Episode 591: Melissa Haloossim: Anti-Aging Treatments That Actually Work for Skin Tightening and Facial Aging

Habits and Hustle

Nurse practitioner Melissa Halusam discusses the complexities of aesthetic medicine and the importance of personalized treatment over viral

Key takeaways

• Improper use of devices like Ultherapy or Morpheus8 can lead to unintended fat loss in the face.
• The effectiveness of aesthetic treatments depends heavily on the physics of penetration and practitioner training.

Main topics

• Aesthetic medicine trends
• Laser and Radiofrequency technology

Notable quotes

It's all about the physics. It truly is.

Conclusion

Listeners should prioritize customized, professional consultations ove

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits & Hustle. Crush it! Speaker 2 (0:08) Today, I'm talking to Melissa Halusam. She's the founder of Skin Thesis and the woman some of the biggest names in Hollywood trust with their skin, including Hailey Bieber, Kim Kardashian, and Kylie Jenner. And in this episode, we basically break down skincare without the BS. There are so many lasers, devices, treatments, injectables, and anti-aging promises. more than ever before. But what actually works? What's overhyped? And what could actually make your skin worse? Melissa breaks down the treatments worth your money, the mistakes people are making, and what really moves the needle when it comes to aging well. And of course, how to build a smarter approach to your skin. So if you're confused, like I am, about all the noise in beauty and skincare, this episode will clear a lot of that up. So stay tuned and let's dive in. Speaker 2 (1:07) All right, you guys, welcome to another episode of Habits and Hustle. I love the topic we're talking about today because it is about skin, health, beauty, aging, all the things. And we have someone who is top of their craft today. We have Melissa Halusim. Yes. Okay, she's a nurse practitioner and the founder of Skin Thesis and the most sought after. I mean, she's going to say one of the most sought after people in... Hollywood for getting your skin in tip-top shape. And so this is a big treat to have her today. So thank you for being here. Speaker 1 (1:44) I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Oh, Speaker 2 (1:45) gosh, it's a pleasure. I've got so many questions because I think we're all confused, right? Because social media has made it so difficult to know what is good, what is not good, what's good for aging, for anti-aging, for skin tightening. I have a million questions for you? It Speaker 1 (2:06) can get complicated. So I've been in the industry for 23 years and I've watched it grown and I've seen it evolve for the good and the bad. Speaker 2 (2:14) And Speaker 1 (2:15) I think I've evolved with it. And I think being a practitioner and a provider, you have to, and you have to kind of, you're going with the flow, you're figuring things out, but all along you're learning. And so I learn something new every day. And I'm very aware of it. So as I've evolved, I have seen kind of like where my recommendations have changed as well. Right. Speaker 2 (2:43) And Speaker 1 (2:43) how I, you know, treat each patient differently. I'm not going to recommend something to you the same as, you know, your girlfriend. Oh, you don't? Speaker 2 (2:54) Because it's all very customized. It is. And Speaker 1 (2:57) I think the consultation is the best. time where my mind starts working and figuring out, okay, where am I going to go with this for that patient? Speaker 2 (3:07) Right. So like what would be, what was trendy like even 10 years ago that you would not even think of doing today? Speaker 1 (3:14) I don't know if there was something specific, but there's always trends on machines. Speaker 2 (3:18) Yes. And Speaker 1 (3:19) there's trends on devices, like lasers, or they'll call it like the vampire facial or they'll call, you know, certain devices I would not touch. Like what? Speaker 2 (3:29) Tell us. Speaker 1 (3:30) I actually tried. And this isn't like, you know, I don't want to harm the industry of like, you know, the device industry. But I tried Ulthera back in the day. And I tried it when it first came out and I was completely turned off. And I said, OK, I waited and waited. And then I tried it again. And I was like, no. This is not the right device. When I recently went to Korea, it is still huge in Korea, and I realized that their skin type is completely different than ours. They've got thicker skin. They can handle it. They can tolerate it. It's a stronger device. It can go pretty