Beauty Beyond Skin Deep w/ Dr. Mary Alice Mina EP 72

[00:00:00] Shanenn Bryant: Thanks for spending a little bit of time with me and taking me along with you, wherever you're going. Whenever you're doing, maybe you're driving to work. Maybe you're driving home from work. Hopefully. Working out cleaning the house, but thank you for bringing me along. My name is Shannen Bryant. I'm your host. 

[00:00:17] Shanenn Bryant: And I have a special treat for you today because. sometimes talking about jealousy consistently or hearing about it, it gets a little heavy.  And I know sometimes you need a break from it. 

So I wanted to bring you another topic you should be thinking about and that's skin care. Super important. I did a whole series in January, if you remember, on physical health, and this is just another part of that too. So I hope you enjoy the episode. 

I've got Dr. Mary Alice Mina coming up. 

[00:00:55] Shanenn Bryant: Welcome back to Top Self. I'm excited to have this conversation with her. I have with me Dr. Mary Alice Mina. She is a Harvard trained dermatologist, a dermatologic surgeon, wife, mom, and all around skin enthusiast. And we're going to talk about that, but also a little bit more serious subject.

[00:01:18] Shanenn Bryant: So, welcome to Top Self 

[00:01:18] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Thank you so much Shanenn. I'm thrilled to be on your podcast. I love what you're putting out and I'm super excited for our discussion today.

[00:01:31] Shanenn Bryant: You can't see who I call Dr. Mary Alice, but you can't see how fabulous her skin looks. So I love it when that's what somebody does for a profession and then they live it real life and look at real life and you. Absolutely do. So gorgeous.

[00:01:50] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Thank you for that. And, I joke that it's a job requirement when you're a dermatologist.

[00:01:56] Shanenn Bryant: Right? Yeah, I would imagine there's a little bit of pressure there to, make sure that you're looking like the poster board for that. and you're doing a fantastic job of it.

[00:02:07] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Oh, you're sweet. Thank you.

[00:02:10] Shanenn Bryant: But speaking of that, I did want to talk about, kind of having such a high standard, especially as women and as we age, there is this sort of expectation that we still have to look good, that we still have to keep our looks up, all of these things that there is the expectation, but a lot of it we put on ourselves.

And I just turned 50 in October, and I will never forget the day I was, putting on my makeup in the morning, getting ready. And I was like, oh, I guess yesterday was the last day that my eyelids are going to stay up by themselves.

[00:02:51] Shanenn Bryant: Can we just talk in general first, a little bit about kind of the skin aging process and just a very quick overview of what happens? 

[00:03:01] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Happy belated birthday. You look amazing. And I just want to let everyone know who's listening or watching that no one's immune to this. I'm not immune to these feelings just like you aren't. And I see it in my friends. I'm in my mid forties and it's real, it's happening.

[00:03:19] Dr. Mary Alice MIna: And I think in our twenties, we are just like doing our own thing. We can't. really see beyond ourselves. And in the thirties, you might be starting a family or have little ones. And again, your career is getting started and everything. And at least for me, it was in my forties where I was like, wait a minute.

[00:03:39] Dr. Mary Alice MIna: okay. I see these things that I've been learning about and counseling my patients. I've actually now seen it in myself. So it is real. It happens. And I see a lot of insecurity starting to come out with myself, my friends, families, my patients asking me like, okay, wait a minute, what's going on?

[00:03:58] Dr. Mary Alice MIna: What do I need to be doing? And so I love this topic. I love talking about it. And, you're, it's, it happens to all of us, right? I see it even a little bit in my husband, maybe not as much in men, but, certainly for women and my friends. it's happening. It's real. And so basically what happens with age is a lot of things, right?

[00:04:20] Dr. Mary Alice MIna: It depends where you are and which stage of life you're in, but we're talking about kind of midlife. And so that's the perimenopause, menopause, and then postmenopausal state. And that occurs really typically perimenopause is probably your forties. Menopause on average is about 51. And then post menopause is really the rest of your life afterwards, which for a lot of women and with longer lifespans, that could be a huge portion of your life.

[00:04:48] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And, what people mostly start to notice, I would say, in their late 30s and 40s is that they are losing collagen. And we actually start losing collagen even in our 20s, but it's accelerated, especially around menopause. And when we lose that collagen, we lose elastin, we lose estrogen production in our bodies.

