John Ray: Hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of North Fulton Business Radio. I'd like to welcome Maedeh Samimi! Maedeh is the owner of Urban Skin Care Clinic. Tell us a little bit about you and your business. How are you serving folks out there?

Maedeh Samimi: Hello John, thanks for having me on your show today! I am a licensed esthetician, certified acne expert, and laser practitioner. I've been in the esthetic industry for over 10 years. And I established Urban Skin Care Clinic back in February of 2020.

John Ray: What's your passion for skincare? Where did that come from?

Maedeh Samimi: It all started when I personally started experiencing adult cystic acne and wanted to find a long term holistic solution. That's how and where it all started, and it has become a calling.

I enjoy helping women clear their acne holistically without the need of any medication or prescription topicals which is a much better and gentler way, but also helping women age gracefully.

Most of my clients come to me because they want to see improvements with their skin and they don't want to go under the knife or have needles in their face.

John Ray: I find it fascinating that you've got over 10,000 hours of hands on experience. That is a lot of experience.

Maedeh Samimi: Well, I've been doing this for over 10 years. Yeah, absolutely.

John Ray: That's amazing. So, you really help women with their skin. But you do more than that. Right? Because you're helping people with their self confidence, their self image, how they feel about themselves when they look in the mirror. Right?

Maedeh Samimi: Absolutely, and it truly brings me joy when I see my clients look in the mirror and feel good about themselves and their skin, their self image and leaving makeup as an enhancement and not a necessity. When I see that twinkle in my client's eyes, I've done my job.

John Ray: That's terrific. Let's talk about the acne piece. You said that's adult cystic acne. What is that specifically? We all know what acne is. But how do you develop that condition?

Maedeh Samimi: Acne is the most common skin condition affecting 60 million Americans, and up to 85% of people tend to experience it at some point in their life.

Acne is an inherited disorder of the pores where dead skin cells shed much faster than normal. Normal pores shed approximately 1 layer of dead skin cells per day inside the pore. Acne-prone pores shed up to 5 layers of dead skin cells per day, causing buildup. This buildup forms a microcomedone, which is where all acne lesions begin. That microcomedone turns into blackheads or whiteheads under the skin; and if bacteria is present, it feeds on the dead skin cells and oil, creating inflamed pimples or pustules, and possibly cysts. This process can take up to 90 days. A lot of things can trigger acne. But first and foremost one is genetically disposition to it.

When someone comes to me for acne, I teach them everything I know, and we take a 360 approach to getting their skin clear. It's not just topicals, a lot of it is coming internally. I want them to significantly reduce their dairy intake, excess sugar and salt from their diet. Hormonal changes can caggrevate acne.

We also take a look at their cosmetics, skincare, shampoo and conditioner, detergent, fabric softener, etc. for pore clogging ingredients. Stress and sleep deprivation raise the cortisol level in the body which then leads into overproduction of oil, clogging, build up, and ultimately acne.

John Ray: So you talk about your solution for this condition to be holistic. So let's define what that means. What is a holistic solution?

Maedeh Samimi: Typically, if you see a dermatologist for acne, 99.9% of the time you'll get prescribed an antibiotic, or some sort of a pill or harsh topicals. I've seen time and time again, these antibiotics work, they clear the skin, but as soon as you come off of them, acne comes back.

Accutane is the end all be all for acne. And I've had several clients who have gone on multiple rounds accutane, but their acne has came back. So what's different with my approach is first of all, I teach them everything they need to know to start seeing progress. I customize a skincare routine for them to follow twice daily based on their skin type and acne type.

We go over the diet guidelines, lifestyle guidelines and topical treatments of course! I've seen some great transformations in as little as three to four months. Acne takes up to 90 days to surface.

So from the minute we start the process we're trying to treat what's present and prevent future breakouts forming.

John Ray: So what does it mean to age gracefully?

Maedeh Samimi: In short, when someone's skin looks normal and radient.

John Ray: It's more of a bigger picture look at of what a lot of aspects of the issue can and would be right? Are you trying to help women avoid plastic surgery?

Maedeh Samimi: Funny you ask that question. Most of my clients who are coming to me with aging concerns are wanting to age better and minimize fine lines and dark spots. They don't want to go plastic surgery route or even injectables. There's nothing wrong with those treatments, actually when done right, they do enhance one's natural beauty. My goal is to help women to feel good in their own skin, whatever that means for them.

