Form follows function”, a phrase coined by the American Architect Louis Sullivan, is a prin­ciple associated with modern architecture and industrial design in the 20th century. The prin­ciple is that the shape of a build­ing or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose.

Almost all my clients know that I made a drastic career change from designing houses to design­ing faces. Those two are quite similar to each other depending on how one sees both. I believe that the steps of conceptualizing the design of the house or building co­incide with designing or providing services for skin care. Doing de­sign preliminaries and schematics get translated to a skincare step of doing an initial skin analysis during a consultation. Design parameters vary just like skin conditions. Some projects like home renovations entail consideration of existing el­ements of the house just as how skin conditions can result from so many different factors. Some of the more challenging conditions like acne, melasma, rosacea, eczema, etc, require a deeper investigative approach. Hormones, lifestyle, en­vironmental factors, stress, aging, diseases, etc affect the condition of the skin. The reason why I com­pared both jobs, designing houses and designing faces, is because the “form”, the exterior appearance of the house is equivalent to the skin and the “function” pertaining to the interior layout , represents the inner body. A good appearance of the skin emanates from good health from within. The founda­tion of a structure is the most important factor in construction, because the key to the success and longevity of a home or struc­ture, is laying its foundation upon a solid rock. Same is true with our skin. The foundation of a radiant, youthful skin is basically a healthy body. This is one strong belief that I profess. I do conduct an “inter­view” during consultations or treat­ment most especially if the client comes in with a more than average skin problem/s. My client’s stress, brought about by his/her skin con­dition, becomes my stress. This is because I can’t and will not stop until I find solutions (if there’s any within my capacity) to alleviate the condition.

I have resorted to doing re­search to find information on how skin conditions may improve and concocting my own facial proto­col to cater to the specific need of the client on my bed. Through my “quest” for solutions to a number of skin problems I have encountered, there seems to be just one idea that I can intuitively assume: That the health of the skin, given the parameters that appropriate skin care products are used, is di­rectly affected by what’s going on inside the body.

This does not mean, though, that your health is in peril if you have skin problems like acne, me­lasma, etc. What I am trying to say is that there is something inside the body, includ­ing the body’s response to oxi­dative stress that affects the skin. Oxidative stress lowers the abil­ity of our immune system to ward off free radicals inside and outside the body that result to ailments and premature aging. A strong immune system gives our body resilience to fight its own war inside the body against the free radicals brought about the environ­ment, hormonal imbalance, re­action to radia­tions and chemo­therapy, physical stress (including exercise), mental stress, smoking, drugs or medications, drinking alcohol, caffeine, poor diet, ag­ing, viruses, toxins, microbes, parasites, bacteria, pollutants, and inappropriate/harsh skincare prod­ucts. Feeding the body with exter­nal anti-oxidants is not enough if the body does not have enough supply of the natural amino acids that allows the absorption of the antioxidant supplements. Feed the immune system and give it the capacity to win its own battle inside the body. Medications may trouble shoot the problem momentarily but not necessarily solve the problem. Specific drugs target a problem but cause a roller coaster of side effects within the body. When the immune system is properly geared up at fighting off all the negative effects of free radicals, then we can be assured that the ’form” of the skin will be at its best too.