[00:05:09] Dr. Mary Alice MIna: Our skin gets really dry. We start noticing fine lines that become a little more than fine and we lose that elasticity in our skin where the skin may stretch, but it bounces back to its shape. And because we're also losing collagen and we're getting bone resorption; we don't have the strong sort of scaffolding to hold up our eyelid skin or our cheeks or our neck. And so that's when we notice that things seem to be falling and you're not going crazy.

[00:05:41] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: It really is happening. So that's in a nutshell, things that are going on with your skin with age. 

[00:05:48] Shanenn Bryant: Yeah. And it's so interesting because I feel like everything becomes more difficult. Like even putting on mascara. all, every time I put on mascara now, it's okay, now it's going on my eyelid. I never had that problem before cause they weren't in the way before. So it is even just small things like that, that just become irritating.

[00:06:11] Shanenn Bryant: But the reason we're talking about this and why I wanted to have you, multiple reasons why I wanted to have you on the show, but for the listener of this podcast, who is already feeling very insecure in relationships, they feel jealous in their relationships. They are constantly comparing themselves to other people.

[00:06:32] Shanenn Bryant: When they hit this stage in life, I think you started to touch on it. It's where you go, wait a second, you've been busy doing all these things before in your twenties. You were, you definitely weren't worried about it. Then you were having your kids and getting married and building your life.

[00:06:50] Shanenn Bryant: And then all of a sudden, Oh gosh, wait a second. Now I've got all this stuff going on. I don't know that I've been taking care of myself a hundred percent the way that I should have because I wasn't thinking about it. And now they start to feel even worse about themselves and still comparing themselves to that 20 year old who their face looks great.

[00:07:13] Shanenn Bryant: Their skin looks great. They haven't put on the extra 10 to 15 pounds as we, start to do in midlife. So what would you say to that person listening?

[00:07:24] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Gosh, I would say I, I empathize with you. I feel you. I've been there. I am there. I experienced all of those things too. I, have a medical assistant in my office who's in his early twenties. And sometimes I just laugh because I feel like I am still really close in age to him. And then he'll remind me I could be his mom.

[00:07:45] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And I'm like, wow, it's so true though, but. It's hard when how we feel on the inside doesn't necessarily match what we see or how we look on the outside. And I think as women, a lot of pressure is put on us to look a certain way. And maybe you've always been that really attractive bombshell woman.

[00:08:07] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And now you're noticing your skin is sagging a little bit, or you're not looking as attractive as you thought you used to be. And that can be hard because. As women, we value our looks so much, or we feel like that's so important to be successful in who we are.

[00:08:25] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And so when that starts to change, it can be really deflating morally. And you look around, you compare yourself to other people, and you look at Instagram and things with filters and you think that everyone looks that way. And it's not true. And so I really empathize with people. I. I feel it too.

[00:08:43] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: We all do, right? When we look back at a picture and think, oh man, like where did the time go? What just happened? So I love that we're talking about this now because I don't want people to dread midlife. There's so many amazing things that happen in midlife and where you are now in your forties, fifties, sixties, beyond.

[00:09:03] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Life shouldn't just stop just because we maybe look a little bit different. But there also are things that we can do to really maximize this time of our life and I'm all about prevention and maintenance. And so the sooner you can start, the better. The sooner you can start thinking about these things.

[00:09:23] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: But I also find that, again, as women, and I'm also speaking, from personal experience, we put ourselves last. And that's something that I'm really trying to prioritize right now in my mid-forties is, you know what? I need to take care of myself. To be able to be the best mom, the best wife, the best dermatologist, the best human I can be.

[00:09:45] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And if I'm not taking care of myself, how can I take care of everyone else? So I'm all about prevention and maintenance, and I think that will really serve you well. Down the road.

[00:09:57] Shanenn Bryant: Well, I want to get into some of the prevention and maintenance with you in just a second, but you touched on something that I think is really important, as women, I can remember being in my 20s, 30s, just going to the gas station and at the time feeling really irritated with, you like cat calling and just feeling like I'm being stared at, just being female, I think that happens.

[00:10:18] Shanenn Bryant: And it felt like something like, I didn't like, I didn't want, but then when it starts, when you start to feel like, wait a second, that's not happening quite so much anymore. And it isn't that you had this desire for it to happen, but I think it's like you take note. That it's not happening, maybe quite as much as it did when you were in your twenties and you start to wonder like, Oh, so it makes you feel like those things that I'm thinking about myself, it's showing up.