John Ray: Yeah, we're certainly not condemning Plastic Surgery here. So that's not what we're doing here. Exactly what we're addressing is there are a certain number of people out there that are might want that result that they're scared of. They've seen horror stories or in or they're just scared of what might happen. And so they don't trust that for whatever reason whether it's justified or not, they don't. So they're looking for other alternatives.

Maedeh Samimi: Absolutely. And when it comes to selecting your provider, whether it's a plastic surgeon or an esthetician or an injector, I always recommend people meeting with a few different places, going in for a consultation asking questions, and their intuition will tell them who is the right provider, which place they connect with. I want you to like and trust your provider and to be able to ask questions, that's been my goals; to be an esthetician friend to women, to create a safe space for them to ask questions. That's why I started the Skin Coach in Georgia Podcast in 2022. To share my knowledge and bridge the gap between unqualified social media advice from influencers and paid consultations.

John Ray: That's great! We were talking a little bit about this before we came on the air about your podcast. That's a great reason for you to do a podcast, this is for people to be able to hear you talk before they get the courage to come in. There's a lot of women that would like to kick the tires a little bit before they really sit down and talk seriously about their own solution. That makes a lot of sense.

So, adult cystic acne, helping women age, gracefully. You're talking about lifestyle changes, that's really what you're talking about here. Right?

Maedeh Samimi: Definitly. For instance, I will ask people to apply sunscreen on a daily basis. Sunscreen isn't part of most people's daily routine, and it should be! Sun is the number one culprit of premature aging, and ultimately skin cancer, nevermind the lines and brown spots. People think od SPF when they go to the beach or the pool. But guess what? Daily exposure to the sun even if it's 10 minutes a day walking your dog, over 30-50 years accumulates and the damage shows up to the surface way later in life. A moisturizer with sun pprotection of 30 or 50 should be part of everyone's daily routine.

People who are not using sunscreen on a daily basis, is because of one of two things:

1) They haven't found a formulation they enjoy enough to be to want to apply it every day.

2) They don't know the difference between physical vs. chemical sunscreens!

Here's a quick comparison; physical/mineral sunscreens (titanimum oxide and zinc oxide) protect our skin by sitting on the surface of the skin and acting as a shield, it reflects the sun's rays.

Chemical sunscreens act as a sponge; it absorbs the sun's rays in this skin, turn it into heat before releasing it. Therefore, chemical sunscreens can be irritating for a lot of skins types, especially sensitive skin types.

Physical sunscreens are safer for our environmentas well. Let's say you have it on your skin and you get in the ocean. Physical sunscreen does not disrupt the coral reef ecosystem. Chemical sunscreens do, and they're actually banned in some areas like Hawaii and Mexico.

John Ray: Very interesting. Maedeh, talk to us about winter skincare.

Maedeh Samimi: Yes, extreme tempreture changes definilty affect our skin. We all need to be mindful of a few things in cold winter weather:

1) Exfoliating. Exfoliate your skin even in the winter months. Specially if you see flakiness. That's that skin wanting asking to come off. Exfoliation will allow for your moisturizer to absorb better.

2) Switching to a creamy cleanser

3) Changing to a slightly thicker moisturizer

4) Avoiding hot water

John Ray: I would love for you to share a success story.

Maedeh Samimi: I'll pick Alexa. She is in her early 30s and had been dealing with acne for nearly 20 years, she had gone through accutane and her acne came back, and this time it was affecting her mental health. She was just hopeless and helpless when she came to me. I assured her that I'd be here every step of the way, but I would need her to be patient and commited to the process, as our skin doesn't change overnight. So, she was patient and dedicated to the process and her skin transformed in just three months. Today she's acne free, acne scar free and radiates, quality of her life is better. She doesn't feel the need to pack on makeup every day. And that truly brings me joy. Yeah.

John Ray: Wow. What a great story. One of many I'm sure you could tell. That's wonderful. Maedeh, this has been great, and I can't imagine that there aren't some folks that hearing this interview wouldn't want to be in touch. So let's tell them how they can do that.

Maedeh Samimi: I enjoyed our conversation, John. Thank you. People can easily find me on Instagram or Facebook by search Urban skincare clinic.