Scratching Beyond The Surface of Nail Health with DefenAge

0:00Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Skin Anarchy. This is Ekta and I am so excited to have the brand that we're hosting today. I know a lot of you know about them because they were all over our Top Picks Awards this year, and I am a huge fan of pretty much every product that they create. The science is just remarkable. It's, you know, every product is very science-backed. So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Dr. Natalie Curcio, who is representing Deafinage here today. Welcome, Doc. I'm so excited to host you. Thank you so much. I'd love to learn more about what got you involved with the brand.

0:38If you could tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. Sure. So I am a board certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon. I have been practicing dermatology for 15 years and I've owned my own practice in Nashville, Tennessee for the past 11 years. Um, I originally was introduced to Defonage in 2016, um, at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting. And I was so impressed by the innovative science and technology behind the products. So I decided to try, uh, the original two products, which was their barrier balance cream and bio serum on my face, just to see what type of results would ensue.

1:23within a week people were commenting on my facial texture and you know as somebody who is a little bit skeptical of immediate results I was kind of like this is interesting so I continued with the products and after one month reps would stop in my office and everybody was trying to touch the skin on my cheeks saying that my texture looked unbelievable and I wasn't somebody with bad texture to begin with. So this was kind of exciting. And then after six months, I had returned to another core dermatology meeting and everybody was asking me what products I was using, including fellow dermatologists, because they wanted to use the same things.

2:05And so I was convinced. And by that point, I had already added Defina Skin Care as a product offering in my practice for my patients, and they were having simultaneously the same experience as me. And so it really was a true revolution in topical skincare. And then every product that is followed has continued to impress and exceed expectations, and I have used them all. And then with the brand itself, my involvement, you know, quickly evolved from being a consumer and physician promoter to a key opinion leader, speaker, medical advisory board member, clinical dermatology expert to help new products pre-launch and an investigator for small clinical studies.

2:52That's so cool. And I'm glad that you mentioned how well the products really worked, even for yourself. I know that you've probably seen it all in dermatology with all the different skin conditions but it's really kind of I guess nice for consumers to hear when dermatologists really love a brand you know especially in the OTC space you know there's a lot of options out here and I think sometimes consumers get confused and Defonage for me as a consumer I mean I felt the same way exactly what you described when I first tried the brand I was like this is amazing you know it's replacing like three steps in my routine automatically you know just with the serum I'd love for you to give us a little refresher, if possible, just for the audience so that we can understand the science of definage and what really, you know, what's the hallmark science.

3:39So that's really key to definage. So the technology in definage is based on the defensin molecule. So defensins are natural messaging molecules in our body. And what they do is they wake up a dormant stem cell called the LGR6 positive stem cell that for most of our life just remains dormant, except when we need it during the wound healing process. And when activated, this stem cell creates new basal cells at the base of our epidermis or top layer of skin, which then creates new fresh skin cells. And so Defonage has patented these age repair defensins, which when applied to the skin, trigger this process to create new fresh skin.

4:28And this can then help address the appearance of fine lines, coarse wrinkles, textural irregularities, sagging, excessive pigment, inflammation, and pore size while promoting cell renewal. What I love about it is it's one product that can address global anti-aging. The wound healing is a very interesting topic, I think, for all of us, you know, because we often hear about, you know, like microtraumas and just things that are affecting our skin daily, you know, whether it's environmental triggers or anything. And to be able to then repair that with, you know, skincare that you can take home with you, that's huge.

5:06I'd love to actually talk about some of the other products in the range, though, because I know that there's obviously there's the hallmarks of the serum and the moisturizer that are pretty famous. And I mean, I've tried them myself. I use them pretty regularly. But I know that in terms of like nail health, Definage also has products in this category. And I'd love to talk about, you know, what made the brand or inspired the brand go in this direction. Yes. So, you know, historically they had two products, a face cream followed by a bioserum. And then they expanded to really cover the whole skin with like an eye cream, neck cream and body cream over which that serum can be applied.

