can use the Synergy Gel because you don't have a lot of brown spots, you don't even know you got anything done.
[40:49] It's like for like the first two days, I'm like, did he really do a laser on me? Maybe he faked me out and just rubbed that thing on my face. But then I started to see the changes and I was like, wow, this is incredible. I am so excited to have found a laser that actually works that doesn't damage my skin. And then I noticed the difference on. And so I'm going to do it once every, even though it lasts for two years. I was like, Dr. Steve, can I do this like once every six months? He's like, yeah, absolutely. I'm like, why not? Why not? If it's staying on top of my skin, why not use that?
[41:19] Okay, and just to be crystal clear, this is not sponsored. Nobody paid me to say this. I wanted to do this episode for you. So Sunlighten is a sponsor. Yes, we have an affiliate code and a discount code, but I'm using them for years. Vitaly is my new love. I tried their exosomes. I tried two full bottles of their exosomes before I agreed to collaborate with them. And I legit saw a difference because I wanted to just use the Vitaly exosomes.
[41:48] Every single day, day and night for at least two bottles worth to see if I notice a difference. And I do. So I love them. There's no collaboration with Dr. Steve. This Neogen Plasma Later is just the shit. I mean, it's the absolute shit. Now I'm going to move into very quickly what I would not do again.
[42:06] I would not over damage the skin. I already said that I would not do the CO2 laser. I would not do anything that's fully ablative or any kind of aggressive chemical peels. I would not strip the skin barrier whatsoever. No repeated trauma, no excessive inflammation.
[42:24] Because for a long time, we were taught that the more aggressive the treatment, the better the anti-aging result. But honestly, I don't believe that anymore. When you look at Korean skincare, they're into barrier preservation, hydration, regeneration. I know lots of shuns. Collagen stimulation, prevention, long-term skin quality. So when you look at Korean skincare professionals, they are considered some of the best in the world when it comes to skin health.
[42:51] They are not constantly ablating and damaging the surface of the skin. They focus much more on supporting the skin barrier and regeneration without constantly peeling off the top layer of their skin.
[43:05] And I personally think we have a lot to learn from that philosophy because after some of my own experiences with aggressive treatments, I am much more interested now in that regeneration from the inside out. So just because you can aggressively injure the skin doesn't mean you should.
[43:22] And that includes the radio frequency, microneedling as well. You got to be really careful. But this is why I was so impressed with the Neogen treatment because it stimulated deeper remodeling without making me feel like I was destroying the surface of my skin.
[43:39] And moving on from lasers, now we're going to jump into Botox and fillers and all of that fun stuff. So many of you have bombarded me with questions regarding Botox and fillers and the safety profile of them. I've done interviews in the past...
[43:57] with world-renowned plastic surgeons that are in the functional medicine space who clearly state that there's really no issue with Botox, but there are those few people that, you know, you might be that super sensitive person that reacts to anything foreign coming into your body.
[44:18] Right. But you would be one where if we put in, let's say, a metal plate because you broke your wrist. I'm holding up my wrist right now from my snowboarding accident where I have a metal plate in there because I broke my wrist. And we put that in your body and you just have an autoimmune freak out and you break out in a rash and you have a histamine reaction and a Herx reaction and every kind of reaction there is under the sun.
[44:44] Yeah, you probably shouldn't use Botox or fillers. But I would say for the majority of people, even with autoimmunity, it's not an issue. It's really a non-issue. I've been receiving Botox in my face, but also in my back.
[45:00] for decades. So I have scoliosis, my left lumbar spasms to the point where it really spasms badly or it used to rather. And then I learned about putting Botox in that spasmed muscle. I'm like, well, that makes sense because it's sticking out and it's tight and it's causing pain because it's always in this spastic position due to the curvature of my spine.
[45:25] naturally putting Botox in there relaxes that spasmodic muscle. And they also use it for migraines and they use it for
[45:33] cervical dystonia. So ever since starting to receive Botox in my lumbar spine in like 2011, I have literally been receiving it for 15 years. It's around 100 to 200 units of Botox every four months. And that's an addition to like the 50 to 100 units of Botox that they put in my face every three to four months. So my...
[46:00] I'll say exposure or the units of Botox that I have administered to my body is two to four times more than what you would be getting for face wrinkles.
[46:15] And I have zero issues, none. I haven't even developed antibodies, which is a possibility when you are getting Botox done and especially Botox in a higher amount, you can develop antibodies to where it just stops working. And they told me that when I started getting it, they're like, you know, just know that
[46:33] that you might develop some antibodies. And then in that case, you can actually change the botulism toxin product. So there's Botox, as we know it as Botox. There is also Dysport. And there's a variety of other different botulism toxin A products out there that are just different enough that it can trick your body into not building up those antibodies to them. Yeah.
[46:58] And honestly, this becomes a very personalized experience as well, because I know for myself, Dysport doesn't work for me. Botox does. Other people really like Dysport and they don't like Botox. So it really is about just choosing the right product, having a great injector that knows exactly what they're doing so that you don't get side effects from having your Botox injected improperly, like ptosis, which is a drooping of the eye.
