Transcription

Sciton STAX The Combination Approach with Dr Julia Carroll

 

Trish 

Hi. It’s Trish here from the Transforming Bodies podcast and today, I’m actually in Sydney at the Grand Hyde Park and so it’s great, really impressive. And I’m here with Dr Julia Carroll, who’s a dermatologist at Compass Dermatology in Toronto, Canada. And I have to be honest, I did Google Julia before I started an account with this. Julia Carroll is known for her ethical and natural approach to beauty. She is the best kept secret of many Canadian women who love her for her subtle but effective rejuvenation treatments. So I was like, yes, I wanna go there. So we’re gonna have a chat today about so much on Sciton devices and why they’re wonderful. So welcome, Julia

 

Julia

Thank you. I’m loving Australia. 

 

Trish

You need to come back. 

 

Julia

Yes. Absolutely. This has been the tasting menu, and we’re gonna come back for the full meal. 

 

Trish

 

Fantastic. Excellent. So tell me, I know you’ve got some Sciton devices in your clinic and use all the time and you do love them. But what is your or actually, first of all, tell us, so how did you like, why do you do what you do?

 

Julia

Well, you know, I started as a medical dermatologist and had a mixed practice and then I just realised that what I really loved were my aesthetic, my cosmetic patients and I always describe myself as a confidence doctor because there’s nothing better than people that come in, maybe they’re a little shy to ask you about something. They’ve got something that’s bothering them and with a little injection, a little laser, like these little treatments, you can make major impacts in their lives. I had one patient who I was doing some injectables on and I showed her the mirror right afterwards. She was quite nervous. And I held up the mirror and she started to cry and I thought, oh gosh, what now? And she looked at me and she said, you have done more for me in ten minutes than my therapist has done for me in ten years. I feel amazing. She’s one of my favourite patients.

Trish

That’s amazing. You know, it’s so true because, like, it’s a may like, if you look good and it makes you feel good and it’s amazing what it does for your whole world being like it says so much more than what people might think just by the fact that you feel that you look good. It just does so much for you. 

 

Julia

Yeah. It’s a little bit of armour that you put on every day. We do that with makeup, we do that with clothes, but this is something that is a more long term improvement for you and it just, you know, get you through those moments where you may be lacking in a little bit of confidence or you just need that little pick me up.

 

Trish

Yep. And I love that you’re because I’m all about the, like, do whatever you want and but I I don’t like the done up look I like, the more natural look and I love that that’s what your approach is. It’s a natural and ethical approach to beauty and it’s when I discovered lasers, that’s what I discovered as well. I thought, oh my god, this is a great one. I just fixed what I’ve already got.

 

Julia

Yeah. Lasers are great for that because it’s just really about skin health and projecting that glow. And I love it when people, you know, come back and they say, I don’t put makeup on anymore. You know, those little things that bothered me, they no longer bother me and that saves me time, makes me feel great about myself and so lasers I think are a must. You know, there’s hardly a patient, I can’t think of any patient that walks in my door that I can’t recommend a laser for. 

 

Trish

Yep. Actually, you couldn’t have makeup on have you?

 

Julia
I just have a little bit of sunscreen and eyeliner.

 

Trish

It looks amazing. I barely got blush and sunscreen and eyeliner too. 

 

Julia

So you look awesome too.

 

Trish

So tell me, first of all, what’s your favourite Sciton treatment? Okay. I know there’s so many. 

 

Julia

Yeah, that’s, like, asking me to, like, pick between your children. But I would say, okay, I’m gonna cheat and give two answers. I’d say the BBL HERO is the workforce in our practice. We have two of those devices and that’s the one my staff fight over the most. But in terms of transformative treatments, HALO. Because of the balance between the amount of improvement that you get and then the very minimal downtime, I think it’s a real win for everybody.

 

Trish

You know what? I have to with the HALO, I totally agree, because actually, that’s the only latest treatment I have done these days, and I love it. Ever since I had the first one, I’ve been obsessed, so I totally get it. So HALO and BBL and your BBL is your workhorse. 

 

Julia

Right. Absolutely. HALO is great too because if someone comes in and they have, they need some correctives, they’ve got some pigmentation. HALO is great, but someone who comes in and just says, I want to do something. I want to stay on top of my skin as someone who already has great skin, you can take them from great to amazing.

 

Trish

Yep. And for the patients that are listening, like, how often would you recommend a HALO like it? Is it a once a year treatment or twice a year treatment or just like is it a maintenance treatment or some sort?

