Houston’s New Skincare Spas — Hi, Skin and Westlake Dermatology Take Facials to Another Level

When was the last time you had a facial? If you can’t recall, maybe it’s time to block off 60 minutes or so to get your glow on. Keeping those quickly accumulating wrinkles at bay with an aim to achieve skin that’s nourished, hydrated and radiates good health is always a good idea. But what to do and where to go? Newcomer Hi, Skin and Westlake Dermatology are two prime Houston skincare options.

An Arizona export, Hi, Skin just arrived in Houston with two locations open (which will soon grow to four later this year). Hi, Skin’s innovative take on the facial experience allows clients to book a 60-minute “better facial” or a quick 30 minute facial, the mini facial as it’s known, for those in a time crunch.

Regardless of the length, each treatment is tailored to your skin’s concerns, with an array of different options included at no extra charge. Think gua sha stone (a gentle smooth stone massage that releases tension and toxins while working to lift and contour your facial muscles), cryo globe massage (icy steel or glass wands designed to increase blood flow to the skin’s surface) and those all-necessary pore extractions.

However, if you elect to try a booster as they’re called, there is an extra fee. Basic booster options (priced at $65 each for a drop-in visit or $45 for Hi, Skin members) include the Purelift, a 10 minute patented muscle stimulation, diamond microdermabrasion (to sluff off dead skin cells promoting more even skin texture), and the non-invasive dermaplaning technique where a gentle blade removes dead skin cells and that fine peach-like hair fuzz to create a brighter, smoother complexion where your serums can penetrate more effectively.

While Hi, Skin‘s premium boosters ($115 for a drop-in and $95 for members) include options such as ultrasound utilizing high-frequency sound waves and LED light to enhance collagen production and product absorption, radio frequency which gently warms the skin to boost elasticity, and infusion therapy where targeted serum infusions are plunged below the skin’s surface via micro droplet jet streams. If you elect to join Hi, Skin as a member, the monthly cost is $109, and you’ll receive a 60 minute treatment once a month as well as save $20 off all treatment boosters and 10 percent off skincare products. (Otherwise, the better facial 60 minute treatment is $140 for drop-in clients.)

The dermatologist and plastic surgeon-led Westlake Dermatology boasts locations throughout Texas.

“We are finding clients are moving away from treatments that make you look too contoured, filled and overdone,” Westlake physician assistant Laura Scott says. “The goal is to look and feel good without makeup on.

“A lot of the therapies are moving toward regenerative skin treatments, where the goal is to stimulate collagen and elastin production in the skin, giving you that glowy, glass-like complexion.”

Houston Skincare Options

Released late last year, Skinvive by Juvéderm is the first and only injectable with hyaluronic acid designed to bring that dewy look to your skin by literally infusing moisture and water into the dermis layer. Made up of tiny droplets, hyaluronic acid is injected into the mid to lower face (never the forehead), staying away from the bone and vascular areas.

Mind you, it doesn’t change the shape or the volume of the face, but Scott says it helps her patients who have dry skin retain moisture. And for those twnetysomethings looking for that trendy “glazed donut appearance,” it gives them that dewy glow, creating highlights where we have natural contours on the face.

“Hyaluronic acid is highly lipophilic, meaning that it attracts and pulls water into the skin,” Scott notes. “I like to describe it as an injectable moisturizer or a hydration boost that gives patients not just the appearance of dewy youthful skin, but truly improves the quality and health of your skin from the inside out.”

I tried it and found it’s particularly effective as perimenopause and menopause descends and estrogen levels drop leaving your skin looking dull and more parched. The procedure boosts minimal downtime (you’re warned to avoid heat, sun and sweating for 24 hours). Although it wasn’t painful — thanks to the numbing lidocaine infused with the hyaluronic acid — I did have quite a bit of bruising that lasted for a good week. The total effect lasts about six months and the treatment costs run from $600 to $800.

At Dr. Neil Farnsworth’s River Oaks Westlake Dermatology, Farnsworth finds the chemical VI Peel by Vitality Institute is another popular option that can address a number of skin issues from acne to wrinkles to irregular texture and fading hyperpigmentation. This medium-depth chemical peel comes in six different varieties.

The Precision Peel (the most popular type) suppresses the production of melanin (responsible for sun spots and melasma) while promoting rapid skin turnover for a more even, bright skin tone. (While the VI Peel Body is similar and can also be applied to smaller areas like the decollate and back.) For those concerned with cystic acne and the scarring that can result from it, the VI Peel Purify can be an alternative for patients who don’t wish to undergo lengthy and often difficult Accutane treatments or who are prone to hyperpigmentation and/or scarring on the skin.

Finally, there’s the VI Peel Advanced, which is especially potent and appropriate for older patients who suffer from longer term damage to the skin. It focuses on the loss of elasticity, for patients starting to develop deeper lines.

Admittedly, the Westlake team says the most challenging thing about this painless chemical peel is convincing patients not to exercise for three days. Designed to reach all the way down to the papillary dermis and stop there, it’s a controlled peel. Initially applied at the clinic, you’re sent away with a take-home kit with post-peel towelettes and hydrocortisone cream, as well as an app downloaded to your phone that starts the countdown clock.

Four hours later, armed with a wipe in hand, you’re instructed to rub the peel off. On the first day, your skin will look like you have a bad spray tan with that telltale orange hue. On day two, it appears like you have a sunburn; your skin feels tight and looks a little red all over. Days three, four and five are when you should begin to shed from the inside out, peeling from the mouth to the outside of the face. By day six, the peeling will ease, and a week after your initial treatment, you should have no peeling, just fresh, glowing skin.

The price range for each VI Peel (people often do a series of three over a period of several months) runs from $300 up to $500 for large areas on the body.

Hi, Skin has locations in the M-K-T mixed-use development and in Uptown Park. They are open from 10 am to 7 pm Mondays through Fridays and 9 am to 6 pm Saturdays and Sundays. Westlake Dermatology River Oaks is located at 3636 Westheimer Road, It is open from 8 am to 5 pm Mondays through Fridays.