The People

“He explains the settings, not just the outcome. Nobody demystifies energy devices like this.”

Board-certified Australian dermatologist and the north star of this entire section. Based in Brisbane, he built the largest doctor-run YouTube following in Australia, hundreds of thousands of subscribers and tens of millions of views, by talking through lasers, acne scarring, pigmentation and vascular work with the settings and trade-offs left in. If a device is being oversold, he says so.

“She asks the follow-up question everyone else skips, and admits when a treatment wasn’t worth it.”

Wellness writer, creator and podcaster whose long-running show, launched as The Blonde Files and relaunched in 2024 as Well with Arielle Lorre, sits at the intersection of recovery, functional health, and unusually frank aesthetics conversation. The treatment episodes are effectively free consultations with people you’d otherwise wait months to see.

“Pillowtalk Derm is the sanity check. If she rolls her eyes at a trend, it’s over.”

NYC-based board-certified dermatologist behind Idriss Dermatology and the “Pillow Talk Derm” franchise. Strong on injectables done conservatively, pigment in deeper skin tones, and dismantling TikTok skincare theatre without being condescending about it.

“The bridge. A real derm who takes the gut-skin axis seriously without going woo.”

Board-certified dermatologist, clinical associate professor, and one of the earliest mainstream derms to publish and speak on the gut-skin connection. Her “skin cycling” framing, rotating exfoliation, retinoid and two recovery nights, is the most useful routine structure of the last five years, precisely because it tells you when to do nothing.

“A derm who formulates. The acid pads are the only exfoliant I’ve never over-used.”

Manhattan dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon whose eponymous line grew out of clinic problems rather than a marketing brief. Notable for pre-dosed acid systems that make chemical exfoliation hard to get wrong, and for early, serious work on LED as an adjunct rather than a miracle.

“Triple Harvard, runs her own trials, and still holds the laser herself. Unimpeachable.”

Associate clinical professor and one of the most published clinician-researchers in energy-based devices, radiofrequency microneedling, fractional resurfacing, tightening endpoints. Her own skincare line is built on ingredient research rather than trend, and she is refreshingly precise about what devices can and cannot do to laxity.

“My reset button for the boring fundamentals: blood sugar, protein, sleep, stress.”

Physician and author who did more than anyone to bring functional medicine into ordinary conversation. The skin relevance is indirect and enormous, glycation, insulin resistance, ultra-processed food and chronic low-grade inflammation all show up on the face eventually. Filter the supplement enthusiasm; keep the framework.

“The only person who made perimenopausal skin make sense to me.”

Board-certified in obstetrics and gynaecology, now writing and practising at the intersection of hormones, metabolism and precision medicine. Essential for understanding why collagen, oil production, hydration and healing all shift in the late thirties and forties, and why a laser plan should be built with that in mind rather than against it.

“Deeply funny, deeply unbothered by hype. A very good bullshit detector.”

Board-certified dermatologist and past president of the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology & Aesthetic Surgery, known for barrier-first thinking and for being an early, loud sceptic of skincare maximalism. If a viral ingredient is thin on evidence, she has usually already said so, briefly.

“The consumer advocate. She reads the ingredient list so I don’t have to trust the ad.”

The UK’s most influential independent skincare voice, and the reason a generation stopped using foaming cleansers and started double cleansing. Included despite the US bias of this list because nobody is better at holding brands to account on claims, packaging and price.