Stephanie mcchesney was 11 years old when she first traveled with her family to their annual vacation on Kiawah Island. Now that she is expanding her successful medical aesthetician services in the Lowcountry, she feels like it’s a homecoming. “I first noticed the importance of healthy living—biking, exercising and swimming—from those early years at Kiawah,” she says. “Skin by Stephanie evolved from that time and is rooted in what I learned there.”
While Skin by Stephanie has had a presence in the Lowcountry for the last few years, McChesney began expanding the company’s holistic skincare services at the Mount Pleasant clinic when she moved her personal home to the area last fall.
McChesney has devoted the last 35 years of her life to becoming a leading aesthetician. Along the way, she worked in the world’s top destination spa as head aesthetician, treating celebrity clients and dignitaries and developing her expertise in clinical skincare. Twenty years ago, she founded Skin by Stephanie in Greenville, South Carolina, where she has been providing clients with customized skincare solutions from her personally created, synergistic high-performance cosmetic line, Science Ceuticals.
The most important part of her work with clients is a personalized touch; there is no one-size-fits-all approach at Skin by Stephanie. “Every treatment is customized for the individual,” she explains. “I ask the questions that help me determine which anti-aging, calming, brightening or purifying products need to be combined to give a particular patient glowing skin: Do they work in an office under harsh lighting? Do they work in a medical setting? Are they a biker or a swimmer? What vitamins do they take?”
The Science Ceuticals product line boasts almost 40 different products, which McChesney combines in unique formulations for each patient depending upon their needs. She developed each product within the Science Ceuticals line as a clean alternative to highly marketed but ineffective products on the market. “People spend thousands of dollars on marketed products without seeing the results they are proclaimed to provide,” McChesney says. “People want to know the truth about what they are using. I want to give them a real solution for their investment—something that is developed to address their individual skin challenges and goals.”
The Science Ceuticals products are known for their effectiveness because they are brimming with ingredients like peptides, which are the amino acids skin needs to change and improve at the cellular level. Every product is a natural, bio-effective combination of vitamins, minerals, botanicals, antioxidants and fatty acids that provide anti-aging, corrective and moisturizing benefits. The entire product line is non-sourcing, meaning the ingredients come directly from the original source. Peptides, for instance, are strictly sourced from France; they are powerhouse ingredients in skincare products that do things such as decreasing inflammation, repairing tissue and helping the skin produce more collagen.
McChesney created the product line after many years of research. Today, the products have helped hundreds of clients avoid invasive procedures, such as a facelift, or any cosmetic surgery, fillers and injections. While they are available through select plastic surgeons and medical spas, McChesney also sees clients in her Mount Pleasant clinic or virtually via what she calls a Global Consult. The face-to-face consultation gives her a chance to meet each patient, see their skin, listen to their concerns and goals, and ask the important lifestyle questions that enable her to prescribe the appropriate combination of skincare products. “The products are synergistic, meaning they work well with each other in many different combinations to address a wide range of skin issues,” McChesney explains. “The right combination of products addresses at least 50% of the treatment plan; the other half may be addressed through in-office procedures such as Red Light (LED) Therapy or microchanneling, microdermabrasion and others.”
Skin by Stephanie recently introduced three new signature serums—a vitamin C serum, a hyaluronic acid serum and a multi-peptide serum. The clinic also added two body products to its lineup—a peptide body lotion and a vitamin C body scrub that helps, among other issues, hyperpigmentation and crepiness.
“It’s important that people understand that there is no one system or a single product that works for everyone,” McChesney says. “That’s why it’s so valuable for my clients to begin with a consultation so I can then target the treatment plan specifically for their skin and lifestyle. There are a lot of variables to treat and people may experience plateaus, just as they sometimes do when exercising for weight loss. I’m a personal trainer for the skin, getting my clients through those plateaus and adjusting their skincare products during life changes, such as moving to a new city or into a new job where the environment is different.”
McChesney treats a range of skin ailments, including sun damage, rosacea, acne, melasma resulting from pregnancy, wrinkling, fine lines and unevenness. She treats people of all ages—as she says, “from 10 to 110.” She treats her clients in accordance with the scriptural verse printed on the back of every Science Ceuticals label: John 3:16, which summarizes the central message of the Christian faith and exemplifies her immense love for people and how she wants to help them. “I’m not just providing products,” she reiterates. “I’m the real face behind them, and I personalize the treatment and provide hands-on attention for each patient.” *
Dana W. Todd is a professional writer specializing in interior design, real estate, luxury homebuilding, landscape design, architecture and fine art.