[00:10:52] Shanenn Bryant: So I think that's where comes in. And as you said, the problem with that is us valuing our looks so much. Cause I think we're just so used to it as females. Again, then when it's not there, you notice it.

[00:11:07] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. You're so true that unfortunately we put so much emphasis on that external validation and then when it stops, it's whoa, I used to get, people used to tell me all the time when I was seeing them, as their doctor, they would all the time, every day, you're so young, you're too young to be a doctor. And the funny thing is over the last few years, I don't hear that anymore.

[00:11:32] Shanenn Bryant: Same You're like, wait a second. No one's telling me that anymore. Oh my gosh. Oh, so funny. I do want to talk about, preventative and maintenance so we don't want to feel so bad about ourselves all the time. if there are things that we can do, one, to start a little bit earlier and start putting yourself first a little bit earlier, I think that's the number one thing. But, I'm sure you're going to share with us some things that we can do earlier, but then that maintenance part of it. 

[00:12:08] Shanenn Bryant: So can we hit on maybe like three of the stages of life. So what's the number one thing that someone twenties to thirties could do thirties to forties, and then 50 plus, can we start with twenties to thirties? If you could say one thing that you should be doing, what is it?

[00:12:27] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Oh gosh. Okay. I love this. This is great. So I also just did a recording with someone in her 30s. And she was talking about all the things that she recommends for 30-year-olds. and I was thinking like, yes, if more people knew this in their 30s. So let's say 20s to 30s, right? You are an adult now you're on your own, in your 20s.

[00:12:48] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: It seems like you can really get away with sleeping hardly ever. over drinking, excessive drinking, you can eat whatever. And it really doesn't seem to catch up to you. But I would say if you are listening and you're in your twenties, to start thinking about exercise, start thinking about eating healthily eating whole foods, watching how much you drink, how much you sleep. those are all great habits to start in your twenties and your thirties. certainly by your thirties, I would say do not smoke, do not start smoking. That is such an important, powerful thing for keeping your body healthy and your skin healthy.

[00:13:27] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Don't start smoking. Don't. Don't vape, don't do e cigarettes. all of that has nicotine and it's really harmful for your body and also your skin. It's going to age you faster. and to sun protect. And this is something that, if I feel like I need to tattoo it on my forehead, but there is it, the sun is so damaging to our skin.

[00:13:51] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And if you can start early and not get sunburned, don't go to tanning beds. Wear sunscreen every day. It is going to make such a powerful difference down the road. It's so much harder to reverse that when it's already there. So if you can start doing that early, you'll be, you'll be well on your way to success in your fifties and beyond.

[00:14:14] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So that, that would be your 20s and 30 year olds.

[00:14:18] Shanenn Bryant: Yeah. I won't talk about the days, when I was growing up, when I was young, probably 13 to 16, it was, we were still putting the baby oil on and climbing to the roof of our house to lay out. that's how, that's what you did then. And so looking back, that just seems crazy. Of course, I would never do that now, but there are still the extremes that people are doing, the tanning beds, not putting sunscreen on as part of, your daily routine and me in my twenties, my skincare routine consisted of putting the same lotion that I just put on my legs on my face. that's what it was like. That's how in depth I got.

[00:15:00] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. I don't even know if I wash my face every night to be honest.

[00:15:06] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. Yeah. That too. Yeah, and people think that I didn't, I used to tan. I used, I've been to tanning beds. I'm not proud of it. I've even dabbled with smoking. 

[00:15:18] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: These are things I feel like it's natural. People try things out, but if you can really just avoid them, and I do think maybe the times are different now with social media.

[00:15:27] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: I am finding that people younger and younger are getting into skincare and I almost think maybe too young, but that's a whole different topic. But, so it'll be interesting to see when the people who are now in their twenties, the Gen Z ers, what sort of their skincare habits are like as they get older, but yeah, certainly, if you can start thinking about these things in your twenties and thirties, it will, it'll pay off once you hit your, and I would say towards your later thirties and certainly into your forties, that's when you're going to start noticing, Lines on your face that don't disappear when you stop moving.

