How to Change Your Complexion in 90 Days

Monique Martin is the winner of the pigmentation category in our 90-Day Challenge. She TOTALLY changed her complexion in 90 days! (Read this blog for a detailed description of the 90-Day Challenge).
To understand the effectiveness of the products (and decide who won the challenge), we looked at a number of factors in the 90-Day Challenge. First, throughout the challenge the participants were objectively evaluated by the Visia machine, which looked at their skin and produced the visual analysis shown below:

In addition to providing pictures that looked below the surface of the skin, the Visia gave a numeric analysis of skin attributes such as spots, wrinkles, texture, etc. The Visia percentages should be read like standardized test scores. They indicate how much better you are than your peers in a certain area. So an INCREASED percentage means a REDUCTION in the issue. Essentially, in her spots, Monique started off better than 17% of her peers, but ended up better than12% of her peers. In Monique’s case it appears that her results got worse, but what we found was that the “mask” or the area that was selected for analysis was larger the second time around, therefore, more skin was analyzed which resulted in finding “more” spots and even in her case the analysis picked up wisps of hair that were counted as “wrinkles.” The rest of her results are listed below:
Spots 17% vs 12%
Wrinkles 8% vs 7%
Texture 12% vs 16%
Pores 8% vs 10%
UV Spots 90% vs 43%
Brown spots 65%vs 31%
Red areas 1% vs 1%
Analysis:
Monique’s Visia Analysis did not show improvement due to the issues with the “mask”.
In addition to the numeric results, we considered the experience of the participant AND the trained eyes of our aestheticians. In many ways, these two factors are more important than the numbers. A person’s knows his/her own face better than a machine, and his/her own experience of their face is the most important factor in their satisfaction.

(Even thought the numbers may not show it, you can see in the side by side before and after picture that Monique’s skin tone is much more even, bright, and clear.)
What do you think of your skin?
If you had had any interaction with me over the last 8 years you would understand, it is just remarkable. Everybody has areas that challenge their self-esteem. I have spent thousands on microdermabrasion and bleaching creams. Prior to my skin becoming discolored, I didn’t wear any foundation or powder on my face, but resorted to makeup to color the hyperpigmentation.
Finally, I feel comfortable wearing very little makeup; confidence is coming back, and to think, I was so skeptical about the challenge. [Tweet this.]
Dr. Taliaferro knows I have heard it all so I just figured this to be yet another thing that would produce the results I so desperately wanted to see.
 
What was your skin regimen before 90 day challenge, and what is it like now?
The 90-day challenge required me to use a little bit more products than I am used to, but it also created a real regimen for me to follow making it easy to do. Prior to starting the challenge, I was using a sunblock and a bleaching cream twice a day, and I would sometimes use a toner. My regimen was just washing my face and using sunblock and bleaching cream. Now I do four things so it is a little more. It seemed like a lot at first, but then it didn’t add any extra time.
What was the hardest part of the challenge?
The hardest part was being comfortable with my skin peeling, but Karen set days for my peel so that the peeling virtually started and ended on the weekend. By doing so, I didn’t feel uncomfortable at work with the small patches of peel here and there.
What was the best part of the challenge?
Really seeing the results, and I can’t say enough about Karen, she is just phenomenal and very positive. Karen was very knowledgeable. She was not just someone putting stuff on my face and attempting to convince me that my skin looked better. On this quest to clear the pigmentation on my face, I had visited a few dermatologist offices and tried a number of other products or regimens. Another dermatologist I visited had me on a regimen where one month I would do a microdermabrasion and then a chemical peel the next month for several months. After the first cycle, I noticed that my skin got darker and I saw no improvement. The aesthetician at that office told me the darkness was to be expected and kept telling me that my skin had vastly improved since my first visit. I had spent enough time staring at my face over the past 8 years that I knew that was far from accurate. I became discouraged and stopped going to that office. At that point I was hopeless and considered just waiting out the pigmentation in hopes that it would just go away.
Even in my skepticism, I decided to take the challenge because I knew Dr. Taliaferro was truly committed to helping me. After my first visit with Karen, I could tell that she knew the products and was very knowledgeable about skin. She made me feel more relaxed about the challenge and helped me to be positive based on everything she shared. Her positive attitude coupled with constant motivation pushed me to make sure I was doing everything I needed to do to see improvement, and it paid off. Karen even sent me a kind note to follow up with me after the challenge was over. She made the overall experience extremely pleasant. It is so nice to work with someone who is knowledgeable, confident, and who sincerely cares about helping patients have the best outcome.