BODY & SOUL - COSMETIC COUNTER ADDICTION

Until Dr. Richard Asarch visited his first cosmetics counter (at the urging of his wife Elaine) he had no idea of what women face in their restless, ceaseless search for the perfect anti-aging anecdote. The first step this man of science took was to read the labels on the myriad of product. None of it, he concluded, was recommendable to his patients. His next action was to develop his own skin care line with proven active ingredients that accomplish precisely what women want

By Nancy Clark

Frankly, it’s just too difficult. The manifold options at the cosmetic counter designed to restore youth to one’s face and skin. The various names on the bottles and jars—row upon row of them—tell it all: Primordiale Optimum, Future Perfect, ReFinish. When you size up what the clerk behind the counter is selling, it’s one thing: everlasting youth.

But are they really hawking anything that works?

Not if you ask Dr. Richard Asarch. And plenty of patients have asked him precisely that over the years.

Since 1982, Dr. Asarch has run a private practice in Englewood emphasizing surgical and laser procedures of the skin. In 1999 and in 2003, he was selected as one of the top dermatologists in the United States by “Top Doctors in America.” An innovator in skin care for 26 years, Dr. Asarch heads the Asarch Center for Dermatology and Laser and the on-site state-of-the-art DermaSpa in Englewood, Colorado.

He is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Medicine where he also earned his bachelor’s degree. After he served as a General Medical Officer in the U.S. Air Force, he completed his first year of General Surgery Residency at the University of Iowa where he had accepted a research fellowship in the Department of Otolaryngology and Maxillofacial Surgery. He completed his Dermatology Residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, during which time he traveled to the University of Wisconsin to study with Dr. Frederic Mohs to learn the Mohs Micrographic Surgery procedure. He developed and has headed the Dermatologic Surgery Program and Mohs Micrographic Surgery section for the Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and currently serves as Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology.

Credentials aside, Dr. Asarch says the inspiration to develop his DermaSpa product line was patient driven. Especially after undergoing cosmetic procedures, patients would ask his advice on what skincare and cosmetic products would retain the skin of their youth. “So I went shopping,” says Dr. Asarch.

Actually it was Elaine Asarch who four years ago hauled her hubby to the cosmetics counter to see first-hand what was on the market. The doctor recalls being really quite shocked at the high price points of products that claimed to repair and rejuvenate, but contained no ingredients proven to do either. What the adventure gave him was valuable insights into the reality that “buying cosmetics is an emotional experience for women” rather than a quest for the right science. It was the doctor’s natural love of chemistry (as a kid, he recalls, his favorite thing to do was to mess around with his chemistry set) that drove him to seek out ingredients with proven, researched benefit to the skin—components that were not being used in other product being sold over the counter. The result is a line of skin care products that includes 14 active ingredients. There’s nothing else like it on the market...anywhere.

The line features a simple regimen for morning (seven steps) and night (six steps), only 10 minutes tops from start to finish for each. Partly, he explains, it’s the sequence that is significant because of the chemical interactions. Beyond the morning and nighttime product, he’s developed sunscreen, lip balm that plump the lips like collagen, a butter scrub that leaves the skin so moist that some patients are foregoing their usual moisturizer, and most recently a topical Botox-like preparation to apply around the eyes using the fingertips sans injections or doctor’s visits.

At the suggestion of daughter Debbie Landy (an equestrian rider who knows first-hand about the relentless heat, the dirt and the sweat that accumulate under a riding helmet in the competition ring) Dr. Asarch invented a cleansing and moisturizing pad that features many of the product benefits in one quick swipe across the face. The doctor describes the towelette as his latest “toy”.

For this visionary, it’s the invention process that is his ultimate juice. Fortunately for a man with so many novel ideas, Dr. Asarch was able to track down a local chemist with an impeccable reputation to streamline product development in the same hands-on fashion he practices medicine. Serious construction of the product line commenced.