[00:16:01] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: You may notice a little bit of, some jowling. You may notice some like creepiness around your eyes. You may notice that your skin is not as taut. Maybe the upper eyelids are hanging down a little bit more. And so that's when you start seeing the signs of that collagen loss and aging. And depending on how well you've sun protected or taken care of your body also determines how accelerated this is.

[00:16:28] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: But at this stage in your life, I really recommend, of course, you're still wearing your sunscreen every day. Make sure you are washing your face every day, especially at night. take the makeup off the oil, the dirt from the day. that's really super important. I also think using a vitamin A cream at night is such a simple but impactful part of anyone's skincare routine.

[00:16:53] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So this is, something like a retinol or a retinoid. If you just do that in sunscreen, you are going to be And that's pretty much what I do for my skincare routine. People are very surprised that mine is as simplistic as it is. If you also want to get fancy, you can use a vitamin C serum in the morning and a moisturizer.

[00:17:16] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And that's kind of it. So that's your basic routine. Routine in your, I would say thirties and forties. the nice thing is you can really continue this on into your fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, et cetera. You don't really have to necessarily change a lot of stuff. But for the ladies or listeners who are 50 plus who are maybe, menopause or postmenopausal, you're going to want to, probably bump up your moisturizer and that's because your skin is going to get, drier, especially as you lose that estrogen and it, your skin cannot hold onto water as well as it used to.

[00:17:55] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So, uh, I'm even finding now I, I always had very oily skin, but now I am having to use a moisturizer and I really never. I didn't really have to do that before. so I, I find that using a thick moisturizer is important for more mature ladies, for their skin.

[00:18:14] Shanenn Bryant: Okay. So a couple things. Thank you so much for letting us know the top things that we can be doing. I had a question on the retina on the retinoids. I think people are pretty familiar with them I myself have struggled with using them because I think I didn't start out using them properly.

[00:18:32] Shanenn Bryant: So I just went full force and then they really burned my skin. I had that where it was like really dry and almost just that burn feeling. I don't want people to go, Oh, I tried it and it's not working. Cause I do think there is, I do think there's a way that. We should start out with those.

[00:18:51] Shanenn Bryant: Can you explain how we move into those and how we should start using them at first?

[00:18:58] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah, that's a great topic. And I find a lot of people struggle with this too. The best thing is stardom in your twenties when you're maybe still getting some acne and then just continue it on and, then you'll be a pro. I don't use my retinol every night because it is too dry.

[00:19:16] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And so the trick is to start low and to start slow and to just know, even if you're doing it twice a week, three times a week, you're still getting a benefit. So you can try over the counter products to start. they're going to be weaker, not quite as strong. Or you could use a prescription strength, but use a very low strength to start.

[00:19:37] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And I always tell people just a tiny little pea. literally a pea on your fingertip is all you need for your whole face. I also use a little bit on my neck and I now mix mine with a moisturizer. So I use the two together. If you tend to have oily skin, you can use it, by itself and you don't have an issue with that.

[00:19:57] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And that's how I did it. up until my 40s, but now I do just mix it with a moisturizer. People sometimes call that the sandwich technique where you do your moisturizer, then the retinol, then more moisturizer, and that helps lock it in. don't apply it on wet skin because you're going to get increased absorption.

[00:20:16] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So this is one product we recommend not putting on damp skin. So wait till it's really dry. Do it right before you go to bed. And then I like to seal in, use a lot of moisturizer. Sometimes I'll even use, Vaseline or Aquaphor or something, what the kids call slugging, on my skin as well, if I tend to get really dry in one area.

[00:20:37] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So again, just, A small amount, start low, start slow. Don't give up. I tell people it's like weight loss. You really have to do it for weeks and months to really see the benefit. But it's phenomenal. it is tricky and I think people, they want to see the results.

[00:20:55] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: They want to see them quickly and they use way too much or, they do it way too often or way too strong and then they burn their skin. It's irritated, it's dry and they get frustrated and they quit. try not to do that.

[00:21:07] Shanenn Bryant: Yeah, I went through several different kinds for you know along over a long period of time before I realized oh, I might be using this wrong I might be going too hard on this because yeah, you go Oh, I noticed this I want to get rid of it and I want to get rid of it quick but I want to go back to the slugging thing because I've not heard of it.What is that? 