 

Julia

It really depends on the patient. So I would say, once someone gets to where they’re happy with their skin, I think once a year is great, there’s other options like MOXI or someone who’s a little bit younger, maybe would opt for a MOXI. What I do with my patients is we make a year-long plan and I try to do a series of lasers for them or BBL or one big treatment a year. Now that’s, you know, very different if someone’s twenty versus sixty, that’s gonna that’ll be different. So that patient who’s sixty, I might recommend a series of HALOs but if they’ve been with me for a long time and their skin is in great shape, their skin is probably more like a forty year old’s skin. So, you know, it’s very individual. So you have to trust your provider.

 

Trish

I love that because it’s really important for patients to align themselves with someone who’s actually gonna give them a plan so that they can actually just look good all the time.

 

Julia

Yeah. Absolutely. And the plan is great. We sit down with the patients, we talk about, what are your goals for the year and every year might be something different? What do you have coming up? Do you have a reunion? Do you have a wedding? And what are your holiday plans? Because we’re always trying to plan around holidays for downtime and for sun exposure. Our Canadians, although we don’t have a lot of sun, when the sun is there or they love to run to it and when the sun isn’t there, then they’re running south somewhere.

 

Trish

Yep. Yep. I love that because sort of like I never thought of it like that before, but the fact that you actually plan your year out around your treatments because I always have a mad rush panic thing. Oh, my god. This coming up, I need to organise something so it’s good that you can actually be organised.

 

Julia

Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, that that kinda leads into, like, how long does it take to see the results as well? Because you want if something’s gonna take a little bit longer to see that result, then you wanna give yourself the runway. We don’t wanna do the HALO two weeks before the wedding.

 

Trish

Mhmm. That’s so true. And well, on that, give us an idea about results, like how long does it typically take for your patients to get results from, say, a HALO or a BBL or even both?

 

Julia

Right. So BBL, you know, once you’ve had a little bit of peeling that happens with the pigmentation, I think you see that inside of a week you’ll probably continue to see more improvement because it does give you that positive collagen push. But within a week, absolutely, you’ll see significant improvements. HALO is, I feel like within a week you see improvement in the skin texture. That’s because of the ablative portion of the HALO, but the non ablative portion that goes a little bit deeper than remodelling that takes at least six weeks to see.

 

Trish

Okay. And that last for? 

 

Julia

Oh, wow. I mean, it depends. How good are you with skin care?How good are you with your sunscreen? You know, those results are yours to own, and it just depends on your own DNA and your at home routine. So I always talk about it’s sort of like going to the dentist. You know, this is the dental cleaning we’re gonna do in the office, but you have to floss and brush home. 

 

Trish 

I love that. That’s such a good analogy because it’s true. A lot of people just sort of like, well, I just can’t get, you know, laser things and everything be done, but you do have to look after yourself as well.

 

Julia

Yeah. It’s a big investment. So there’s not, you know, there’s nothing worse than patients that will go into a series of lasers or BBLs. And then, they come back and see me a month later in their tan and their melasma’s pop backed up. So it’s a partnership between the patients and the provider.

 

Trish

Yeah. So I was just gonna say, you need to find a provider that you partner with to get all of your dreams come true. Absolutely. Well, on that partnership thing, so why did you choose to partner with Sciton?

 

Julia 

Well, so the Sciton device was the first device that I bought. So I was opening up a clinic with my business partner, Dr Sonya Cook and I did all my research. I went around and looked at all the devices and at the end of the day, I liked the fact that I could get one box that had multiple devices in it, and then I could add to it. And then I would say that it was interesting because we purchased our device and we had Erbium:YAG, we had BBL, and we had Nd: YAG on our box to start with and then quickly after that, the Rep actually moved on to a different company, and I thought, well, that’s the end. We’ll never see those guys again but sure enough, maybe a month later, a Rep shows up and says, Hi, I heard you have one of our devices on your slide on our app. I said, oh, No, we just opened our practice, like, we’re not looking to add more. He’s like, No. I’m just here to work with you and so his name is Andrew, and he’s climbed the ladder in Sciton, and he’s I think he’s the head of Canada now.
Anyway, he’s been with us the whole way along so we’ve kind of grown together, therefore, events there to train our staff and has been a real, like, a true partner to our practice and so when we look to buy or add, definitely it’s one of the first calls we make. 

 

Trish

That’s amazing. It’s so good that you can actually because it is a real thing. The Sciton team is no doubt about it as an outsider looking in. There’s a thing about the Sciton team so it just sounds like just another extension of the Sciton family.