deep. But if I did it now at my age, it actually would harm me because it would destroy fat and I'm trying to keep fat in my face. Speaker 2 (4:15) Yes. So because all this about like, I remember even a few years ago, the Morpheus 8 was like the most popular thing on the planet. And then like the pendulum swung a little and they're like, well, no, actually, because if you go too deep, it basically. burns your fat off your like not burns but it basically it Speaker 1 (4:35) can it can go too deep for some people so here's the harsh reality of the you know the industry when when the pendulum is here and it's going great you're you're on top of your game yeah and if it goes the other way it destroys them and i actually still have a morpheus i still use the morpheus but there's a certain skin type I use it on. I love it for body as well. And if someone, it just depends on who's coming in and if I'm going to recommend it. It's also based on how that person is performing it. And you can go pretty deep and then cause harm. And I think that's where we get into trouble in this industry because let's face it, there's med spas like on every corner now and it's like a 7-Eleven. It Speaker 2 (5:20) is. Speaker 1 (5:20) So people are going to the place that maybe could be cheaper. And not to, you know, bad mouth like that provider, but how much are they trained? How well do they know these devices? Because when it comes down to devices, it's all about physics. It truly is. My Speaker 2 (5:36) kids, they Speaker 1 (5:37) hate physics. They're like, you know what, let me tell you something and kind of put it in reality. And it's where, it's how it's penetrating into the skin, where it's going to this, how long it's, the penetration is in the skin. And that makes a huge difference. It's the mechanism of action of how it's doing it. So Speaker 2 (5:53) then the practitioner piece, like it's, that's why it's so important to, it is, it's more important sometimes to go to the right person than the actual machine, right? Yes. Because you can go, do you remember like Groupon back when? Oh yeah. Do they even have Groupon? I don't even know Speaker 1 (6:08) if they still have it. Yeah. Speaker 2 (6:09) I don't know if it's like, if it's exists anymore, but Groupon's kind of like ClassPass, how ClassPass, I don't know, Groupon's like a cheap version. You can get these things for like. 90 % off. And like, you know, the problem is if you have somebody who's not, who doesn't know what they're doing, not trained, it could be extremely detrimental. Yes. Speaker 1 (6:27) And Speaker 2 (6:27) that one that you said, the alter? The Ulthera. Ulthera. Yeah. Speaker 1 (6:31) I Speaker 2 (6:32) remember, I heard that's like super, super severe. Yeah, Speaker 1 (6:37) it's intense. And what does it do? It's also ultrasound. Speaker 2 (6:40) Okay, it's also ultrasound. And Speaker 1 (6:41) there's other, I have an ultrasound device. I have Softwave. Yeah, Speaker 2 (6:44) that's one that you did on me. Yes. Okay. Speaker 1 (6:46) And for years, I was looking for an ultrasound device, and I just kept passing. And so when I found Softwave, that's when I was like, okay, this is it. Now I'm going to bring this type of device in my practice. But Ulthera, just the level that it can go to can be too much for a certain skin type. Speaker 2 (7:04) So what's that? Okay. So what's that really popular one that everyone's talking about out of Korea? They saw like Kim. Zerf. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So what is the deal with the Zerf? Is it what people, should I be doing Zerf? Speaker 1 (7:15) Okay. So Zerf is radio frequency. Okay. Speaker 2 (7:18) Is radiofrequency and ultrasound different? They Speaker 1 (7:21) are. Speaker 2 (7:21) Okay, so can we start with that? Because we hear like this one's radiofrequency, this one's ultrasound. Let's go back Speaker 1 (7:26) to laser 101 basics. Yeah, Speaker 2 (7:28) please Speaker 1 (7:28) do. We categorize these all as lasers and they're not lasers. A laser is actually a true beam. Speaker 2 (7:36) Okay. Speaker 1 (7:37) So I do have lasers. I have a YAG laser where you're seeing a beam go right into the skin and it can go into the skin. you know, different layers of the skin. It can do damage. It can be ablative. It could be non-ablative. Then we go into different categories. We go into radiofrequency and we also go into ultrasound. There's also now erbium and like CO2. So there's all these different types of devices and there's many companies that make each of these devices, multiple. So I have... collected all these machines