Dr. Lara Devgan has an impressive beauty CV. She's a board certified plastic surgeon and widely considered one of the best in New York City. The rest of her time is spent performing non-invasive clinical treatments, while also building her eponymous skincare line.

Her approach to skin health is integrated and comes from a medical standpoint. It's part of the reason her skincare has a cult following, and was recently picked up by Mecca. The product suite is an edited one, but hard-working: retinol, vitamin C, a hyaluronic serum that's viral for its glassy finish, and a lip plumper with thousands of rave reviews. I've tried it, it works.

A wealth of skincare knowledge, Dr. Devgan sat down with RUSSH on a recent trip to celebrating the Australian launch. She's incredibly smart, straight shooting and forward-thinking when it comes to skin health. I can't imagine there's many founders that know more about the beauty universe than her.

Read my chat with Dr. Devgan below.

You’re known as one of New York’s most successful practicing plastic surgeons — why skincare as well?

Well, I split my practice half surgically and half non-surgically because I want to be able to offer solutions that are vertically integrated for my patients. So not just a facelift, but also injectables, skin resurfacing, lasers, micro-infusion, micro-needling, PRP… The goal is to give people the most beautiful, bespoke outcome. My work is super customised. The missing piece was always what people were doing at home — daily habits have such an impact on skin health. I wanted to help my patients extend or improve upon the lifespan of the procedures they were having with me. How can I do somebody's facelift or Botox but not have them using the right skincare? I wanted my patients to be able to do everything possible to cultivate healthy skin and feel good in themselves.

What were you doing prior to developing your own products?

Making all these recommendations! I was writing scripts for some ingredients like vitamin A, and sending patients to pharmacies to buy a specific vitamin C, but it was lacking the supporting ingredients, so asking them to combine it with another formula... It was so complex and difficult. I just wished there was a clinical, edited, luxurious solution that worked the way I wanted it to. That was the reasoning.

Tell me about formulating and ingredient sourcing. What was that process like given your context as a doctor?

I have an academic background, so I wanted to dignify the products with evidence and accuracy. I wanted all of the hero ingredients to be medically and clinically validated in large scale, randomised control trials. One challenge with skincare is how we formulate so that we are combining mutually beneficial ingredients focused on the same targeted solutions. There's obviously a lot of skincare out there, so the real aim was to improve on those products I was previously recommending to my patients. Our Retinol for example is combined with Bakuchiol as the ingredients enhance each others performance; they improve the appearance of lines, tone and enlarged pores. Our CBE Ferulic Serum is not just vitamin C at a high percentage, there's also vitamin B, vitamin E, ferulic acid... On a technical level I look at the formulation, whether it's aqueous, anhydrous in an oil base... all of these details matter. 

My day job is so visually oriented, and I see my patients ongoing for years. I can't sell them products that don't make a difference because I'll hear about it — I'll see it in my chair! Every day in my practice is like a focus group for skincare; that patient feedback is really, really important to me.

Retinol + Bakuchiol Serum 2.5x Concentrate

What sort of skin concerns do you find are the most prevalent in your patients?

There's two that are pretty obvious to me: excessive oxidative damage, which is basically sun damage from UVA and UVB.

And the second is signs of ageing in young people. This is not necessarily a biological skin issue — we all age — but my patients don't want to get old in the way their parents and grandparents have. They don't want the deep lines, loose skin or sun damage they see in others. It's a huge phenomenon and really, really interesting to me. I think we're the first generation that's extremely invested in preventing the loss of natural resources. 

Interesting. So I have to ask you about Platinum Lip Plump because it's such a cult product for you, and it blurs the lines of topical skincare, cosmetics and aesthetic medicine...

It's an instantly gratifying product. You see it work in real time, and it gives you this feeling of looking 'slightly better'. But it's also healthy for the lips. Most lip plumpers on the market irritate the lips into submission, they're creating an inflammatory response which isn't ideal. Lip tissue is really delicate, as well. Ours doesn't do that. It hydrates and vasodilates, which is how you get that flushed, pillowy look.

Platinum Lip Plump

What's up and coming in skincare? What are we going to see in the next few years?

I think the biggest shift is this idea of prevention and preservation. Each generation is accruing less and less skin damage. I mean, when I was coming up as a plastic surgeon, the whole field was about treatment. If you had acne, treat it. Pigmentation? Fade it. Wrinkles? Smooth them out. People are much more proactive about these things, and are interested in treating themselves better. It's this whole idea of, 'the body is a temple'.

I'm actually really into longevity medicine, and it's not just about aesthetics – it's about avoiding things like skin cancer. I'm noticing people are considering how certain habits are affecting their wellbeing long-term, as well.

What about ingredients?

Peptides for sure.  They improve skin cellular function so that things are working optimally. They have so much potential, I think they're going to gain more and more traction.

I actually love Peptides...

So do I! And one more trend I want to add: I think we're going to move into the world of fewer, better products. It's sort of happening in fashion, but beauty is not there yet. How many palettes do we have sitting around untouched? I think we're going to slowly curate our beauty routines in the same way we do with our wardrobes, where we buy less but buy really well. People are getting sick of products that don't work; things they bought on a whim but just sit in their bathroom... it's essentially landfill.

Vitamin CBE Ferulic Serum

Are there other areas of beauty and wellness that interest you?

Sleep is incredibly important. I grew up in the midst of toxic surgical culture where you train 100 hours a week, and you don't sleep. It's ironic to look back on now, but I'm at a different life stage. There's a lot of data to suggest rest improves our mood, our memory, and our skin obviously. I really believe in sleep hygiene.

Another one is alcohol. I know it's an unpopular opinion and a bit of a killjoy but there's so much data to suggest that zero alcohol consumption is the healthiest option.

What about stress? Does it really affect us the way we think?

Yes, it does. We're learning so much about the impacts of cortisol on skin, health, everything. Stability is important for wellbeing — moderating our emotions can really impact longevity, and how 'well' we are when we're alive. These big emotional up's and down's, or not prioritising ourselves have long-term implications.

Images: Dr. Lara Devgan