Dr. Murdock’s Top Tips for Anti-Aging
Aging is a privilege… looking great while doing it is strategy. Recently, I had a milestone birthday and entered a new decade of life. Yet, every day I’m reminded how young I look (yes, I promise I’m a real surgeon with decades of training, education, and experience). As we get older photodamage from the sun, gravity, and laxity from loss of fat, collagen, elastin in the skin can cause facial changes with time. We see the results of drooping eyelids, heavy brows, jowls, fat prolapse causing under eye bags, hollowing in the tear trough, thin lips, wrinkles, fine lines, pigmented spots, and rough skin texture.
Part 1: Dr. Murdock’s Anti-Aging Essentials
We’ll start with my 2 essentials that are the basics of any anti-aging regimen to keep your skin and face looking and feeling young and fresh. First, daily sunscreen is a non negotiable. This is your best defense against photodamage from UV rays. Many people say to me, “Well, I don’t even go in the sun.” Don’t forget that we get exposure to harmful UV exposure driving in the car, walking the dogs, and even sitting next to a sunny window. Skincare with daily SPF is very important, but also reapplication is also key. You should reapply sunscreen every hour to 90 minutes, especially when you are enjoying activities outside.
Second, keeping up with botulinum toxin injections, or neuromodulators, help to soften fine lines and keep the skin looking smooth and youthful. Dysport, Botox, Jeuveau, Xeomin, and Daxxify are examples of some of the brands of neuromodulators available in the American market. These products work by blocking acetocholine at the neuromuscular junction within your muscles. What the heck does this mean?? Essentially, very tiny doses of botulinum toxin weakens the muscles of movement in your face to decrease dynamic rhytids, or wrinkles that develop from facial expression. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean your face is frozen or that you look weird, but it is an amazing discovery that keeps your face smooth without deep glabellar lines (your “11’s”), forehead wrinkles, and crow’s feet around the eyes. Continuing injections at regular intervals every 3 to 4 months can keep your face smooth and young.
Part 2: Dr. Murdock’s Essential Procedures to Reset the Aging Clock
Once we start with the basics of anti-aging, how do we turn the aging clock backwards? In my practice, 2 treatments consistently make the biggest impact to reverse aging changes, and they each work beautifully on their own or together in harmony.
The first procedure that can reset the clock is a blepharoplasty — the cornerstone of facial rejuvenation. The area around the eyes can really reflect the aging changes described above. People can feel like they look tired, sad or angry. A blepharoplasty is a surgery that removes excess eyelid skin, resculpts prolapsed fat, and can even reposition eyelids that have stretched away from their natural position.
If you want the most powerful, high-yield refresh, eyelid surgery is it. Blepharoplasty brightens the eyes, lifts heavy lids, and instantly makes the entire face look more awake and youthful.
This surgical procedure can be paired with:
- Brow elevation or recontouring to restore descended brow tissue for a natural lift
- Canthoplasty for reshaping the eyelid
- Fat grafting to restore volume
- Laser resurfacing for skin rejuvenation
My specialized technique BabyBleph® is a minimally invasive combination of laser-assisted upper eyelid surgery, ablative laser resurfacing, and tissue coring for a natural refresh with reduced downtime and eye-opening results.
Whether combined with an eyelid surgery or an isolated treatment, laser resurfacing, specifically with the UltraClear 2910 cold-fiber laser, is your skin’s reset button. This is my second favorite procedure that resets the aging process by targeting your skin and addressing what surgery can’t:
- Hyperpigmentation (sun spots)
- Texture irregularities
- Dull, dead skin buildup
- Loss of collagen and elastin in the deeper dermis
Laser treatments can ablate dead skin cells, smooth skin, stimulate collagen and elastin regeneration, and slough away pigmented spots. Laser coring can even be performed to remove microchannels of tissue to achieve tissue tightening. Laser treatments result in clearer, smoother, firmer, more even skin with a natural glow.
Whether you choose lid surgery, laser, or a curated combination, these are the procedures that truly turn back the clock while keeping everything looking natural, refined, and authentically you.
Part 3: Dr. Murdock’s Anti-Aging Tips for Maintenance Over Time
Finally, I’ll share the quiet workhorses that keep your skin biologically young over time, not just cosmetically improved. Maintenance is key when it comes to anti-aging, and it starts with medical-grade skincare containing regenerative actives. These products don’t just smell fragrant (like moisturizers from most of the fashion designer labels), but they actually regenerate your skin on a cellular level. These should be incorporated into your daily routine, and you will achieve a noticeable glow over months to years.
My first favorite skincare line is Alastin Skincare by Galderma. Powered by TriHex Technology®, these products are backed by real, proven science in the form of randomized clinical trials to prove the efficacy and results of each product. Different products have novel peptides and botanicals that upregulate fibroblast activity, clear out old, fragmented collagen, and stimulate the synthesis of new collagen and elastin. Think of it as remodeling your dermis from the inside out. HA immerse with octapeptide, Hydratint with a glowy, tinted SPF, and Aluminate for pigmentation are a few of my favorites.
Pavīse has DiamondCore® technology that eliminates damaging reactive oxygen species with DNA-repair peptides and prevents UV-triggered mutations with an ultra-fine zinc oxide. This combination reverses cellular aging while stimulating collagen and healthy cells to proliferate.
Plated serums contain topical platelet-derived exosomes, which are bioactive cellular signals that change signaling inside the cell. These signals promotes turnover of photodamaged cells, reduce inflammation, and enhance tissue regeneration with an increase collagen and elastin production. Applied directly to the skin as your first step immediately after cleansing, daily use of Plated exosomes result in smoother skin, decreased wrinkles and fine lines, and reduced redness and pigmentation.
Last but definitely not least are biostimulators, which are injectables that activate our body’s own regenerative pathways. Biostimulators can be your own fat in the form of autologous fat grafting or PRP (platelet-rich plasma) and PRF (platelet-rich fibrin), which contain stem cells that work on the regenerative pathways. However, my favorite that doesn’t involve drawing your own blood is Sculptra® (Poly-L-Lactic Acid). By engaging your body’s own fibroblasts, PLLA initiates controlled collagen production within the extracellular matrix. As it biodegrades, your skin generates new collagen and structural support. This gradually restores volume (like filler) and improves skin texture and elasticity for years after.
These products define aging backward by waking up your skin’s own biology. Long-term maintenance isn’t about doing more, it’s about choosing treatments that keep working for you long after you leave the office.
For a summary of these anti-aging tips, see my 3-part video series on TikTok and Instagram. You can also schedule a consultation to discuss how to start your anti-aging regimen and explore other great procedures and products to keep you young and refreshed.
