Do you feel like you’ve aged five years in the past one-and-a-half? You’re not alone. For many, the stress of the pandemic has taken its toll by aging us on the inside and out.
Women are particularly prone to stress-induced aging, says Dr. Jennifer Pearlman. “Stress is the common denominator of aging as it shortens our telomeres (the protective casings on the end of DNA strands which determine longevity). The biological impact of stress on aging is greater for women than men, but no one is immune. On a cellular level, when we’re stressed, we age faster.”
Chronic stress manifests in more visible ways, too, etching into our skin and changing our appearance. It shows up as deeper frown lines between the brow and pursing lines aging the mouth, tired eyes with undereye circles, enlarged jaw muscles from clenching that can widen the lower face, hormonal acne and hair loss. Weight gain is often seen in the all-too-common stress-induced belly fat.
The rise in online meetings means we are all seeing ourselves more than ever. This has driven a “zoom boom” in cosmetic enhancement to address these concerns.
There are health consequences to these changes too, as belly fat (visceral adiposity) is strongly associated with risk of heart disease and diabetes.
“Fortunately, there are accessible medical and cosmetic options to treat all of this,” says Dr. Pearlman, “addressing the symptoms and signs of aging. With our wholistic inside-outside approach, we can correct the deep-rooted causes.”
Dr. Pearlman is no stranger to helping patients through a public health crisis. She was a newly minted doctor working in Toronto hospitals during the SARS crisis; she was also on the frontlines of health care when H1N1 was at its peak. As such, her renowned medical practice in Toronto was established 12 years ago to ensure the highest level of safety and security with a first-class patient experience.
Her practice draws on a long-standing interest in women’s health care – among other things, she spent a decade in practice at the Menopause Clinic at Mt. Sinai Hospital and is certified by the Ontario Medical Association as an expert consultant to other physicians.
At her clinic, Dr. Pearlman works with an integrative health team to offer personalized targeted treatments to help patients look and feel their best. “We help each patient with the most precise and comprehensive plan to successful aging,” she says.
The path toward ageless vitality is as individual as each person. It can include non-surgical cosmetic enhancements for skin, face and body; personalized nutrition with a custom formulated health supplement; bioidentical hormone therapy; a gene-based lifestyle plan; mind-body care; and more.
We are aging at a time with more options than ever before. “With my needle I can recontour youth and redefine beauty for facial optimization and enhance the features: lips, nose and eyes,” she says. “With energy devices using heat, light, and laser we can resurface skin, even skin tone, erase scars and pigment, eliminate unwanted body fat and reshape the body.”
“We approach each patient in a caring, wholistic and personalized way, to enhance their individual beauty and refresh their appearance.”
Dr. Pearlman’s clinic is a leader in innovation. They adopted a sophisticated and secure virtual health platform and enhanced all safety protocols, including being the first business in North America to install a COVID-19-inactivating environmental sterilization system.
At seasonal locations in Muskoka, she offers dockside options to help patients look and feel their best as well as providing her full range of health supplements, medical-grade skin care, and health technology for use at the home or cottage.
Dr. Pearlman and her team will deliver care with the same personalized approach and focus on safety in Muskoka again this summer, with clinics in Minett and Gravenhurst which will operate from June to September.
TEXT A. WAGNER-CHAZALON