and I've handpicked which ones I've brought in. But depending on someone's concern, then I'm going to pick up my tool, which device am I going to use? And that might mean multiple devices. And I think using multiple devices and hitting different layers of the skin, you're going to get a better outcome. So going back to ZERF is Speaker 2 (8:32) a Speaker 1 (8:33) radio frequency. I actually went to Korea and I tried the ZERF. I tried Everest and Density. They're all radio frequency monopolar. And monopolar just basically means it's going in, you need a grounding pad on for it to exit the body. So then there's some bipolar radio frequencies as well. But all those devices are monopolar. So it's going into the skin and it's going into, it's kind of scattered. Speaker 2 (9:00) But Speaker 1 (9:01) it's a little bit more precise when you have it as monopolar and it's going out to the grounder. Now... I wanted to see, okay, what are the differences between these devices? And believe it or not, and again, this is not a ding to Zerf, I actually chose the Everest over Zerf. And so I don't go with a trend. I don't go, okay, well, I could have, I could have. purchased any machine that I wanted to. But I chose the Everest because of their technology and how they put different things into their system. For example, you have to have a cooling system and the Zurf uses cryo to cool. Speaker 2 (9:36) And so Speaker 1 (9:36) when it's doing it, you hear that and while the pulse is going, so it's disrupting the pulse. Whereas Everest has cooling in the handheld. So there's a constant cooling and a vibration. Speaker 2 (9:50) Okay. They also Speaker 1 (9:50) had more research on human tissue rather than animal tissue. Speaker 2 (9:54) That's a big one. So Speaker 1 (9:55) I chose Everest. And again, I'm not saying Zerf isn't good. I'm not saying that they don't have great effects. But I wanted to choose something that had a little bit more research and had more consistency in it. Is Speaker 2 (10:07) it the same price? Same price. So why is it not talked about then? People Speaker 1 (10:14) are. You're hearing more. If you go on social media, you'll see Everest as well. Okay. You know, there was one post that made it viral, and I completely understand. The Everest one? No, the Zerf. Oh, Zerf, of course, because Kim Kardashian is, like, talking about it. Speaker 2 (10:30) But she's your client, isn't she? So who did the Zerf on her? Some other person? Speaker 1 (10:34) I don't know. I mean, I can't, you know, mention that. And I think that it's not, you know, harmful. But I just went with the, I felt the better technology. Speaker 2 (10:47) Does it have, like, are all these things, like any device, like Everest or, do you need to do them multiple times to have any result? You Speaker 1 (10:55) do. You know, it's all about how your collagen is regenerating. And so as it's regenerating, you hit it again. And so you're getting that kind of curve up. Speaker 2 (11:05) So Speaker 1 (11:06) you are going to have a better effect when you are doing it about two times. But you do see. a change after the first. Speaker 2 (11:13) You do? Speaker 1 (11:14) Because Speaker 2 (11:14) I did the soft. Am I doing the Everest with you? You Speaker 1 (11:17) are. Speaker 2 (11:17) I am. I can't wait. Okay. When is that? Because I, listen, it's a known thing. I know nothing about skin. I just like, I basically will show up to your place like I did and got the soft wave. By the way, it didn't even hurt that badly. I was shocked. Speaker 1 (11:32) It's different for everyone. About 80 % of people have no issues with it. And then 20 % think it really hurts. Really? Everyone's pain tolerance is... I try to warn them and kind of give them that ratio. And I'll see what happens and just try to make it more comfortable if they are uncomfortable with it. But like someone like you, you haven't done anything. No. And you look fabulous. Oh, Speaker 2 (11:54) God, thank you. I was fabulous at you. But Speaker 1 (11:56) it's not going to be, I'm sure you even thought like, hmm, is it doing something? I don't know if it's doing anything. But it's a process. Speaker 2 (12:03) Yes. Speaker 1 (12:04) Because we did it. where we've woken up some cells, we're regenerating some of your collagen, and it takes time. It can take up to two months. And during this process, we're going to do something again and again. And we're going to get it finally to the level where you're happy, and then you maintain. It's just like working out. Speaker 2 (12:20) Right. You said something to me, scaffolding, right? Like