[00:21:27] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Okay. I guess I'm spending too much time on TikTok. So slugging is basically using a thick ointment. So a lot of times it'll be a product like Vaseline, which is petrolatum or Aquaphor, which is petrolatum and water. Now other companies make ointments, but it's using a very thick ointment type product lightly rubbing it on your skin to really help lock in the moisture. And I love this for areas like your lips, your cuticles, you can do it, you can do it on your heels, your elbows, areas that tend to get really dry or we forget about. you can also do it a little bit around your eyes. I will just dab a little bit on areas.

[00:22:13] Dr. Mary Alice MIna: I tend to get dry around the corners of my mouth. So if I've been using my retinoid frequently, I might do that for a night or two just to lock in that moisture. it's something that as dermatologists we've been doing for a long time, but now it just has a fun name and that's what slugging is.

[00:22:33] Shanenn Bryant: Thank you for the explanation. I'm going to have to look into it a little bit more now. So thank you for doing that. One of the things I did want to mention, you said washing your face being really important and as basic as that seems, I think it's also a way to, we've been talking about, you've got to make yourself a priority.

[00:22:55] Shanenn Bryant: And I know that people are going, Oh my, are you kidding? By the time that I work all day and I come home and I straighten up and I feed the kids and I do their homework and I get them in bed, like I'm just zonked out. So I just wanted to make a point of, okay, but if there's nothing else, the brush the teeth, the wash the face, and just thinking of it away as like washing off that day, if you can think of it that way.

[00:23:19] Shanenn Bryant: So you at least get that part in there, the very basics of just getting your face washed.

[00:23:28] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Washing your face. I get it. There are nights where I'm like, oh, it's going to get my hair wet. I don't really want to do it, but we don't, or I don't think people debate whether they should brush their teeth, right? You might debate whether you're going to floss, but most people, I think, brush their teeth every night.

[00:23:42] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So just make it a habit, especially if you're wearing makeup, right? You've got to get the makeup off, you got to wash. You don't need to double cleanse. You don't need to use expensive products. I've been using the Dove cleansing bar for probably 25 years. it can be really simple and it can take 30 seconds.

[00:24:02] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So at a minimum, wash your face and then for people who are midlife and beyond, put a moisturizer on cause your skin is going to be dry. So if you can at least just do that, then that's fine.

[00:24:14] Shanenn Bryant: Yeah. it's interesting cause I was just at my, my doctor's appointment and we were talking about, just. everything that you experience in midlife. And, she was saying, reminding me that in the past we only spent, women only spent maybe a decade, right? At that, in this age, or maybe a little bit longer now where it's a third of our lives, where we're either perimenopause, menopause, or post menopause.

[00:24:41] Shanenn Bryant: So now we have a really extended time. And I do think that maybe adds to. this feeling more that we have about ourselves because we're in it longer. 

[00:24:53] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah, you're totally right. We are going to spend a huge portion of our lives in this sort of perimenopause, menopause, and then postmenopausal state.

[00:25:02] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And there's been such little research looking into this. And for so many decades, people would just tell women, hey, it's just what happens, it's aging, right? But now I think people are saying, wait a minute. that's not really acceptable. I'm not going to spend the next 30, 40 years of my life suffering or uncomfortable or not, not feeling my best.

[00:25:25] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And that's why I think there's so much interest in longevity and prevention and maintenance. And how do we keep our bodies in top shape for longer? Because yeah, most of us aren't going to die in our fifties or sixties. A lot of us are probably going to live to our eighties, nineties, a hundreds.

[00:25:45] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: My kids are probably going to live beyond that, right? If we're lucky. So how do we embrace this new stage? You can either dread it and hate it, or I would say try to make the most of it. Try to see the beauty in it. And there are things we can do to help combat some of the less desirable effects of aging.

[00:26:07] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: But I would just caution people to constantly fight it or always trying to reverse it. You're going to be really disappointed because I say mother nature always wins, right? It is going to happen, aging is going to happen, there are predictable things we know are going to happen, but what can we do to make the most of it or to minimize the negative side effects that we don't want, maximize our health and how we feel, and you are going to look different, right?

[00:26:36] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: It's, you aren't going to look like what you did when you were in your 20s, but there's also a lot of positive and beauty in that. I don't know if we necessarily want to go back to being 20, right? We just want to look and feel the best we can.

