Redefining Aesthetics

Dr. Janine Hopkins of Hopkins Dermatology created her own skincare line, RX and M.D. Minerals in an effort to provide her patients with beneficial and clean products

article by REBEKAH BARNES | photography by KELLY MOORE CLARK

Your skin is your body’s biggest defender and protector, so using skin care products that are not aiding in that defense is impractical. While there are many product lines that say their skin care is the best, most of the products being mass marketed are not actually delivering results to consumers. These types of products are not helpful, beneficial and, in most cases, not affordable. Dr. Janine Hopkins of Hopkins Dermatology wants her patients to receive the most beneficial and clean products at an affordable price, which is why she started her own skin care and makeup line: RX and M.D. Minerals.

Dr. Hopkins has been practicing dermatology for over twenty years, and during that time saw her patients spending large amounts of money on skin care products that didn’t necessarily achieve their desired goals of fighting anti-aging and keeping their skin healthy. Some of these brands were also not medical grade, which meant that the product would most likely not achieve any result. When people think of the phrase “medical grade,” they see nothing but dollar signs. There is a false idea that medical grade skin care products, or dermatologist recommended products, can be more expensive than a high dollar makeup line, and, as Dr. Hopkins states, “You can spend more money on name-brand skin care lines like Estée Lauder than you can on medical grade skin care products.” In her conception of RX and Minerals, Dr. Hopkins first knew that she wanted to give her local patients skin care products that were more affordable and beneficial than the more expensive name-brand products. She also realized that she wanted her skin care products to be clean and contain minimal ingredients.

When developing RX and Minerals, Hopkins scrutinized the multiple ingredients being used in previously available skin care products. In order for topical products to deliver results and keep skin healthy, they must have active ingredients delivered to the skin. Hopkins explains “Big products being mass marketed are not necessarily delivering active ingredients to customers, and if we’re doing something to our skin, we need to be using products that are helpful and beneficial.” As a dermatologist, Hopkins also has be careful about what products she is recommending and what her patients are using, as well as making sure the ingredients used are active when they are delivered to the skin. She also only relies on ingredients scientifically proven to achieve positive results. Hopkins’s idea for her skin care line also came from the need to prevent wrinkles and anti-aging in thin places of skin where Botox could not be injected, but where a product could be topically applied. On top of this, Hopkins also wanted a product line, which was hypoallergenic and free of parabens, oil, synthetic colors and fragrances to suit the needs of her clients diverse skin conditions. So, both RX and Minerals ingredients labels read almost like a cookbook, as their ingredient base is fairly simple and clean. Now, “clean” does not mean “organic,” but it does mean that Hopkins’s products contain minimum, but optimum and essential, active ingredients for skin health, such as Niacinamide (a form of Vitamin B3), antioxidants, hyaluronic acid and retinol.

As people get older, their immune systems tend to get a little lazy and downregulate. The cells aren’t able to repair themselves as they did before. If there is environmental damage, like a sunburn; or a mutation such as cancer, the cells aren’t as equipped to fight back. This is where Niacinamide comes in. Niacinamide can interact with the cells and, as Hopkins explains, “help upregulate the repair mechanism,” repairing the damage and keeping skin looking healthier. This is a major benefit of Niacinamide, but not the only one. People don’t just want to be healthy, they want to look healthy, too. Niacinamide is the foremost ingredient in Hopkins’s Needle Free Serum and is found in other RX and Minerals products, as well. Niacinamide not only helps skin cells repair and upregulate, but it also allows cells to rejuvenate and fight aging, which is also an important job of antioxidants.

In addition to Niacinamide, many of Hopkins’s products, such as the sheer physical sunscreen RX: Protect, also contain Green Tea Polyphenols, one of the most potent antioxidants, which reduces free radicals to help fight the aging process. Dr. Hopkins advises that antioxidants and formulas, like RX: Protect which contain sunscreen, need to be used every day and specifically applied in the morning so that “When you walk out the door, your skin is already protected.” Dr. Hopkins explains the role of antioxidants in skin care as being like bubble wrap around skin cells. When patients apply antioxidants, the antioxidants are absorbed into the skin tissue, protecting the cells and reducing free radicals. And if the antioxidant is the bubble wrap of the cell, then Hopkins describes sunscreen as being the box you ship those cells in. While skin needs to be protected, it also must be moisturized.