5:47And they also have a mask and cleanser. And then they looked at other needs in the body that are, you know, in dermatology we see a lot, which is hair loss. And so they developed a hair serum followed by problems with, you know, nail splitting, nail growth, which they developed this nail serum. And then they recently just lost a lip serum. So really now we have all the products where defensins can wake up the stem cells and address the skin, the hair follicles, and the nails to regenerate all of the skin and its appendages. So that's kind of how we landed at hair, nails, and lips after the skin, which I think is kind of a nice journey to think about and see how their innovation has kind of followed patient need.

6:34That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, with nails, I mean, what is the role of defenses in nail health? so um what they have found is that lgr6 stem cell that um activates the skin is also in the nail matrix or nail root to generate your nail so defenage um and its founder nikolai turvitz was able to figure out how to trigger the um stem cells and the nail root to grow using the defensins And so that's why this product has been so effective and innovative. Prior to the Definage product, the current products on the market only had chemicals to go into the existing nail plate and try to like temporarily cosmetically fix an old damaged nail or just moisturize cuticles.

7:31but this product actually stimulates the nail matrix produces a fresh new nail plate and then actually improves the quality of the nail from the origin creating a new fresh nail oh wow so that actually explains a lot because there was um I want to share a little story for all of our listeners I had a you know when I first tried the nail product I um you know I'd kind of like broken my nail and it was very painful and I remember thinking I'm like you know what this would be the perfect time to test out you know some of the PR I've gotten and I I was looking at you know death and knowledge of this product and I was like let me try this and literally in two days like I noticed a difference not only in like the pain response I was experiencing but also like I started to notice that it is actually healing yeah and I can tell you one of the things when I never had bad nails but I get that like split brittle nail and so it really helps with that And then a lot of times, you know, all of our nails look good and then one just breaks off and then you're like, man, now I've got to cut all my nails back so it doesn't look bad.

8:35But when if you apply it, like, let's say twice a day to that one broken nail and maybe once a day to the others, you will really see the rapid growth and that nail catch up much faster than if you just let it be and try to catch up on its own. I want to actually talk about the clinical studies. If you could like kind of tell us a little bit about some of the studies that were done on the nail root serum and the results that were seen. Sure. So they conducted a pilot clinical study that was independent by a third party in a U.S.-based clinic. And there were four participants, three females and one male.

9:13So if you take four patients times 10 nail plates, that was 40 nail plates that were analyzed. And they evaluated this high concentration of defense and product at baseline months one, two, and three. And they looked at four clinical parameters in particular. Nail plate smoothness, nail plate strength, speed of growth, and skin quality around. the nail plates. And at the end of the study, they found that people had up to 92 % smoother nails, up to 54 % stronger nails, and up to 78 % more hydration around the skin of the nails. And that a regeneration mechanism was triggered, which made the nails grow faster.

10:06And people saw an initial result within 30 days. So at about a month, you should start seeing results. And that this continued over the three month period. So with continued use, you should have continued results. That's really interesting. Now, you know, that makes me think of a lot of people who we go and we get our nails done, right? Like a lot of people love to get manicures. And I know acrylic nails. I mean, back when I was in like in college and high school, acrylic nails were the thing, you know, everybody was getting them. And I remember it would just make your nails so thin, the nail bed so, so thin, like paper thin.

10:39And I'm just curious, you know, in terms of anyone who does get nail treatments, you know, can this help with that? Like in terms of like the paper thin nail and like the brittleness that you see and all of that. Well, so the one thing that is nice about this product, regardless of what type of polish you have on, you can actually apply it around and behind the nails. like at the cuticle because the product will go down into the matrix even with polish applied. So that is one nice thing. You don't have to stop if your nails or toenails are polished. Now with acrylic and some gels, if they're grinding your nail down, it can't fix that part distally, but you know, it's going to work on regenerating the nail back at the base.