rebuilding the scaffolding of the skin. Speaker 1 (12:24) Yes. Speaker 2 (12:25) Because I remember when I got the Softwave. So many people are asking me like, so do you see, what do you think? I'm like, I don't know. I can't tell. Yeah. You know, because it takes a while to build the collagen and like to do other things. Some Speaker 1 (12:38) people can see something right away. Everyone's going to respond differently. Right. How fast are you going to build muscle? Right. Exactly. Great analogy. Yeah. I have some people that are like, oh my God. And I see a huge difference right away. It's just different response. Right, Speaker 2 (12:53) right. Speaker 1 (12:53) But we have to kind of build. Someone like you who is lean and you don't have a lot of, you know, fat content on your body. And as we're getting older, we're leaning out on our faces. So we have to build it in a very natural way. Speaker 2 (13:07) That's what's hard, actually. You're right. That's why I'm so concerned about doing a lot of these things with people who don't know what they're doing. Because if I don't want my... Any fat I have in my face, I want to preserve. Yeah. Because if you lose that fat, you look older. Speaker 1 (13:22) Yes. And when you do too much, you look older. Speaker 2 (13:26) That's a great segue because one of my questions is, if you can only do three things for your skin after 40, what would they be? Speaker 1 (13:35) Oh, that's a hard one. Well, I 100 % believe in devices. So doing the devices. on a deeper level. And I think nourishing the skin because the exterior of our skin changes so much through hormones. And I feel like every five years I've seen a difference in myself and what I want to do to go back to like, okay, I'm going to take care of my skin right now. It's different each of those like five-year segments. Speaker 2 (14:04) And Speaker 1 (14:05) I think it really depends on the person. of what's going on with them. Some people are having laxity. Some people are having texture issues. So that's where I'd have a hard time picking. It'd be kind of from person to person. Speaker 2 (14:22) But overall, would you say, okay, doing a laser of some kind? Speaker 1 (14:27) What Speaker 2 (14:27) is your take on chemical peels? I Speaker 1 (14:30) think it's when it's necessary, because I'll be honest, I have not done a chemical peel. I've done very light ones. Right. Speaker 2 (14:37) I Speaker 1 (14:37) don't need it. Speaker 2 (14:38) So would you, do you do them at your place? I do. You do? Speaker 1 (14:42) Last week I had a consult and one day there were four people back to back. I was like, we need to start off with a chemical peel. We need to clean you up. They were a little younger. They were just struggling with kind of like bumps all over their face and irritation. And there's like, you know, obviously they have to work on internal gut, I think is a big one. But I was like, let's clean you up. We need to clean slate you and do a chemical peel. Speaker 2 (15:07) So like, so cause I just saw this whole thing about how over time chemical peels can really ruin your skin. It makes it like very thin. Yeah. Speaker 1 (15:17) So there's some people who are thinning skin. Yeah. Speaker 2 (15:20) The Speaker 1 (15:20) chemical peel that I'm talking about is a medium peel and doing it one time. is not going to do anything. Let's talk about CO2. Yeah. Okay. Speaker 2 (15:28) So that was my question. CO2 lasers. Speaker 1 (15:30) CO2 can be an ablative laser. You can make it light, medium, or intense. Because there's levels, right? There's levels. So what's the Speaker 2 (15:38) first level? Like I got one of the CO2s a few years ago, level six, which is basically a nothing. It was like a light. It was basically like an exfoliator, like a St. Eve's exfoliator. It was nothing. It wasn't even read after. I have a friend who went to get a CO2 and she looked like. Speaker 1 (15:55) A burn victim. A burn Speaker 2 (15:56) victim. I couldn't look at her. I said, you cannot leave the house. You will scare children. You cannot leave the house. Speaker 1 (16:02) She wasn't able Speaker 2 (16:03) to leave the house for like Speaker 1 (16:04) two Speaker 2 (16:04) and a half weeks. Speaker 1 (16:05) Yeah. So there's also fractional. There's a difference between fractional and non-fractional. In Speaker 2 (16:10) the CO2 family? In the CO2 Speaker 1 (16:11) family as well. Can you explain the Speaker 2 (16:13) whole CO2 thing? Honestly, I need to have a whiteboard here because it's very complicated. Yeah, Speaker 1 (16:18) there's actually a great