A fine vintage for the skin
There are beauty launches, and then there are beauty launches that understand the value of a good metaphor. Skin 101’s recent “The Beauty Sommelier” afternoon at Dominion Cellar in Makati managed to pair two subjects many women can discuss at length: wine and skin.
Presented with Neoasia Philippines, the event introduced Profhilo through three wines, each representing something we want from aesthetic treatments: champagne for hydration, rosé for radiance, and red wine for remodeling. It was clever without being gimmicky, because the analogy actually made the science easier to understand. And there were delicious savory and sweet little bites in between, which never hurts when discussing collagen.
Profhilo has become one of those beauty words that keeps turning up in conversations, usually accompanied by somebody saying, “it’s not a filler.” That distinction is important. Profhilo is an injectable hyaluronic acid treatment designed to improve the quality of the skin rather than change the shape of the face. It hydrates, supports firmness and elasticity, and is intended to work diffusely beneath the skin instead of adding volume to a cheek, chin, or lip. In other words, the goal is not to create a new face. It is to make the one you already have look fresher.
That idea immediately interested me, especially in the age of what has come to be called “Instagram face,” when too much aesthetic intervention can sometimes make entirely unrelated people begin to look strangely related.
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Dr. Jennie Francisco-Diaz, co-founder and medical director of Skin 101, explained, “Profhilo won’t make you look like the person next to you. You will still look the same.” That, to me, may be one of the most reassuring sentences one can hear inside an aesthetic clinic.
The science, of course, is more complicated. Profhilo is an injectable hyaluronic acid treatment developed by IBSA, a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Made with IBSA’s patented Nahyco Hybrid Technology, it is designed to improve skin quality through bio-remodeling rather than volume. Simply said, Profhilo is a treatment aimed at hydration, tissue quality, and skin laxity.
Dr. Jennie put it into language the rest of us could understand using the wines in front of us. Champagne stood for hydration. Rosé represented radiance, that dewy, healthy blush people increasingly associate with the famous Korean glow. Red wine went deeper, representing remodeling and the support of collagen and the skin’s extracellular matrix.
“Profhilo is a biostimulator,” she said, noting it “sounds so high tech.” But the practical idea, she explained, is that improving hydration and the skin environment may also support new collagen, with the aim of giving the skin a firmer, fresher appearance. Hydration, radiance and remodeling are presented not as three unrelated benefits but as parts of the same skin story.
Profhilo is typically injected using five Bio Aesthetic Points (BAP) on each side of the face. Unlike conventional fillers, its high flowability allows it to spread beneath the skin rather than remain concentrated in one spot. A usual course consists of two sessions about four weeks apart, with maintenance often recommended around every six months depending on the patient and the doctor. Small bumps may appear temporarily at the injection sites, but will generally settle within a day. It is also not confined to the face. Depending on a patient’s needs, Profhilo can be used on areas including the neck, décolletage, hands, and even the body.
Model and Skin 101 ambassador Apples Aberin offered a more personal assessment. “I still feel like myself and I feel young,” she said of her experience with Profhilo. “I guess even at this age, there’s still a youthful glow. It’s not just genetics. I go to Skin 101 and do what I have to do. I take care of myself.” She looked great, by the way.
But perhaps the line that stayed with me most came not from the product presentation but from Skin 101 co-founder Dr. Oliver Diaz, when we spoke about the clinic’s approach to patients. He said that “after more than 20 years, with a trained eye, an experienced doctor may immediately see what a patient could potentially benefit from, but that does not mean immediately prescribing everything all at once.”
“It’s important to listen,” he said. “We listen to our clients, pay attention to them.” And when I mentioned how easy it has become for people to emerge from aesthetic clinics looking increasingly alike, he agreed. “We don’t barrage clients with treatments they don’t need.”
There is something almost radical about that in today’s beauty culture. We live at a time when beauty can be ordered à la carte: a sharper jaw, higher cheek, smoother forehead, fuller lip. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting any of those things. But somewhere between enhancement and excess, it can be easy to lose sight of the original face.
Which brings me back to the wine. A good sommelier does not try to make champagne taste like cabernet. Each has its own character, its own structure, its own reason for being poured. Skin 101 used that same philosophy to describe aesthetic medicine: Understand what is already there before trying to change it.
Perhaps the most modern beauty goal is no longer to look younger at all costs. It may be to simply to look very good, very well rested, and unmistakably like yourself.
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For information or consultation on Profhilo, visit www.skin101.ph or follow @skin101_ph on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
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