 

Julia 

I totally agree. And, you know, you read the taglines in the email and you go to the Sciton summits or they call it like these rock star events that they have. And it’s not just words. You know, the people that work at Sciton, they actually, they tow the line. I don’t know if that’s the right expression, but they lived those words and it’s a bit of a tough industry, you know. It doesn’t always attract the best characters, but Sciton has found that secret sauce. 

 

Trish

Yep. But I totally agree with you one million percent. So tell me, how has Sciton supported you in growing your business?

 

Julia

So, you know, definitely through events that we’ve done at the office. They’re always there to help us. They’ve been helpful in terms of putting us out there on platforms like bringing me to Australia. I’ve spoken in Vegas for them before. I love the summits that they have because you’ve got people on stage, you’ve got Key Opinion Leaders talking about the actual device that you own, sharing their settings, sharing their business ideas, that’s been fantastic.
And the fact that Sciton keeps pushing the science is nice because there’s always something new on offer and whether it’s BBL that turns into BBL HERO or they added the HALO, now MOXI, so they don’t just rest on their laurels. They keep pushing science.

 

Trish

Yep. I love the fact that the because I know it’s a real historical kind of company if you like, and I love the fact that the commitment to continuous improvement is beyond anything of the same, like even though they’ve got the best they still want more.

 

Julia

Right. And then the other thing too is their education is phenomenal. You know, so whether it’s webinars, whether it’s going into their portal, you could spend, like, a month probably going through all the education that they have available. That’s always great.

 

Trish

Yeah. Fantastic. And tell me, so I was gonna ask you, are there any misconceptions that you’ve encountered amongst patients regarding laser treatments? And if so, how does Sciton technology address them because I know a lot of people are actually scared of lasers because you see some stuff out there that’s really scary too. I think lasers, oh my god, are scary.

 

Julia

Yeah. So, I mean, I think one of the things about Sciton is the devices are really precise, so you get the same every time. So, you know that the patient if you treat patient a and patient b, the settings are consistent if the and the other thing I like about the Sciton devices and particularly in surfacing devices, so that would be, like, MOXI, HALO, ProFractional, is that they’re tunable. So what that means if you have someone who is a nervous nelly as I call them, you can say, okay, we can turn the settings down or we can go for a light treatment. Let’s get to know each other. Let’s get to know what a laser is and what a HALO is.
And then depending on how you go, then the next time around, we can turn it up, and we can see how your results are. So that’s when it’s really great and then I also think of a lot of their innovations, a lot of people are scared about pain. Mhmm. And so they’ve got excellent cooling, continuous motion on the BBL HERO and patients who have had IPLs in the past and found it shocking and painful, just sailed through the BBL HERO treatments. It’s been a massive game changer in our practice.

 

Trish

 So it’s a little bit like going on a date before you go out for dinner.

 

Yeah. Absolutely. Just drinks, and then we’ll get to dinner. 

 

Trish

Or maybe coffee, then drinks, then dinner. 

Julia

Oh, it’s always the drinks with me.

 

Trish

So tell me, I was gonna ask you as well, is there a story that you can share with us where a patient might have undergone a treatment using a Sciton laser and how it actually helped to improve their skin condition or their quality of life. Because I’ve got one of these for myself as well because it definitely has changed my skin. There’s no doubt about it in my mind. But have you got a story similar to that?

 

Julia

I’m trying to think so. There’s a makeup artist that comes to mind and she loves it every time she’s in office. She’s awesome. She shouts out on her Instagram, and she had and as a makeup artist, just like as a dermatologist, you wanna have really amazing looking skin. She had rosacea, a lot of redness, always flushing, and she is absolutely committed to regular BBLs now. And she will say every time she’s in to see me, you’ve changed my skin, you’ve reprogrammed my skin. She’s confident now even though she’s a makeup artist, she’s able to go out without makeup. That’s one patient that comes to mind. And then there was actually a resident who was training at our office and at the end, she sort of came up and said, I’m getting married in a few months, maybe six months we had and my acne scars really, really bother me and I’ve always been scared of lasers and doing things because she was a darker skin type. She was a skin type five and we led her through a series of treatments that included ProFractional, some BBLs, some Microlaser peel and by the time it got to her wedding, her skin was a total one eighty. So absolutely confident had to wear very little makeup the day of her wedding and she was really grateful. 

 

Trish

Yeah. Nice. You know, it’s really funny because it’s true. It’s all not about just having a one off treatment and going away. It’s about that maintenance schedule and just the fact that you plan for something. So I love that you do that.

 

Julia

Yeah. The plan is really really key. And also, it’s not like the wedding’s finished, but we have a next step for her as well. We’re gonna keep working on that skin. 