11:30But like if you're just using regular nail polish where they're not grinding down your nails, it can actually make a huge improvement as well. But what I always tell patients, and I do myself follow this because I do paint my toenails, is I do recommend at least once or twice a year taking at least, depending on how fast your nails or toenails grow, you know, a four to six to eight week polish holiday because you'll find your nails regenerate actually really quickly. And then a lot of the like hyperkeratotic material, like that looks like white crust on your nails, which isn't fungus, but some people think is, that will all, you know, come off and your nails actually look a lot healthier.

12:09And I'm doing my polish holiday right now for my toenails. And I mean, within two to three days of applying the definage, my toenails were growing faster. My nail like color and quality and ridging improved. And so it is really nice to see just really how quickly the nail responds to such, you know, a rejuvenating product. Right now, I watch it on TikTok all the time, you know, young women are going and getting their nails done almost every week, you know, and it's, I always wonder, I'm like, gosh, the damage that we're causing, you know, in terms of between treatments or between manicures, like, there's got to be something that we can use that is going to strengthen the nail and keep the integrity, you know, in terms of just, I guess, overall nail health, right?

12:57So that's very interesting. And I feel like this product is so perfect for that. I want to talk about like just normal aging though. I would love to actually discuss this topic with you because I think there's not enough education around, you know, what happens to our nails as we normally age? I mean, what are some things that we can experience or signs and symptoms that we can, you know, notice as we're getting older? Well, you know, some of the things that can happen, you know, as we age and, you know, some people are just more genetically predisposed to have these earlier than others, but, you know, any patient can, you know, be more prone to brittle or fragile nails that easily split, break, or peel.

13:35And, you know, brittle nail syndrome, which is just, you know, increased fragility of the nail plate that causes these kind of things, you know, affects 20 % of the population and women are affected twice as often as men. And so, you know, especially if you're predisposed to this, you know, you want to watch out for things like occupational and environmental exposures, like frequent contact with water, chemical agents, recurrent trauma to the nail that may be from either your job or hobbies you have. And then of course, like we just mentioned, frequent manicures. All of this will exacerbate an underlying tendency for nail brittleness.

14:16And then, you know, some people just have really slow growing nails. You know, we tend to say nails grow fully out in three to six months and toenails than six to 12 but you'll often find people grow much slower and that's just them that makes sense i and i want to actually you know just get your opinion on this in terms of because you don't hear a lot about nail health like i feel like there's not nearly enough information out there as compared to something like you know facial skin care which we hear about literally everywhere and every day what is defanage doing to like kind of raise awareness from the education standpoint around all this?

14:53Well, I mean, the one thing, you know, cosmeceutical companies can't make medical claims. So I think, you know, that's important to say. And there are a lot of medical conditions that can cause nail problems. And so I think the one thing I would say is that people have had significant chronic nail problems, they should see a board certified dermatologist to be sure there isn't an underlying medical condition, you know, causing a brittle nail, a split nail, a pitted nail, you know, monoclysis, like a lifted nail. I mean, there can be medical problems, infectious diseases and things like that. So I think that is, we don't want to treat everything as a cosmetic problem.

15:34But I think there are so many underlying systemic and infectious diseases that can call nail disease. You want to make sure to rule all of that out and seek medical treatment as appropriately before, you know, using a cosmeceutical. That makes sense. So in terms of like using the nail root serum, what are some of the best ways to incorporate it into our daily routine to see like the optimal results? It's actually very easy to use and ergonomically very well designed. So the recommended use is twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening. It has a little built-in brush made from horse hairs at the tip, and you would apply one pump of the serum on the tip of the nail, and you would start with your first finger, like your thumb, and then brush the serum from the cuticle forward to the nail end, and make sure it is distributed on the skin around the nail, and then continue to brush on the remainder of the remaining four nails on that hand.

16:39And sometimes one pump is good for all 10 nails. And if you need another pump, then you would do it on the, let's say, the thumb of your other hand, brushing from cuticle to tip, and then continue on the remaining four fingers on the other hand. And generally, I find because most people's toes and toenails are smaller, that one pump is enough for all 10 toes. That's interesting. I guess you could do it at night just to make sure you're not wiping it off during the day. And I would say make sure your hands are washed like you finish everything else because it does either need to stay on a minimum of 30 minutes without contact with water or overnight.

