A little while ago I woke up and had THAT moment — the moment of realization that my 34th birthday is a little over a month away. Don’t get me wrong I’m not the type to panic about turning another year older or officially being in my mid-30s, but it did get me thinking about what this means when it comes to skincare and if this is the time when I should be ‘stepping up my game’. For most of my adult life I’ve kept my beauty regimen pretty simple. You know the usual stuff: wash face, remove makeup every night (sometimes not), moisturize, apply SPF, etc, but I’m not going to lie, I haven’t always been careful when it comes to skincare. I spent most of my childhood and teen years on the beach and exposed to the sun with little or no SPF at all. I love the beach more than life itself and know the health benefits of VitD, but I also had some pretty bad sun burns that are now showing their traces directly on my face. And of course, there is also the general aging concerns like fine lines, wrinkles, and all the other fun stuff that I learned about recently like bone and fat loss (who knew it started this early, but unfortunately it does). So what is a girl to do? When is it too early to start thinking about aging and its prevention? I know many will argue that we live in an age obsessed society, but I try not to over think this subject and approach it with the simple philosophy – if we take care of ourselves in every other way, why is preventing aging on our face always such a controversy? The use of lasers, Botox, and fillers still feel like taboo subjects, but I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with speaking to a professional about your options if you feel like this is something that is important to you. Of course, I will always be mindful of aging gracefully and naturally – it is something that is very important to me, but with my 34th birthday on the horizon, I felt this was a good time to at least know my options for prevention and reversal of some of the damage previously done. But this brings me to my next point. Even though I made the decision to see someone, I had NO idea where to start my search.
I didn’t know if I needed to pull out every issue of the Washingtonian best doctors and hope to find someone there, or to spend a day reading yelp reviews (which are always so confusing and all over the place), and let’s face it, googling “best doctors” never yields the results you’re looking for. I think I might have given up before I even started, but then something cool happened – that good old thing called ‘word of mouth’. My dear friend Sara of StyleMBA and I randomly got to talking about this subject and she just so happened to know who I needed to see based on her own positive experience (you can read Sara’s post HERE). A few weeks later I made an appointment with Dr. Rostami of Rostami OPC and I couldn’t be happier to discover this wonderful practice. Dr. Rostami is everything you want in a doctor. Pleasant, knowledgeable, kind, honest, and it doesn’t hurt that you leave wishing you will look like her someday. I loved that she took her time assessing my skin needs and recommended a treatment plan I was comfortable with. It was refreshing to see a doctor who actually educates her patients on the progress in the aesthetic medical field and tailors the treatments based on your needs. The best things I heard her say during my consultation was “I would never perform a procedure on a patient I do not feel they truly need”. I already began using Dr. Rostami’s amazing products and I’m really excited to get started on my treatment plan. I will post a progress post, my experience, and ‘after’ photos later in the spring.
For more information and services offered at Rostami OPC, visit their website or make a consultation. In other exciting news, Dr. Rostami will be opening a Sanctuary Cosmetic Center this year to bring even more amazing services to our DMV area. More details on their blog.
XO
– C&K