 

Trish

Yeah. That’s good because a lot of people don’t think that like a lot of people look at treatments as I’ll just go and have this done. But when you actually align yourself with someone who’s actually invested in the devices, who wants to do the right trip, who wants to keep you as a patient for life like that’s what I want. I want a practitioner who I’m gonna stay with forever because they’re gonna make me look good forever or for as long as I live.

 

Julia

Yeah. And I think your dating analogy is perfect because that’s it. We’re gonna get to know each other, and then we’re gonna start going steady. It’s like a marriage. It’s as long as we both shall live.

Trish

Exactly. So tell me, I was gonna ask you, what are there any trends in Canada at the moment? Like, what’s the latest and greatest? I love Canadians, by the way.

 

Julia

I think Canadians and Australians are very similar. We are. I would say the two trends that I’ve seen in my office most recently are a huge uptick in men coming into the practice and men love lasers. They’re not so keen on injectables. You know, they tend to do, like, glabellar neuromodulator, teardrop. They sort of start there but lasers they love because I think they’re not you know, I had a little work done. They don’t mind messing up with a laser. They still look like themselves, they still look natural. So we’ve seen,since COVID, a massive uptick in men, and then younger, really educated patients that are doing their research, they’re coming in, and they’re finding us because of devices that we own, and they’re asking for specific treatments. Sometimes they’re wrong, but I think younger patients, really well educated patients and men. 

 

Trish

That’s so true. Do you know, I’ve always thought that we’ve got, like, the older people, I’ll call myself one of the older people. We’ve got a lot to learn from the young ones because they do. They go and look up their stuff. Hey, whereas I just go and, like, just just what do I need?
What do I need to do just now? Whereas they actually think and they plan and they get stuff done before it’s even really needed, I guess, sometimes as well.

 

Julia

Yeah. Absolutely. They are, like, ahead of the curve. They are trying to not age instead of the patients that come in at forty or fifty already with set in lines, wrinkles pigmentation that we’re trying to reverse. The twenty year olds, thirty year olds, they’re trying to get ahead of it. 

 

Trish

Yeah. Exactly. Not a bad thing at all. So tell me, I was gonna ask you what actual message you would have for patients who might be considering a laser treatment and why they might like to choose a Sciton provider for their skin care needs. I mean, we’ve almost kinda covered this when we talk about aligning yourself with someone that is gonna make all your dreams come true as far as your skin and aesthetics is, I guess.

 

Julia

Yeah. I mean, I think, Sciton devices are not the most inexpensive devices. So you know that you’ve got somebody who’s committed to their practice and somebody who’s investing in quality. And so if they’ve purchased a Sciton device, then probably across their practice they’re consistent in that way where they recognise value and they recognise quality.
And so I think that speaks volumes. 

 

Trish

Yep. You’re so right. Look, I’m gonna ask you so tonight. You’re actually talking on Sciton STAX. So can you just give us a little bit of a rundown? I know I’m gonna be listening to it anyway, you give us just a little bit of a rundown? Because I love it, I think it’s all about combination treatments. So I think that’s where the magic comes in because one plus one actually equals three, and I love that. About the treatments, can you tell us a little bit about what you’re talking about tonight?

 

Julia

Absolutely. Yeah. I love synergies. So I think that most of the people look natural as well.
So you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. You can’t do everything with a laser. You can’t do everything with injectables. And so it’s like an outfit you’re gonna put on your pants. So you’re gonna put on your socks or your shoes. You’re in your shirt, you’re gonna put it all on. Right?
And that’s what makes an outfit look great. So, we’re talking about combinations and some of my favourite combinations are, for example, BBL HERO and MOXI is a fabulous combination. In my office, we call that “The Illuminator” and we also do combinations of BBL and HALO- that when we call the “HALO WOW” because everyone gets a wow from that. So but again, it’s about individuals, so it’s not a one size fits all. So it’s looking at what we are trying to address? Are we trying to address redness? Are we trying to address pigmentation?
How deep is the pigmentation? And then we may STAX treatment the same day, which my patients love because if they’re going to spend time in my office, everyone’s very busy in Toronto. Then they can get multiple treatments done in one setting. Or it might be that, as we said before, we’re gonna plan it out over a calendar year. So maybe we start with a HALO to lift up some of the deeper pigment, then we’re gonna maintain it with some BBL. So, you know, that’s really what STAX is all about. It’s just combining treatments to get the best results for the patients. 

