The Gift of Real Talk: Is Vitamin C Overrated? "Anec-data" and the Truth About $400 Luxury Serums With Dermatologist Dr. Aegean Chan

Breaking Beauty Podcast

Dear Media, Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgins

Fashion, Beautyeditors, Fashion & Beauty, Magazineeditors, Beauty, Society & Culture, Arts, Carlenehiggins, Style541811, Jilldunn, Beautyexpert

4.7 • 954 Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we welcome double board-certified dermatologist AND dermatopathologist, Dr. Aegean Chan to bridge the gap between medical dermatology and your daily skincare routine. Tapping her clinical expertise in medical dermatology, skin cancer and acne, we unwrap Dr. Chan’s professional insights on the skin barrier, sun protection, and why she believes we should be wary of "anec-data" especially when it comes to a $400 serum.

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

How truly complex the skin barrier is (as she sees it under a microscope), and why it's the foundation of great skin
Holiday break ready! Which sunscreen Dr. Chan personally buys in bulk
Truth bombs about Vitamin C! Why Dr. Chan doesn’t think this hero ingredient is right for everyone
Why she *doesn’t* think shopping for skincare based on a pH level is a necessary strategy
What Dr. Chan makes of transdermal patches for skincare – are they the future of youthful skin?
Plus: Should we rethink trending, in-office procedures like radiofrequency combined with microneedling per recent FDA guidelines?

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Hosts: Carlene Higgins and Jill Dunn

Theme song, used with permission: Cherry Bomb by Saya 

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast is a Dear Media production.
0:08.1	Welcome to Breaking Beauty, the podcast all about the breakthrough people, products, and moments in beauty.
0:14.1	We're your host, Jill Dunn and Carleen Higgins.
0:32.9	Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Breaking Beauty Podcast. I'm one of your co-hosts, Jill Dunn, and I'm here alongside Carlene Higgins. And happy holidays to everyone listening. Hey, Carleen.
0:39.7	Hi, happy holidays to everyone and spreading the love to all of you. And we're too long-time beauty editors turned beauty podcasters. I'm proud to say we've been in your feeds every single
0:44.5	Wednesday. It's so fun to see the Spotify wrap-ups that we've seen. And, you know, we are 1% listeners
0:51.6	are 2%. We love that. We are sharing the breakthrough people, products, and moments in beauty. And this week is no different. That's right. And we love Apple Podcasts, too. I don't know why they don't do Apple Podcasts wrapped. Like, they really need to come out with something cool. It's true. You know? And they haven't.. And the thing is most of our listeners listen on Apple
1:13.5	podcast. So we love you too. We're here for you. Yes. We wish the software to catch up. We love our
1:18.9	YouTubers too. We're growing on YouTube everyone. So follow us on there and hit subscribe and you can
1:24.8	watch us. Heck yeah, because there's no weeks off around here.
1:28.2	And we love sharing content all about beauty.
1:31.2	And we even had a few bonus episodes this year.
1:33.3	So there's lots in our archive for y'all to comb through if you're so inclined,
1:38.1	either in your podcast app or YouTube.
1:41.7	And this week, we hope that you are enjoying holiday family time, but I've been there.
1:46.3	You need to sometimes get out for the hot girl holiday walk or sometimes you just need to go
1:50.9	for a drive by yourself and listen to a beauty podcast. We're here for you. That's right. And this week,
1:57.1	we're happy to welcome a germ that many of you may follow on social media, and that's
2:01.8	Dr. Adrian Chan. So Dr. Chan, she has a really unique skill set. She's a double board certified
2:08.9	dermatologist and dermatopathologist. You heard me right. And as such, Dr. Chan is dedicated to
2:16.1	bridging the gap between medical dermatology and everyday skin care.
2:20.3	Dr. Chan's clinical expertise spans complex medical dermatology, skin cancer, acne, and cutaneous infectious diseases.
	...

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