Beyond the Neck: a Head to Toe Approach to Aesthetics and Skin Care

For decades, skin care and aesthetic treatments have focused almost exclusively on the face and neck, with countless routines, products and procedures urging us to preserve and rejuvenate these areas. But as practitioners, we must ask ourselves—what about the other 80% of the body? Can we truly achieve harmonious, natural-looking results by addressing only the face and neck?

I remember my parents and grandparents diligently washing, applying serums, masks and moisturizing throughout my childhood. Then came preventative skin care with UV protection added to your routine—science-backed and widely supported. Still, nothing beyond the neck was mentioned. 

The truth is, the rest of the body's skin often gets neglected, creating an imbalance where youthful faces meet sun-damaged hands or laxity in the abdomen and beyond. Enter the era of holistic aesthetic medicine—a head-to-toe approach that incorporates cutting-edge bio-regenerative technologies to foster a comprehensive, rejuvenated look across the entire body. 

The year 2025 marks this pivotal shift. No longer will we “renovate just one room in the house.” By resurfacing, filling, lasering and hydrating only the face and neck, we neglect the real estate below, resulting in mummified hands and sun-weathered bodies. It’s time to enter a new era where preventing and reversing aging involves the same level of care below the neck as above it. 

Bioregenerative Technologies Redefine Aesthetics Sculptra, Radiesse, ultrasound-based therapy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), polynucleotides (PN), exosomes and more have unlocked innovative ways to stimulate the body’s natural healing mechanisms.TYSAMPON at Adobe Stock

Over the last 15 years, bioregenerative treatments have transformed our ability to repair, resurface and rejuvenate skin without compromising a patient’s unique features. Sculptra, Radiesse, ultrasound-based therapy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), polynucleotides (PN), exosomes and more have unlocked innovative ways to stimulate the body’s natural healing mechanisms. Unlike approaches that risk overtreating patients or delivering unnatural results (lest we forget “pillow face”), bioregenerative medicine emphasizes subtle, long-lasting improvement. 

The year 2025 is all about applying the amazing frontier of aesthetic bioregenerative medicine to the entire body. The most notable implementation beyond the neck includes biostimulators (Sculptra and Radiesse) utilized on the dorsum of the hands, abdomen and hips/buttocks. The same areas can also be treated with light and ultrasound-based therapies to lift and tighten by stimulating collagen. 

Although these therapies cannot replace surgery when it is necessary, they serve as an excellent complement. Achieving a patient’s aesthetic goals often requires a multi-treatment, staged approach. The key is ensuring patients still look like themselves—just refreshed, rejuvenated and natural. By expanding the scope of aesthetic treatments beyond the face and neck, bioregenerative techniques allow us to deliver balanced, confident results for patients eager to feel good in their own skin from head to toe. 

Head to Toe Target Areas

Hands 

If eyes are the window to the soul, aesthetic experts will tell you hands are windows into (revealing one’s) age. The skin on the back of the hands becomes thin and crepey over time, often accompanied by sun-induced pigmentation. Dorsal hand rejuvenation using treatments like biostimulators can restore lost volume, while intense pulsed light (IPL) tackles hyperpigmentation and sun damage. 

For patients seeking longer-lasting solutions, fat transfer using a patient’s own tissue proves highly effective. By carefully injecting only the healthiest fat into the hands, we can achieve natural-looking, permanent restoration. These treatments don’t just rejuvenate the skin—they preserve the patient’s story without the telltale signs of aging. 

Abdomen 

The abdomen is a common area of concern, as its size and shape can change significantly over time due to factors like weight fluctuations, pregnancy or years of UV exposure. These fluctuations create stretchmarks in the skin and irregular bands of scar tissue that can be pink, red, purple or brown. Stretchmarks are notoriously difficult to treat. However, they respond well to the combination treatment of biostimulation and fractional, non-ablative lasers to restore form and function. 

Treatments like these open the doors to not just restored skin but a renewed sense of confidence that radiates inward and outward. 

Hips/Buttocks 

The desire for improved contour of the buttocks and correction of ‘hip dips’ has commonly been treated with fat transfer. This is the gold standard for correction and can be completed subtly and conservatively. However, patients less interested in surgical interventions or those lacking enough donor fat for transfer benefit from regenerative options. Biostimulators in the hips/buttocks correct inconsistencies and subtly improve the overall contour. 

For more comprehensive results, pairing biostimulators with devices like Avéli, which targets tethered cellulite bands, optimizes both contour and skin health. Together, these 

therapies allow patients to address aesthetic concerns in the office with minimal recovery and long-lasting improvements. 

Bringing it All Together 

This comprehensive approach doesn’t dilute or replace surgical interventions where needed. Instead, it complements traditional treatments, giving us a layered toolkit for achieving the best outcomes. As a fellowship-trained plastic surgeon, I have also applied these principles to my surgical practice. I cannot perform life-changing surgeries to remove or reshape the skin and expect proper healing without ensuring pre-operative nourishment. 

Our role as practitioners goes beyond delivering treatments—it’s about educating patients to see their skin as interconnected. Sun protection, hydration, minimally invasive systems, and strong aftercare routines are just as vital for the abdomen or hands as they are for the face and neck. 

With bioregenerative technologies leading the way, we’re transforming aesthetics. The focus is no longer just on reversing facial aging, but on restoring balance and beauty from head to toe. This whole-body revolution allows patients to look and feel natural, redefining aging with innovation and elegance. 

Gone are the days of cookie-cutter solutions and one-size-fits-all treatments. Patients now seek holistic care for health, beauty, and confidence, wanting to be treated as whole individuals, rather than a collection of parts.