In addition to surgical techniques or aesthetic medicine procedures, improving the appearance and quality of your skin also involves choosing daily cosmetic care suited to your needs.
Reserved exclusively for medical use, the Universkin functional dermatology protocol aims to create custom prescriptions. Moving away from traditional approaches, the goal is to create tailor-made preparations whose active ingredients and dosage are determined after a complete diagnostic of the patient's skin condition.
To help prepare for your consultation, we invite you to complete an online self-assessment of your skin's needs.
What is Universkin?
Universkin is a French laboratory founded in 2006 and based in Sophia Antipolis, which developed the UniverskinTM functional dermatology protocol.
The principle of functional dermatology
Functional dermatology is an innovative cosmetological approach that acts on the very functioning of the skin, not just its immediate appearance. Functional dermatology aims to balance the skin's natural defenses and prevent its dysfunctions.
Universkin moves away from traditional cosmetological approaches that offer standardized products, supposedly effective for many people whose skin needs are nonetheless different. This approach also moves away from cosmetic products targeting a particular need or a particular area, which leads to using an ever-growing number of creams. The Universkin protocol reverses this logic: each cosmetic preparation is custom-made by your doctor for the greatest possible effectiveness.
A tailored approach to skin aging
Based on the indications treated (oxidized, dry, oily, spotted, lax or textured skin), a cream is specially prepared for you from a cosmetic base and a selection of active ingredients among the 19 active ingredients selected by Universkin (vitamins A, B or C, aloe vera, zinc, lactopeptides, ascorbic, ferulic, glycolic or kojic acids, etc.).
The custom medical cosmetics protocol offered by Universkin is part of a comprehensive, tailored approach to skin aging, combining scientific, medical, surgical and cosmetic expertise to achieve the best possible result.
A cosmetic base and pure active ingredients
At the heart of the Universkin protocol is the Universkin P cosmetic base, which allows for the addition of pure active ingredients whose selection and concentration are determined by your doctor after a diagnostic of your cosmetological needs. This cosmetic base can include up to 3 pure active ingredients. Universkin technology uses no chemical preservatives in the preparations themselves, allowing for optimal effectiveness of the active ingredients.
The Universkin P serum is composed solely of quality ingredients, recognized for their perfect compatibility with the skin:
- Camelina oil, which promotes the skin's production of omega-3s (natural anti-inflammatories).
- Biomimetic peptides, which help balance the skin
- Hyaluronic acid, which promotes optimal skin hydration
Which skin types can benefit from Universkin?
Due to its custom nature, Universkin preparations can suit any skin type.
Universkin has selected 19 pure active ingredients based on their effectiveness. These 19 active ingredients are grouped into 8 families that address different indications and different skin types:
- Oxidized skin (Yellow): Skin oxidation is promoted by stress, sleep disorders, sun exposure or smoking.
Active ingredients: Ferulic acid, Superoxide dismutase (SOD). - Lax skin (Pink): Skin laxity is characterized by the presence of fine lines and wrinkles as well as enlarged pores.
Active ingredients: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Ascorbic acid, Retinol, … - Skin prone to inflammation (Red): Presence of redness, tingling, warm sensations, painful bumps, acne, couperose, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis or seborrheic dermatitis.
Active ingredients: Vitamin B3, Rutin, Azelaic acid. - Dry skin (Blue): The skin is dry year-round, particularly during winter months or after contact with water. A feeling of tightness is felt, requiring the application of a moisturizing cream morning and evening.
Active ingredients: Vitamin B5, Aloe vera. - Textured skin (Gray): Thickened, this skin type appears rough or coarse, with blackheads, whiteheads, or even microcysts.
Active ingredients: Salicylic acid, Phytic acid, Glycolic acid. - Oily skin (Orange): The skin appears oily, particularly in summer. Makeup does not hold well. Enlarged pores are present. The skin appears shiny and/or oily to the touch.
Active ingredient: Zinc. - Spotted skin (Brown): Melasma, lentigos, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, pigmented under-eye circles.
Active ingredients: Azelaic acid, Arbutin, Kojic acid. - Colonized skin (Green): This skin type presents whiteheads and bacterial pustules.
Active ingredients: Lactopeptides
These 19 active ingredients were selected after many years of research and clinical studies for their effectiveness and their compatibility with one another.
Dr. Kron and his team (2 state-certified nurses as well as an esthetician and a medical assistant, all trained in cosmetology and specifically by the SkinCeuticals and Universkin laboratories) can put together custom formulations for you based on the assessed condition of your skin and the goals to be achieved.