 

Trish

Yeah. And you know what? I’ve got a friend of mine who ‘s a sixty five year old or whatever, sixty six year old block. And he goes and has his HALO-BBL every year religiously because that’s you know, and he if you saw him, he’s like, you would never think that that was someone that had laser treatment. He’s absolutely obsessed with it because it looks like half of his skin. It makes him look good and or look better than what he would look like if he didn’t have it because he had one of those big you know, the big bulbous noses and the big red, you know, kind of, like, thing in British that doesn’t have that anymore so you just don’t know who’s gonna walk in your door.

 

Julia

Really? It’s all about healthy skin. Right? At the end of the day, you wanna project that healthy glow. So, you know, redness, taking distractions away. So sometimes it’s not what you see afterwards. It’s what you don’t see. 

 

Trish

That’s so true. Sometimes I look like I’ve been drinking four litres of water a day, and that’s not. It’s a laser treatment. Awesome. So to me, just to finish up, what are your predictions for aesthetics moving forward?

 

Julia

Predictions for aesthetics moving forward. I think patients are going to continue to be demanding in which they have every right to. Is that they’re going to want more and they’re going to want less downtime. I think that’s definitely something we’re going to see. I think that as the patients get more access to information, they’re going to want to know that there’s science behind what we’re doing, that it’s not just something like a plan that we pulled out of our head. Oh, that’s a tough one. I don’t know. I get to thinking about that one.

 

Trish

Yeah. It is a tough one there. I always think that it’s not gonna slow down. We all just wanna look good. There’s no doubt about it and I guess it’s just finding the right thing and jumping on that beam, and then going with it. But like you said, I think it comes back to that one thing is aligning yourself with the right person who’s gonna offer the right treatments for what you want, for your goals.

 

Julia

And I also think that what we’re seeing and it’s coming in pharmaceuticals, it’s coming in injectables, and it’s coming in lasers and energy based devices. Two things. One is democratisation of those devices, making them more accessible so that they’re no longer luxury. That it’s something that’s considered part of maintenance just like getting your hair dyed, getting your nails done. Not that they’re all the same. Obviously, there’s a lot more skill involved, but that it’s something that it won’t be just seen as something that it’s for people that are wealthy, people that are vain and that it is part of looking after your skin. And I think the other area that continues to grow is the body. So, we do a ton of BBL HERO on bodies because there’s no reason that if you don’t want that mismatch of having your face looking great and then it kind of stops at the jawline. So, we do a lot of treatments down to the chest, but we also do backs. We do arms. We do legs. Because patients expose those parts of their body, and it all has to work together.

 

Trish

That’s true. And now we’re gonna finish up. But now that you’ve said that, it’s brought me to another question. So if someone was a bit of a sun lover, but they had, like, all spots over the body from being out in the sun for so long. It’s like, would it be reasonable to think that they can have BBL done every so often and kind of keep what could turn into something nasty at bay?

 

Julia

You know, there is some science, particularly with HALO around treating actinic keratosis, so precancerous lesions. You know, I think you always wanna have a dermatologist in the background, making sure that you are looking out for skin cancers, looking out for precancers. But I think it does improve the health of the skin. And it’s easy to do body treatment you know, we actually shot a video where we did an entire body. So from the neck down, front and back, I think it was twenty eight minutes and thirty seconds.

 

Trish

Wow. Half an hour.

 

Julia

Yeah. So, you know, don’t leave the body, don’t leave the body off here to do this.

Trish

Okay. I’ve actually watched that on a fast in an Instagram post somewhere. I actually watched that happen fast and it just went. And it was, like, in twenty seven minutes. Was that yours yes.

Julia

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes 

 

Trish

I loved that when I saw it. 

 

Julia

Yeah. It’s great because I just, you know, I challenged my staff. I said, look, I wanna shoot this video when I wanna see, not that we treat a body in twenty eight minutes, but I just wanted to show how easy it was so people would be inspired.  Yep. It can put up with anything for twenty eight minutes. Exactly. And because it’s a BBL HERO , it doesn’t even hurt. 

 

Trish

Exactly. Well, look, I gotta say thank you so much for joining us tonight.

 

Julia
Oh, it was my absolute pleasure. 

 

Trish

Listen. So look, if you do wanna find out more about Sciton or Sciton STAX or whatever, just drop us a DM or you can actually, I’ll put a link in through the post as well. But, yeah, anything you wanna know, just just send us through a message. So thank you so much for joining us today.

 

Julia

Thank you. Bye.

 

Trish

Bye.

 

You can check on Instagram @sciton_ausnz for more Sciton STAX treatments and upcoming events just like what Dr Julia Caroll did here in Brisbane and Sydney.