[47:27] or any other issues surrounding that. I've never, ever had an issue. I really haven't. Really, you're relying on your injector because there are good injectors out there. There are bad injectors out there. And if you've had Botox and you're like, I hated the results, you were probably with a bad injector, I'm just going to say. Now, you have to realize, too, that Botox,
[47:50] Botox is for your forehead, your glabella, which is between your eyebrows, and your crow's feet. Now, they can do chin if you're getting that orange peel-looking chin. They can do some in your chin. They can do some in your neck for those lines that you get when you're expressing. Like if you pull down the sides of your mouth like really, really hard and you activate your neck muscles, you'll see that they kind of bulge out.
[48:19] those ropes in your neck, they can put Botox in there to soften them. But Botox aren't necessarily for like laugh lines. They're not for building volume in your face. So if you lost volume, because you've overdone a GLP-1 and you've lost all your facial fat,
[48:38] that is going to require filler. So that's what we move on to. Next is filler. Now there are dermal fillers out there that are hyaluronic acid based. There are the ones that actually stimulate your own collagen, something like Sculptra that goes in and then really kind of deflates. So you get Sculptra done.
[49:02] And sculpture goes in to build up those areas that basically break down and deflate as we lose the fat in our face, that youthful fat. We start to lose that in our face, regardless of whether we're on a weight loss journey or doing GLPs, we will lose that as we age.
[49:19] So as we're losing that facial fat, we can replace it. But Sculptra does it by stimulating your body to create more collagen and build it up itself. So it's like it goes in and then deflates and then over time will rebuild. I did Sculptra many, many years ago. I won't say that it's something that I would necessarily write home about and sing the praises of. It's not a bad alternative.
[49:49] It's good in that you're not getting that pillow face like you get with or that you can see in some celebrities with overfilling unnatural appearances. Quite honestly, even if you look back at my videos from, oh, let's say 2017, 18, something around there, you will see that I was overfilled.
[50:12] I was absolutely overfilled. So there was a point in time where I had my facial filler dissolved because you start getting this dysmorphia effect where you're looking in the mirror and you're looking at yourself in 2D, not 3D, and you're seeing like, oh, this looks so flat under my eye. My cheek looks flat. Like if I just filled this up here in my cheekbones,
[50:39] that it would pull the wrinkles around my mouth and it would lift these sagging jowls. It doesn't. It just makes you look ridiculous and overfilled. And you get that pillow face, that unnatural appearance like Meg Ryan has now.
[50:54] So what you want to do is keep it as natural as possible and use fillers that, again, this comes back to your injector. You got to be with a good injector, but use fillers that aren't going to blow you up, that are actually going to stimulate your own collagen synthesis from it.
[51:11] Now, there is a filler out that is similar to a fat transfer, and that is called Renuva. So it's a fat matrix, and this is injected in especially thinner people that don't have a lot of fat to pull from. For a fat transfer, we can use something like Renuva. During a true fat transfer, and this can be done locally in office, there's just a little bit of liposuction in an area where you have extra fat. So bonus, you get a little bit of lipo.
[51:41] And then that fat is spun up. They work their magic on it and they re-inject your own fat into your face. That is the most natural way to do it. Totally natural. However, I will say if you are on a GLP-1 and you do a fat transfer, chances are you're going to metabolize it and then it's not going to be all that great. So if you're on a GLP-1, you might actually have to do like a normal...
[52:09] filler of sorts instead of a fat transfer because you're probably going to metabolize that fat that they take from your body and that they put into your face.
[52:19] Now back to the whole concept of, oh my gosh, I have sagging jowls and I have wrinkles around my mouth and what should I do? Should I add in a filler? At that point of time, you're probably going to have to look into surgery. So here's where you know where, you know what, it's just time to call in the scalpel.
[52:40] Number one, under your eyes, if you are getting fat pads bulging out, so it looks like you have maybe deep, dark circles, but it's really not that you have bags or dark circles under your eyes, you have bags, because the fat pad is protruding outward. And this will age you 10 years very, very quickly. So yes, I have had an upper and a lower bluff. And
[53:04] The upper bleph, you know, you can only do so much. I just have naturally more closed eyes. If you look at my mom, you look at my dad, I said this 20 years ago. I'm like, well, surgery is in store for me. Look at you guys. You can only see like half of your eyeball. Like technically they could have gotten it covered by insurance. They can't see. So if I would have let it go and not done anything, half of my eye would have been covered by my eyelid. Right.
[53:28] because that's just genetic. So upper bleph, they take excess skin off your upper lid. Again, make sure you're finding the right surgeon or you're going to look like a freak. And then the lower bleph is, that can be done in a variety of different ways. It is by far the most easiest.
[53:45] Best surgery to do that takes 10 to 20 years off of your face. Again, if you look back at probably like 2017, 18, when I was overfilled, I was also bulging fat pads from under my eyes. So I look like I was like 75 when I was really 45.