The medical cosmetics consultation
As a medical cosmetic, a Universkin cream is only prescribed after a custom cosmetological diagnostic. This diagnostic takes place in two steps.
Face diagnostic consultation:
First, the doctor or an assistant will talk with you as part of a face diagnostic consultation. The consultation covers your lifestyle, how you feel about your skin, and your use of cosmetic care. This discussion is notably based on a structured questionnaire covering the 8 families of cosmetic indications (oily or dry skin, spotted or textured, oxidized or inflamed, etc.).
After the discussion, a diagnostic examination of your skin's condition is performed on makeup-free skin. Particular attention is paid to the presence of spots, fine lines and wrinkles, signs of inflammation, or other manifestations of photoaging.
Skin-aging diagnostic tools are also used, such as Skinscope LED or Visia Complexion Analysis. Skinscope LED reveals facial skin imperfections found in the lower layers of the epidermis that are invisible to the naked eye. VISIA Complexion Analysis is a photographic and computerized facial aging analysis tool.
Tailored care for your skin
After the examination, Dr. Kron and his team can determine a cosmetic, medical (Keybody-Skin, laser, LaseMD Ultra, peel, mesolift, skinbooster, etc.), and sometimes even surgical treatment plan based on the signs diagnosed, your skin's phototype, your age and the goals to be achieved. On the cosmetic side, they then determine personalized care by selecting the active ingredients to use for the best possible combination based on your skin's functional condition and the goals to be achieved. The doctor also determines the concentration (dosage) of each active ingredient based on your skin's needs and the symptoms identified.
The medical cosmetics consultation ends with the preparation of your custom serum at the Universkin bar. Up to three pure active ingredients are added to the Universkin P cosmetic base. The active ingredients are mixed in front of you using a centrifuge. You are then given the serum along with a usage schedule set over 6 to 8 weeks. Based on the results and how your skin feels, the preparation can be adjusted afterward, to closely follow your skin's needs, as only a custom approach can.
Custom cosmetic prescriptions
Dr. Kron and his team will offer you two types of prescription:
- Either a single serum whose custom composition provides identical targeted action morning and evening.
- Or two serums whose custom compositions are targeted differently for the morning one and the evening one, for an even more complete and specific action.
Since Universkin preparations use no chemical preservatives, the custom-composed formula must be used within 8 to 12 weeks of its preparation. This precaution ensures the freshness, and therefore the effectiveness, of the active ingredients contained in the serum.
A comprehensive cosmetic, medical and aesthetic approach
The Universkin protocol fits within Dr. CĂ©dric Kron's comprehensive cosmetic, medical and aesthetic approach to treating skin aging. This comprehensive, tailored approach aims to prevent skin aging by addressing both the symptoms and the causes of skin aging.
This comprehensive approach combines 4 types of expertise:
- Scientific expertise: Use of scientific skin-aging diagnostic tools such as Visia Complexion Analysis or Skinceutical's Skinscope LED.
- Medical expertise: Aesthetic medicine techniques (peel, laser, mesotherapy, skinbooster, Botox or hyaluronic acid injections).
- Surgical expertise: Cosmetic surgery techniques such as the LVPA facelift.
- Cosmetological expertise: Custom cosmetic prescriptions as offered by the Universkin protocol.
This comprehensive, tailored approach is rooted in the conviction that each patient has specific needs and that there is no single "cure" for treating an indication, but rather a set of techniques that durably correct and prevent skin aging.
As a plastic surgeon, Dr. Kron has always advocated for tailored surgery to achieve a natural result that meets the dual constraint of anatomy and the patient's wishes. He has gradually developed this philosophy toward comprehensive medical and surgical care, first for the face and then for the body. This care now also extends to custom cosmetic protocols, always based on a scientific approach and aimed at meeting the dual constraint of respecting anatomy and the patient's wishes for natural results.
Before - After: Universkin medical cosmetology
Clinical case 1: 25-year-old woman - Skin type III
Symptoms: Severe hormonal scarring nodular acne
Protocol duration: 75 days
Dosage:
- Morning serum: Zinc, Vitamin B3, Lactopeptides (4 drops).
- Evening serum: Salicylic Acid, Azelaic Acid, Madecassoside (4 drops).
Clinical case 2: 59-year-old woman - Skin type II
Symptoms: Wrinkles, spots and dry skin.
Protocol duration: 60 days
Dosage:
- Morning serum: Vitamin C, Madecassoside, Vitamin B3 (6 drops)
- Evening serum: Vitamin B5, Isoflavone, Madecassoside (6 drops)
Photographs provided by the Universkin laboratory