But the good doctor understood that this was not a case of Build It And They Will Come. The product had to be branded, packaged, named and marketed with just the right spin in order to ensure that shoppers would give it a second glance in deference to other, more well-known labels.

That’s where Elaine’s expertise came in. The couple held focus groups inviting patients to review a number of bottle and container shapes and designs. They watched as the participants gravitated to the slim line plastic containers and squat glass bottles over other possible configurations.

An interior designer by trade, Elaine joined Color Marketing Group specifically to gain access to color forecasts. Interestingly, the same serene green that she’d employed in designing the Asarch DermaSpa at 3701 S. Clarkson St. was one of the most au courant. The same studies indicated that the bright metal tones so popular at the start of this millennium were downshifting slightly to a duller finish. In the end, the packaging colors the Asarches chose were the green used in the raw silk wall coverings in the spa decor mixed with gun-metal gray, a detail that is carried through on every aspect of each container, including the pumps.

Naming the products became a family affair. Their granddaughter was curious about the sun protection lotion, wanting an explanation of its purpose. When granddad explained the damaging effects of the sun on skin using the word “solar,” this four-year-old piped up with a naming concept to beat any internationally renowned PR agency: Solar Protection System.

With the product line in production, the doctor’s continued pursuit of research for development of further products had only started. This spring, the Asarches traveled to Italy for the annual In-Cosmetics conference featuring the latest cosmetic technology and products by manufacturers from around the globe. Dr. Asarch—one of the few physicians attending the trade show—brought back a new ingredients that he has added to his products that work the cells of the epidermis. To validate the efficacy of his products, Dr. Asarch added a photographic imaging tool called Visia Complexion Analysis that performs a scan of the skin below the surface. Using this technology, he can recommend to patients precisely what products to apply to the skin to contradict the inevitable aging of their skin to achieve more measurable results.

But surface applications of product are only half the answer.

The author of two books, Dr. Asarch wrote Turn Back Your Face Years because he believes better understanding is the first step in maintaining healthy, beautiful skin. The critical role of nutrition became the topic of his next book, The Beautiful Skin Diet, which he wrote with European-trained Chef de Cuisine Neal Mendel. The medical science behind his recommended Two-Week Diet is explained in user-friendly fashion and includes tempting recipes.

“For me personally, the product line brings the journey full circle,” says Dr. Asarch who has never wavered from his conviction that beautiful skin, healthy skin starts with an optimum diet. His findings and ultimate cookbook are steeped in his studies of patients who, following surgery and in-office treatments, ate certain foods and avoided others. Those who steered clear of beef, trans-fatty acids, alcohol (other than red wines), and refined sugars healed faster and experienced continued, visible improvements to their skin. Those who avoided damaging antioxidants (like smoking) and protected their skin by wearing SFP 30 at all times retained the elasticity of their skin and a healthy epidermis.

“First we try to prevent the problems and then we treat them topically, creating a condition in the skin so that it responds better. Finally, there are procedures a person can elect to do. It’s ongoing,” he says.

The ongoing at the DermaSpa includes laser rejuvenation and laser blepharoplasty (removal of the excess skin from the upper eyelids and fat tissue under the lower), the non-invasive Thermage skin tightening, peels, microdermabrasion, collagen injections and Botox, to name a few.

Sometimes, it’s just hearing from the doctor what it is that afflicts a person that starts the road to recovery. Patient Steven Levine waits on the fourth floor corridor between the separate entrances doctor’s dermatology practice and his DermaSpa nearly giddy with relief. “This is the third doctor I’ve seen, but he’d the first to tell me what I have,” says Levine pointing to his bare legs covered with a rash-like irritation. The diagnosis: progressive pigmentary purpura for which there is a treatment. The elevator comes and goes twice as Levine continues to gush praises. A satisfied smile crosses the doctor’s face when told.

“I feel good that someone can come here and we can take care of all of their needs,” the doctor adds. “That’s what I’m about.” It’s a part of his skin.