17:16In terms of like, you know, I mean, Definaj is just really leading the way, I feel like, in a lot of ways, you know, when it comes to innovation and the science of all of their products. I mean, I'd love to learn what's next for the brand. Is there anything that's on the horizon or anything new that's coming up? Sure. So, you know, they just released their lip serum for like rejuvenation and anti-aging. So people may not know it's out, but it just launched. So that's really exciting. I'm someone, I feel like I always have dry lips. And so it's a nice serum that you can apply twice daily. It's, it's not an ointment like, like, like a Vaseline type ointment.

17:52So, you know, you use it twice a day. So I always tell patients, you know, you don't want to use it 15 times a day. It's not going to work better, but you may need something like a Vaseline or Aquaphor type product in between and that's okay. But, you know, it lasts on about, I'd say 90 minutes to two hours without you eating and drinking. So you don't want to be, you know, put that on and then drink your coffee because it's going to come off, but it really does make the lips feel a lot better, especially people struggling with like chelitis or lip inflammation. So that's a wonderful product. And then coming out next year, they're going to be expanding into the post-procedure space with an exciting post-procedure product for things like microneedling, lasers, both ablative, non-ablative.

18:39So that's really exciting. it's the more products that we have that can you know help patients minimize you know redness stinging burning post-procedure even if you know if you're not making holes in the skin really is improved quality of life post-procedure and then you know reduced healing times and improved wound healing post-procedure is also excellent absolutely well i'm excited to see all the new products and you know i really really love the brand and for everyone listening if you guys haven't checked out Defonage, you definitely need to. I literally don't know a single product in the range that I don't love.

19:12I mean, I really, really enjoy them. And, you know, the nail serum, I think, is definitely a game changer in that space because I haven't seen anything else like it, honestly. I mean, I see, like I said to you, Doc, you know, I've seen a lot of the nail oils like for cuticles and whatnot, but they don't really often do too much. So to see something that's really backed by science and it's actually helping nail health. I mean, that's huge. So definitely check it out. Let us know what you guys think. But doctor, thank you so much for your time. It's been wonderful hosting. Thank you. And I just want to say, Defanage really, really has the science to back up the products.

19:46And there's so many lines that don't. And that's why I carry all of their products because they're scientifically sound and their clinical results are amazing. Yeah, absolutely. No, there, I mean, it speaks for itself because the products I've used, I've actually seen real results. You know, it's really rare to see that with topical solutions. You know, I think at the end of the day, results speak for themselves. And I've definitely experienced them. I know a lot of people that have tried it have felt the same way. So it's a very solid brand and they're definitely doing something right. And, you know, people come back over and over again.

20:19Most people, you know, stop something, want to try something else. But once people see the way they look with Definaj, they never stop. I mean, I won't stop. I love it very much. But thank you so much. This has been so wonderful to chat with you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure. Yes, likewise. Thank you. Hey guys. So I hope you love that episode. Please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform. We are available on so many different platforms. So wherever it is that you're tuning in, just go hit subscribe. You will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes.

20:50This way you're able to tune in to amazing insights from experts, brand founders, industry leaders, authors, all the wonderful people that we host. And that's very important for me because I love to hear from you guys and really understand what you love and what you want to hear more of. Also, make sure to give us a follow on all of our social media outlets. We're available on Instagram, TikTok, X, you name it, we're there. We also have a blog on Medium. So if you're a reader and you love Medium blogs, check us out on Medium. We publish some really great articles on there that do deeper dives than just what's available on the podcast and it's really a great place for all of you science geeks out there that want to learn a little bit more we go above and beyond with our research and making sure we're bringing you information that you usually probably won't hear about in other outlets so check us out leave us a comment leave us a review and we'll be back next time with another episode thank you