[54:01] fastest way to look older is walk around with those fat pads bulging. There's nothing you can do topically. I tried everything. I bought every gadget, every little under eye laser thing. Oh, yeah. I got sucked in when I was at Hacker Health a few years ago. I got sucked into spending a boatload of money on this red light handheld device with this little vibrating eye.
[54:27] eye thing that they promised me would cure my under eye bags. It did nothing. It did nothing.
[54:34] And now you see those commercials on TV, like as seen on TV and Cindy Crawford will be on there. Like, this is the only thing I use. Like, it doesn't work. Okay. You're getting surgery. It doesn't work. So an under eye bleph, easy breezer surgery, very minimal downtime, less downtime than a CO2 laser. I'll tell you that. You're a little bit bruised. I was out. I was giving a talk six days later. Like I was literally on a stage six days after my under eye bleph. Like that is how easy it is. And it takes off 10, 20 years right off the bat.
[55:04] And then if the rest of your face is falling, you're just going to have to have a facelift. Now, I will say I have seen some of my colleagues lately that I know how to facelift, but they didn't really have much of a recovery time. And you look at that and you go, wow, yeah, I want that. There's not much recovery time there.
[55:25] But then it doesn't look like they did anything. So it's kind of like you have to be a little bit bandaged and bruised to do a facelift the right way. Because you don't want it so easy that you're like, did I have anything done? You want it natural. But I don't think that any kind of like no cut facelift is going to cut it.
[55:45] No pun intended. It's just not. I mean, to truly take off extra skin and if your jowls are sagging, they have to pull the muscle back. There's no amount of filler that you can put in to pull back excess jowls. There's just not.
[56:01] they absolutely have to go in, grab the muscle and pull it back. And that's how you tighten everything. And if you got a saggy neck and a turkey neck, they're going to have to cut the skin and pull it back. Now, I'm not saying that you have to do that. I'm just laying it all out there for you so that you can make the best decisions. And like I said, in the very beginning,
[56:22] There is no judgment on anybody and there shouldn't be judgment from you on anybody else either. If somebody chooses to do something, that's on them. If somebody chooses to not do something, that's on them. We all have to choose our own path. But isn't it nice just to have the information laid out in front of you so that you can actually make the best decision? And at the end of the day, the best cosmetic work is the work that you don't really need.
[56:49] notice that you don't really notice. Now, my husband will always say, listen, you're 52. People are going to know that you had stuff done. I'm like, I don't care because I would rather have somebody look at me and go, you're 52. You had pretty good work done there. Yeah. I mean, could it be a little bit better? Sure. I'll work on that, whatever.
[57:06] But as opposed to, wow, you're 52 and you look 62. I'd rather be on the other side. That's just me because I'm very much into anti-aging and I just can't wrap my mind around aging. It's just
[57:20] It bothers me. So anyways, at the end of the day, this message is to lay it all out there for you. And, you know, I hope it saves you a ton of money. Because if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that expensive does not automatically mean effective.
[57:38] Now, by all means, Kim Kardashian or what is it? Kris Kardashian's $300,000 facelift. That was the bomb. I mean, she looks freaking amazing. But I don't think you have to spend $300,000 to get a bomb facelift. So if you're curious as to my...
[57:55] facial doctor who I absolutely love. I'll give a plug for him. Again, no sponsor. I just love him to death. I really do. Dr. Mark Lang, L-I-A-N-G in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is still operating. I mean, the dude is a machine and he's all about natural, all about natural. He will pick out things. He'll show you things.
[58:19] that you didn't quite realize about aging that can be addressed. I can't even explain it. He's that much of an artist. Like he'll go, you know, a youthful this or that looks like this. And as we age, this is what happens. And you go, oh, yeah, you're right. So I'll throw one out there to you. Did you know that as we age, the distance between the bottom of our lip, bottom of our nose, and the top of our lip extends? Right.
[58:48] So it starts becoming longer and longer and longer. And now you have this big wide gap between the bottom of your nose and the top of your lip. Now go look at like a 20 something year old. They have a tiny space between the bottom of their nose and the top of their lip. And that's why people are getting lip lifts to like kind of perk up their upper lip so that it's not hanging down low. And as soon as he said that, I went, oh yeah, I never noticed that before.
[59:14] How about them apples? So if you want a really, really, really good facial plastic surgeon who is the bomb and does everything naturally and makes sure he doesn't overdo anything because he won't, Dr. Mark Lang, love you to death. Before you retire, you're doing another surgery on me for sure because he is the best.
[59:34] At the end of the day, all of this, all of this beauty stuff that we do as ladies, it's not about perfection. It is about confidence and vitality and feeling good in your own skin. So if my mistakes and my wins save you some money and frustration and a few wrinkles along the way, even better.
[59:53] even better. So we'll put all the links down in the show notes. I hope you enjoyed it. Pass it on to your sister, your friend, your bestie, your meadow bestie, so that we can all do what we want to do to look and feel as beautiful as we possibly can as we age. Of course, it starts with thyroid and hormones, and then we go from there.

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