Photo: Courtesy of iosappspy.com
When the world of beauty collides with technology, you end up with uncontested innovation. Intelligent Skin MD is a prime example of the two unlikely worlds becoming acquainted. Now, your current skin care routine is about to change with the conveniency of the new iPhone app created by a downtown dermatologist, Dr. Julia Tzu. Launched on July 6th, the app gauges the quality of your current skin care routine, offers suggestions and recommendations to improve your daily and nightly regimens; completely revolutionizing skincare.
Skincare is imperative to beauty. A healthy bare face can offer a confidence that transcends all cosmetic application. With this app, you’re promised optimal skincare, it’s like having your own personal dermatologist on the go, whenever, wherever.
The app offers plenty of amenities, such as a weather monitor, which accesses your location services and pinpoints the humidity, temperature, and air quality. It provides skin care alerts, making you aware of sudden weather changes for proper and extra protection. It also acts as a diary, where you can document your skin care regimen on a daily basis and a product search where you can access information on any prior product you’ve used. Then, it generates a regimen specific to your individual skin needs.
To get a better sense of this personalized skin care app, we spoke to Dr. Julia Tzu to give us some firsthand insight.
Downtown: What inspired you create the app?
Dr. Julia Tzu: Patients are always asking about what the best skincare regimen is. I’ve found that advice on skincare in general, has been very generic, and at best, tailored to the type of complexion one has. However, when you think about it logically, skincare is not only influenced by your own skin type, but by the environment in which you’re in. That means that the “best skincare regimen” continually varies. This is most obvious when you think about how your skincare regimen changes between winter and summer.
Most patients also do not have an organized system for keeping track of the skincare products that they use. Most people cannot remember the names of the products they’ve used, when they’ve last used it, or how long they’ve been using it. I wanted to make it easy for people to keep track of the myriad of products people constantly buy and use. A systematic way of organizing this information will help people figure out exactly which specific products are most effective for them in building their skincare regimen.
Downtown: Can you give us a full run through on how the app works?
DJT: In a nutshell, the app utilizes data from environmental indices, (such as UV index, air quality index, humidity, sunset/sunrise times) unique to the user’s specific location, and combines it with the user’s inputted skin data to generate a highly customized real-time skincare regimen. based on this unique data set. You can generate a skincare regimen at any point in time and send the report to yourself or others. Other cool features of the app include the ability to test your SkinIQ and compare your score with others in the nation. The app also allows you to easily record the skincare products you use on a daily basis, capture photos of these products, and run a search for these products.
Downtown: How does the app manage to meet every individuals needs?
DJT: Everyone can use a better skincare regimen. One that is actually data-driven than subjectively conceived, and a better way to record this information. The app takes the guessing out of skincare regimens.
Tzu is the founder of
Wall Street Dermatology, a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Academy of dermatologic surgery and currently a professor at New York University. With expertise like this behind the scenes of such a revolutionary app, and an inexpensive price, beauty can now be experienced in an entirely new way.
By: Yasmine Rimawi
