New Online Skin Care Consult Tools
Rochelle Pemberton opened her mail one day to find a brochure from a local med-spa with a “personal” invitation for a free skin care consultation. She bit.
“It was fun getting my skin imaged and talking to someone about my skin,” she says. “But they sure did want me to buy something!”
Rochelle ended up not purchasing anything at that med-spa. “I want a place where I really feel like they want the best for my skin. Not where they want to sell me something.”
And so Rochelle, like many women, turned to the internet.
Women Go Online for Healthcare and Skin Care Information
Traffic at health-care sites hit 72 million visitors last year, up 14% over the previous year, according to comScore Inc., an online consulting firm. And women are using the internet more, partly as more women over 50 become comfortable with a computer.
Women are clearly hungry for reliable information on skin care products and anti-aging treatments. Like Rochelle, they want accurate, unbiased information. And doing it in the privacy of their home is an added benefit.
What are their options for an online skin care consult?
Dermatologist Sites
Dermatologist Dr. Brandith Irwin from Seattle has developed a new and innovative online consult tool at her website www.SkinTour.com. Dr. Irwin has created an Anti-Aging Tour, which allows women (or men) to take a tour of the face to explore anti-aging treatment options for whatever issue concerns them.
Visitors to the Anti-Aging Tour can customize a face to their own age, gender, and skin color. Then the user can select a part of the face, like the forehead, or the mouth and lips, rolling their cursor over dots that appear on that part of the face. As the user clicks on a dot, a graphic display appears that gives key information from Dr. Irwin on the treatment options for that particular cosmetic issue. www.SkinTour.com/anti-aging-tour
“I wanted to create a tool for women to use in the privacy of their own home, so they can explore and educate themselves about various cosmetic issues and treatments. I have no ties to any laser or device company or cosmetic company, so I can give unbiased information based on my years as a board-certified dermatologist,” says Dr. Irwin. Dr. Irwin has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and recently published her second book, The Surgery Free Makeover: All You Need to Know for Great Skin and a Younger Face.
Cosmetic Companies
The large cosmetic companies have put some big money into their websites. The sites can be beautiful, with high-quality design and graphics on a par with national women’s magazines. L’Oreal, for example, offers “personalized” information with videos of various skin and hair experts.
Some companies even offer a consult, like Olay, with its olayforyou.com “personal” skin care consult. But the recommendations from that Olay consult are, predictably, from Olay. And they don’t really cover treatments, like Botox, Restylane, or lasers. Neutrogena has launched a site that offers an acne test. Users answers questions that then direct them to products tailored to the answers. www.skinid.com. But skinid.com is focused on acne.
Because these sites are put up by the cosmetic companies, all of these tools direct users to their own products. So, like Rochelle at the med-spa, users get the feeling of being directed to the company’s products, not necessarily the products and treatments that are best for them.
Online Skin Care Product Sellers
Some of the large online product retailers offer consults, too, usually with an aesthetician or “skin care specialist” on the phone. SkinCareRx.com, which carries a huge number of skin care products and has a more clinical and science-based brand than other skin care product sites, offers telephone consults with their licensed estheticians. SkinCareRx is not pushing its own brand of products, as the cosmetic companies are, but the consult is limited by the expertise of the aesthetician and the fact that there is no visual contact.
Your Best Option
Your best option is SkinTour.com, by Dr. Irwin. Not only can you give yourself on online consult on your cosmetic issues and options, you can see Dr. Irwin’s video demonstrations of Botox, Juvederm, lasers, and Thermage, take a skin care test with product recommendations, sign up for an email Tip of the Week, and read lots of articles on cosmetic issues and treatments. And Dr. Irwin has no ties to any cosmetic company, so her advice is independent and unbiased.
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