slide. Maybe I'll send it to you to put it up. And it shows like all the depths of where the laser is penetrating into the skin. And it's like, it is, it's lasers 101. Oh, it's unbelievable. So think of CO2 more superficially, but it's putting heat into the skin. So that's where it really works on the creepiness of the tissue. And you're not getting like a lift and tightening, but because you're, think of saran wrap and it's just going. and tightening up superficially. And that's where sometimes you'll even see improvement in someone who's like jowls. It's not tight lifting it, but it's taking that skin and kind of shrinking it and tightening it on the superficial level. So it can work on the crepiness, the fine lines, going more ablative pigmentation. But when you're going light, you're not going to do that much with the pigmentation. You're just going to work on the skin quality. You would not be doing a CO2 ablative yearly. No. Then you're thinning the skin. Speaker 2 (17:24) But do you think that they're, how about, is it even worthwhile to do a mild CO2? If Speaker 1 (17:30) you're doing multiple. You have to do multiple. Like Speaker 2 (17:32) how many is multiple? Three to Speaker 1 (17:33) four. And you'll see a difference. Speaker 2 (17:35) Over how much time? Speaker 1 (17:36) I like to do it a month, month and a half apart. You know, I'll do like one CO2 light about once every six months. And because my skin is thinning, I see a difference when I do it because it just kind of does that superficial tightening. Speaker 2 (17:51) And how long does it last for? Speaker 1 (17:52) It's Speaker 2 (17:53) a Speaker 1 (17:53) permanent. Everyone always asks me this. Like, okay, well, how long does it last? All of these are permanent, if you want to say, but we're continuing to aging every day. So again, I always say it's like working out. Like you can't just go lift and then you're stopping. Right. You're working at this. And everyone's level is going to be different. I don't like overwhelming people and make it like, okay, you have to come in here every month. You have to do these 10 things. Everything I suggest, you're going to get multiple benefits. But don't overwhelm yourself. Speaker 2 (18:25) So, okay, so that's like one. So you can't really say. So basically, you don't know how long it's going to last, more or less, because it could be for one person different than the other. And because we are still aging, it changes basically, right? Right. So that's the, but explain the CO, so in the CO2 family, why did it, why did it have such a, like such a, like. It became so popular and so trendy that people thought that was the be-all, end-all. Who's creating these trends? It's just the celebrities who are just doing them? If Speaker 1 (18:54) you remember, CO2 was kind of like the OG of lasers. It was in the 80s. And we would blast people's face. It'd be red for two months. Horrible. And then they would have this demarcation because of where the laser stopped and the difference of what it looked like. Now, as the technology has improved, we've... been able to kind of adjust the settings, going to the light, to the medium, to the strong, depending on what the person needs. Okay. Speaker 2 (19:22) Well, how about microneedling? Everyone says like that is the panacea. Yeah. Speaker 1 (19:26) Is that Speaker 2 (19:27) true? Speaker 1 (19:27) It's funny. I'm not a huge microneedler person. Really? Yeah. I think it's great. I think it is a more superficial, but again, it really depends on the person. My husband's Persian. Yeah. A lot of Persians have porous skin. It's amazing for them. Speaker 2 (19:41) Really? Yeah. How about people like me, my skin? Speaker 1 (19:43) So that would not be the number one treatment I would recommend. Okay, why? Because you don't have that like too poor skin, you know, and what I've seen from you, I think we want to work more on tone. Yeah. Speaker 2 (19:54) Kind of Speaker 1 (19:54) bringing more bounce back to the skin. Right. And reviving it. And I think you would get... I would rather you spend your money more on these other devices. If I have all these things, right, that to pick from. Speaker 2 (20:06) That would Speaker 1 (20:07) not be my one to go for you. Okay, Speaker 2 (20:10) I have a few other questions. Then I'm going to get into the more general ones. But what about facials regularly? Do you think they're important? Because there are people who think they are important. Some people think they're not important and just to do the lasers. Speaker 1 (20:22) So again, it depends on the person. Right. I'm