Hyaluronic acid is another ingredient found in most of Hopkins’ products that keeps skin moisturized. “Hydration is like giving your skin a big drink of water,” says Dr. Hopkins, “and hyaluronic acid is how the skin achieves that moisturized state.” While fillers containing a purified hyaluronic gel plumps and hydrates by being injected into the skin, applying the hyaluronic acid on the skin binds water to keep skin hydrated. Hyaluronic acid already exists in the body, but sometimes it becomes depleted, or some just don’t have enough of it, such as those who suffer from eczema. The RX: Hydrate serum, offered by Hopkins Dermatology contains hyaluronic acid to treat skin conditions that cause dryness.

Another crucial ingredient that Hopkins knew she wanted in her skin care line was retinol. Retinol is an active ingredient that helps repair skin and treat discoloration. Hopkins needed a product that would help treat her patients acne, and, at the time, there was no one product that was affordable, contained the necessary active ingredients and didn’t include unnecessary fragrances and other irritants. Around this time, Hopkins’s son was in need of acne treatment pads that didn’t dry out and irritate his skin, so Hopkins developed the RX: Repair, which are retinol treatment pads that quickly penetrate and boost retinol levels in the skin to help repair and rejuvenate skin cells. Before Hopkins began treating her patients with a new skin care line, she first created M.D. Minerals.
M.D. Minerals predates the RX line and was created about ten years ago, when Hopkins’s teenage daughter was looking for a brand of makeup that would conceal her blemishes without irritating them. At the time, the makeup brand Bare Minerals had just been created, but there was nothing like that available in Monroe, Louisiana. There was no Sephora or Ulta that offered mineral based makeup lines for people with skin irritations. Ordering online was always an option, but with makeup sometimes that can be a risk, because there is no way of knowing if the color matches skin tone or if it might irritate the skin. Dr. Hopkins also saw many patients who were having allergic reactions, or breakouts, to particular makeup brands. During this time, Hopkins’s daughter had also begun modeling and was suffering from breakouts due to the amount and quality of makeup she would wear. Because there was nothing locally available to fit her daughter’s or patient’s needs, Hopkins realized that she needed to find a solution to this problem and developed M.D. Minerals. All M.D. Minerals products are made in the United States and, like the RX line, they are also clean. They contain natural ingredients, like coconut oil in their concealer, which helps heal blemishes, and anti-inflammatory minerals that help to reduce the appearance of redness. All M.D. Minerals products are infused with antioxidants to prevent the makeup from clumping and with vanilla bean extract, which helps hydrate the skin. Dr. Hopkins explains that M.D. wMinerals gives her confidence “to know that whatever our patients are putting on their skin is beneficial and not going to cause adverse effects.” Minerals isn’t just great for your skin, it also looks good, too. There are a wide variety of bright colors to choose from, and in addition to the core collection, M.D. Minerals adds seasonal palettes to their repertoire. Hopkins has also included a men’s collection in M.D. Minerals to cover blemishes or dark under-eye circles.

The key word for both RX and M.D. Minerals is “clean,” something that Hopkins is very proud of as she can guarantee that her products are hypoallergenic and free of unnecessary chemicals. Being someone who is allergic to almost everything, Hopkins personally knew the importance of having a skin care line that was free of irritants. In addition to wanting products that contained essential ingredients to promote skin care, Hopkins also wanted products “that patients knew I would stand behind and be willing to put my name on.” By working with a company specializing in skin care, Dr. Hopkins was able to tailor a collection of products that were backed by science and had efficacy to fit the needs of her practice.

When asked during her medical school interview what she would be if she could not be a doctor, Dr. Hopkins replied, “I’d be a teacher.” Now Hopkins is both an educator and a medical professional. Her passion for her profession shines through her ability to teach her patients about active ingredients and which skin care products are right for them, a feat that is in no way small. What makes Hopkins’s progressive skin care unique is not just the “clean” technology of every product, but that all products are topical, needle-free and beneficial to a wide range of skin issues and that their creator is passionate about finding solutions and creating products to treat her patients.

Hopkins Dermatalogy specializes in many different areas of skin care, including body scultping, cosmetic dermatology, medical dermatology and skin cancer treatment. In addition, Hopkins treats men and women across the Ark-La-Miss area. For more information, please call (318) 317-4855 or visit hopkinsdermatology.com.