ABOUT US
ABOUT US
THE MIRACULOUS SERUM
With over 50 products in the range and Lady Gaga, Jennifer Aniston, Cate Blanchett and Victoria Beckham among its enthusiastic advocates, 111SKIN has become a beauty phenomenon with a reputation for powerful, transformative results.
But the brand was founded with just one product and one clear aim: to accelerate skin healing for the patients of world-renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Dr Yannis Alexandrides. When it was discovered that the potent serum also provided dramatic anti-ageing benefits, patients began requesting bottle after bottle.
“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.
TESTED IN SPACE
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.
“By providing the skin with NAC, we showed that you can stop DNA degradation and halt the ageing process on a cellular level.” Says Dr Yannis.
DR. YANNIS & EVA ALEXANDRIDES: THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE BRAND
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.”
Dr Yannis originally studied medicine in his hometown Athens, then crossed the Atlantic to specialise in microsurgery, cranio-facial and hand surgery. It was in Miami he met Eva, originally from Bulgaria, who was studying business. Dr Yannis was later certified to the ABPS (American Board of Plastic Surgery) and ASAPS (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery); two boards with some of the most stringent barriers to entry, followed by certification to two further boards; EBOPRAS (European Board of Plastic Surgery) in order to practice in Europe, and the ISAPS (International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery) – a highly unusual combination of accolades for a London-based surgeon. After opening clinics in Athens and Miami, Dr Yannis settled on London, consolidating his plastic surgery, non-surgical and skincare services in one luxurious setting in Harley Street. The clinic is staffed by expert medics, aestheticians and dieticians, attracting A-list clientele from around the globe.
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. Despite helming two businesses, the couple enjoys switching off during early morning workouts, plus evenings and weekends spent with their two sons, often at Chelsea football matches. And they both love modern art and visiting London galleries. “If Yannis was not a surgeon, I think he probably would have been a sculptor,” Eva confides.
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 practising 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.”
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.
Eva admits that development is “a very long process, sometimes taking up to three years for a single product”. But it’s this integrity and authenticity that gives the brand its longevity. Dr Yannis has been a pioneer of non-surgical treatments, researching techniques in the USA and bringing them to the UK. These advancements bring additions and sometimes alternatives to surgery, offering patients increased options.
“Sometimes clients are not aware of what they need.” Eva says. “For example, patients requesting surgery on the eye area, could start using better skincare, then see dramatic results, very quickly.” Dr Yannis agrees, citing 111SKIN’s sheet masks – beloved by celebrities - for their dramatic effects. Likewise, the Concentrate ampoules; Firming, Antioxidant and Radiance - also offer noticeable results after only seven days.
“Advanced skincare is now another pathway,” says Dr Yannis, explaining that many 111SKIN products are so effective in the treatment that sometimes they can be offered in place of a procedure.