Dr. Gustav Lo of Cosmetic Skin and Laser Center and RegenCen says conversations about anti-aging and longevity belong in routine health planning - not just later in life.
“We can start feeling ourselves aging when we are actually still pretty young,” Lo said during an appearance on Live in the D. “As early as the late 20s… by the mid-40s, almost everybody feels like they’re not what they used to be. I do think it should be part of healthcare planning right from the very beginning.”
Lo pointed to two pillars patients are asking about as the new year begins: weight loss and bioidentical hormone therapy.
“Both hormones and weight loss are extremely youthifying,” he said. Extra weight, he added, “is actually very toxic for us… There’s a lot of signaling that overweight and obesity has that actually physically ages us.” Hormone replacement, he said, “is the foundation of anti-aging,” improving how the body “responds a lot more youthfully” in both women and men.
Interest is especially high among men who suspect low testosterone, Lo said. “Twenty-five percent of guys under the age of 40 have low testosterone… and for guys who are close to 60, it’s about 70%,” he said, noting levels have declined in North America over the past 50 years.
Lo also highlighted an emerging add-on therapy: Sermorelin, which stimulates the body’s own growth hormone. “Sermorelin can be really magical,” he said. “It builds muscle and it burns fat preferentially from the fatty area here in the abdomen,” an effect that can be notable as growth hormone “slides down as we get older.”
For those unsure where to start, Lo said the first step is a focused consultation. “We consider ourselves to be sort of the primary care of anti-aging from the outside all the way in,” he said. “We’re an adjunct, not a substitution,” to a patient’s regular primary care. The goal, he added, is tangible change: “Let’s see if we can crank about 10 or 15 years off that sensation inside.”
To watch the segment, click the video above. For more information, visit regencen.com.