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A dermatologist’s pre-wedding skin care timeline for looking and feeling your best

For many, a wedding is the most important day in one’s life. Whether someone has a month or a year to prepare for that day, looking and feeling one’s best is important. But how and when to start? At SkinCare Physicians near Boston, we meet brides and grooms who ask for our skin care advice as they get ready for their important day. In this blog, Dr. Laurel Morton outlines a recommended treatment timeline to prepare your skin for your wedding. And, while it is always helpful when we have more time to achieve your aesthetic goals, there are some procedures that can be started even closer to the big day.

12-18 months before the wedding

Decide on your skin goals

Healthy, smooth skin is a desired outcome for most, but you may also have other worries that include:

• Specific concerns such as forehead wrinkles, prominent tear troughs or noticeable jaw muscles, which can be addressed with injectable techniques.
• Skin discoloration including signs of photodamage or rosacea. These can be improved with lasers, peels and a topical regimen.
• Body contouring including the treatment of unwanted cellulite or improving the appearance of stubborn bulges at the abdomen, hips or thighs.
• Scarring such as that from acne or trauma. These interventions often require a series of monthly treatments, which can be planned in advance.
• Tattoos If you’ve changed your mind about a tattoo, treatment to remove it requires months and multiple sessions for best results. Start treating tattoos as soon as possible.

Schedule a cosmetic consult

Meeting with one of our cosmetic physicians can be a useful way to prioritize your concerns and develop a strategy and personalized timeline for treatment, taking into account your budget. This can be done at any time during the planning process.

Prioritize healthy skin

There are many chronic skin conditions that can affect the confidence an individual has in his or her appearance. Chronic acne is a common problem and others may suffer from rosacea, eczema, psoriasis and more. Working with your dermatologist and finding an effective medical regimen – before the stressors of a wedding begin – is critical.

Begin a simple skin care routine

Topical skin care products are an important way to maintain healthy, youthful skin, but many require time to show their benefit. Consider fine tuning your skincare routine to include: high quality moisturizer and SPF, anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C, hyaluronic acid products for a dewy skin texture and retinols/retinoids if tolerable.

6-12 months before the wedding

Visit your aesthetician

As the wedding draws nearer, your aesthetician can help you shape a game plan to achieve hydrated skin that appears smooth and dewy. The following are just a few of the treatments our aestheticians at SkinCare Physicians offer:

• Chemical peels such as glycolic or Vitalize® peels
• Clear + Brilliant Laser
• HydraFacials
• Tailored topical regimens for specific concerns such as dry skin, discoloration and acne.

Address body concerns

Cosmetic interventions such as Resonic for cellulite, Coolsculpting and TruSculpt for unwanted fat and TruFlex for muscle toning require several treatments and 3-6 months for best results. Taking into consideration dress or tuxedo fittings, start addressing any of your body concerns early on. Body contouring treatments are ideally done sooner rather than later.

Treat scars and utilize lasers for smoother skin

Laser and resurfacing procedures that depend on remodeling collagen take time to see results. Starting treatment for acne scars or traumatic scars early will allow time for your skin to respond and your collagen to remodel into results that are as smooth as possible. One of the best devices for this type of concern is the popular Fraxel Restore laser, which can be specifically adjusted for an individual’s goals.

Maintain

Fine tune your topical regimen based on your skin type and continue to work with your dermatologist to control any medical concerns.

4-6 months before the wedding

Consider laser interventions for skin discoloration

Discoloration such as redness from acne scarring and rosacea or unwanted freckles from sun exposure, can be treated in the months leading up to your big day. A series of treatments is generally required for ideal improvement.

• Pulsed Dye or Excel V lasers address redness and blood vessels.
• Dual Fraxel and other pigment-specific lasers such as the Ruby or Enlighten are helpful for brown discoloration.
• Clear + Brilliant laser is useful for those with only mild pigment concerns who may also benefit from overall brightening and improved pore size.

Think about injectable interventions

Botox, Dysport and hyaluronic acid fillers are reliable for certain concerns such as wrinkles, tear troughs, etc. However, they can require touch ups over time. Start these no later than 6 months prior to a wedding in order to allow plenty of time to fine tune treatments to the desired results. Some individuals may choose to start these sooner depending on how they feel about their concerns.

Maintain

Continue your topical facial regimen and visits with your aesthetician. There is still time to visit your aesthetician even if you haven’t had a consultation yet.

0-3 months before the wedding

Give extra tender loving care (TLC) to your skin

In the last weeks leading to your wedding, be sure to provide your skin with a bit of extra TLC.

• Keep the skin hydrated by drinking plenty of water, avoid excess dietary salt and get plenty of rest.
• Continue strict sun protection with SPF, hats and sun-protective clothing.

Complete planned laser treatments

4-12 weeks before the wedding, finish any desired laser regimes such as those for scarring, discoloration or tattoos. You need to give your skin enough time to fully heal.

Schedule your last injectable treatments

If it’s a part of your plan, complete any injectable treatments with Dysport/Botox or Hyaluronic acid fillers at least 4-6 weeks before the wedding. Ideally, this should not be the first time you’ve had such a procedure. You want to know what to expect for results and healing time.

Consider a HydraFacial-dermaplaning treatment

This two-step treatment is done by the aestheticians and combines dermaplaning, which gently exfoliates the skin, with a classic HydraFacial, which cleanses and nourishes skin. This should be done 4-7 days prior to the big day. It allows makeup artists to have a clean, smooth palette, which leads to excellent photographs. We recommend to try this special event “Hydraplanning” treatment for the first time before a wedding shower or bachelorette party to ensure you know how your skin will respond.

Maintain

Continue your topical skin care regimen.

While you may not need all these skin care treatments, planning ahead for even the simplest skin care routine or minimal aesthetic procedure is the key to be ready and feel your best on your big day.  Now that you have a timeline and understand when to start each type of procedure, you know when to call your dermatologist or visit your aesthetician to get your skin glowing on time for your wedding.

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