[00:26:49] Shanenn Bryant: Yes. Such a good point too, So I think it really is also, one putting yourself first, and really putting some focus on yourself to make sure that you're in a good spot, you're doing things, you're caring for yourself, but then also changing your mindset in the way you think about your value now.

[00:27:10] Shanenn Bryant: Because if we put that value on ourselves before in our looks and things like that, we have certainly gained so much more in the past couple of decades. So we're. Thinking of what is my value now in the world? how is it different? 

[00:27:30] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. And I think you can also, you can have a little of both, right? I think sometimes we feel like we're either all into the cosmetic aesthetic game and anti-aging or we do nothing, right? But you can do both. But I think if you have to make sure it aligns with your values and you have to really have that sort of, internal, confidence and self-respect for yourself because all the cosmetic procedures in the world aren't going to give you that.

[00:27:59] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And you're going to just be chasing and chasing the next thing and you're never going to get the results you want. So it really has to start from within and then we can do some extra things and maintenance along the way to help you. look and feel your best.

[00:28:14] Shanenn Bryant: Great. one last thing, anything really new and exciting in the dermatology world that you have your eye on or that you're excited about that's becoming something that people may be able to do?

[00:28:29] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. So lots of stuff out there. I would just caution your listeners and viewers that, there's so much being marketed to us in the cosmetic and beauty realm. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And I don't mean to be so negative and pessimistic, but, if it does sound too good to be true, it's promising to do things that seem impossible, probably,being sold, maybe some snake oil there. That being said, there are really great things out there, little tweaks that you can do. So I think having a dermatologist on board who can really help you not just with cosmetics, but with your overall skin health is a great place to start.

[00:29:08] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: I love sort of bio stimulants where you stimulate your own collagen as you're aging so that you never really notice that large depletion that can happen. And, there's a ton of research now going into exosomes, which are basically the hope is that they can help our cells regenerate by carrying this important information from stem cells, which are the cells that really can turn into anything in our body, right? But harnessing that to, to help prevent some of the aging processes and to, help with longevity. 

[00:29:45] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So that's something that's definitely getting a lot of interest and research. Still a long way to go. I'm not, at least at this time, recommending people go out and buy Exosome products, but we are seeing a lot of research into that.

[00:29:59] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And I think that's something that's going to be, coming down the pike and interesting to, to see where that goes. But, yeah, I would also just caution people. there's lots of stuff we can do. Like you were talking about your upper eyelids. That is a very easy. fix for you, Shanenn if you want that skin removed, and if it's getting in your way and you can get those eyelids back again.

[00:30:21] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: So there are little tweaks, little things that can be done without you looking fake, artificial. You can still look like yourself. so again, just Making sure you're seeing someone like a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon who really knows what they're talking about and skilled and it's not just gonna sell you on some stuff that maybe isn't what you really need.

[00:30:42] Shanenn Bryant: Yeah. I'm on my way to Georgia right now, Dr. Mina, to see you. Headed your way.

[00:30:51] Shanenn Bryant: Thank you so much for all the valuable information today. I do want to say you have your own podcast. Can you tell us what that is and, where people could find you?

[00:31:03] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Yeah, absolutely. Shanenn, this has been a lot of fun. I love talking about this and I find that it's a topic that so many people have so many questions on and so you're absolutely right I did start a podcast It's called the Skin Real and I just dive into all these questions that I get from my patients my friends my family asking me just for real factual skincare advice because it's really hard to know who to trust There's a lot of information out there a lot of people trying to sell you things and products and I find it's overwhelming and people don't even know where to begin and what to do and where to start. I know it's sometimes hard to actually get in to see a dermatologist. There are not that many of us out there so I created this podcast as a way for people to get valuable skin education without necessarily having to make an appointment, in person themselves. So hopefully your listeners will get value from that. If they're interested in learning more about their skin and health and aging and all that fun stuff, it's the skin reel and it's on Apple podcasts, Spotify, all of those.

[00:32:11] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: And then if your listeners are interested in learning just some basics on how to create healthy skin habits, I have a PDF that I can send to them and they can just go to the URL, theskinreal.com/habits for that.

[00:32:27] Shanenn Bryant: Yeah. I know people are going to be running to get that PDF. I am going to go grab it myself. I love your podcast. I've listened to so many episodes. It's so good. So go subscribe to the skin real podcast. Thank you so much for being here.

[00:32:43] Dr. Mary Alice Mina: Thank you, Shanenn.