Interview with Dr Yannis Alexandrides & Eva Alexandrides - Founders of 111Skin
111SKIN was founded by globally-renowned Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon Dr Yannis Alexandrides MD FACS and entrepreneur Eva Alexandrides. They launched the brand in 2012 with an industry-disrupting serum powered by Dr Yannis’s patented antioxidant complex, NAC Y²™. Proven to heal skin quickly and aesthetically after surgery, NAC Y²™ is a unique formula and the result of 30 years of Dr Yannis’s medical expertise.
Dr Yannis, a relentless innovator, together with his wife Eva, whose entrepreneurial mindset was honed during her career working with start-ups, decided to launch the serum commercially. Meanwhile, Dr Yannis began developing further products to improve his patients’ experience. He’d found the clinical-strength products popular in the USA sometimes irritated his UK clients’ skin and so set out to create equally effective alternatives that were far more tolerable to sensitive skin. “Eva suggested: if it doesn’t exist, then why not make it yourself?” Dr Yannis explains. “So, I did.”
1) How do you approach the creation of your products? What's your process like?
Every single product in the 111SKIN range is a response to patients’ needs. That matters to both of them. As Eva says: “When you are a practicing surgeon, it’s very hard not to keep innovating”. Dr Yannis sees hundreds of clients per week, adding that “each one is a beauty connoisseur”. For this reason, the brand not only keeps up with aesthetic trends, but often outpaces them. “We’re continuously innovating.” Eva says. “Yannis genuinely sees it as his duty to develop a product for any skin concern that we don’t already have an answer for.” “If Yannis was not a surgeon, I think he probably would have been a sculptor,” Eva confides.
The products have developed their reputation via word of mouth (111SKIN never pays for endorsements) as incredibly efficacious; each product yielding dramatic results for the areas it targets.
2) Could you share with us some of the key ingredients that make 111Skin unique and effective?
"By providing the skin with NAC, we showed that you can stop DNA degradation and halt the ageing process on a cellular level."
"Our serum showed extraordinary results on all areas of the skin where it had been applied – not just those affected by surgery.” Dr. Yannis recalls. The reason? A novel ingredient. In 2004, a team of biochemical engineers had contacted Dr. Yannis, seeking a leading aesthetic surgeon to collaborate with. “It was a unique opportunity” Dr. Yannis explains. “These were experts in the reparative properties of NAC, an amino-acid and essential building block of our skin.” Working together, they created the groundbreaking NAC Y²™, the founding skincare formula at the heart of 111SKIN’s products. Part of the team’s remit and research had been to advise on astronauts’ diets and lifestyle. As a result, they offered to test Dr. Yannis’ new formula of NAC combined with Vitamin C and Escin, a skincare first and a uniquely extreme environment in which the skin ages rapidly. The tests showed unanimously that NAC Y²™ was out of this world in combating advanced ageing, pointing the way for even more powerful transformative results on earth.
3) In your opinion, what role does beauty play in boosting self-confidence and self-expression for your customers?
Now 111SKIN’s CEO, Eva works full-time on the product range, while Dr Yannis spends his time with patients, and in the operating theatre. Eva explains: “Yannis thinks about science, ingredients, efficacy. My role is working on the sensorial part; how the products look and feel.” The range aims to create a sense of joy and confidence, making beauty an enjoyable ritual, as the tagline – ‘surgically inspired skincare for total skin confidence’ – encapsulates.
4) Many customers love 111Skin after the first try. Why do you think sampling is important for your customers?
“111SKIN is a surgically-inspired, efficacious, results-driven brand. We conduct clinical trials on all our innovation, and always enjoy seeing the impressive before and after imagery. It is this, the results, that we trust our clients will see - becoming 111SKIN customers for life. Laddering back to our first product, the Repair Serum, originally created to give out free of charge in my clinic to help with healing of the skin – it showed extraordinary results on all areas of the skin where it had been applied – not just those affected by surgery.”
“We continue to take this approach today, creating extraordinary results for all our products”. Dr. Yannis recalls.
5) What are 2-3 brands you admire in the beauty space? These could be makeup, skin, hair, etc. Feel free to share why you love them.
“Historically we have partnered with Gucci Westman for events and more. I’m a longstanding fan of her make-up and interested to see her launch into skincare. Her talent with make-up is unparalleled, I use many of her products in my make-up arsenal!
Same goes for Joanna Czech, celebrity facialist to all the stars and firm friend of 111SKIN, we’ve collaborated for years across many activations with 111SKIN products sold and incorporated into her facial protocols in her New York and Dallas studios. I enjoyed trying her skincare and know she’ll be successful in all her endeavors in the beauty industry”. Comments Eva Alexandrides.