Skinfluence with Dr. Dustin Portela

Dustin Portela
  • 4.9 (88)
  • Medicine
  • Updated Weekly

Skinfluence is a podcast dedicated to helping you understand and take control of your skin health. Hosted by board-certified dermatologist Dr. Dustin Portela and Physician Assistant Austin Lee, each episode blends expert insights with practical advice to guide you through the world of skincare. From treating common concerns like acne and eczema to exploring the latest innovations in cosmetic dermatology, Skinfluence offers trustworthy information you can use—whether you're a skincare beginner or looking to take your routine to the next level. Tune in weekly for science-backed tips, patient stories, and honest conversations about what really works. Tag: 868329

  1. 3d ago

    Featured Episode: A Medicare Proposal Could Change How You Receive Care — Here's What You Can Do

    Most people don't follow healthcare policy. But this one is worth your attention, and the window to do something about it closes September 14th. A new CMS proposal, if passed, would cut reimbursement by 50 percent any time a doctor performs a procedure on the same day as an office visit. On paper, it sounds like a billing technicality. In practice, it means that if your dermatologist finds a suspicious mole during a routine skin check, many practices would no longer be able to biopsy it that same day without losing money on the encounter. You'd be asked to come back. Two appointments, two copays, two weeks of waiting for answers about something your doctor told you looked concerning. Dr. Dustin Portela and Austin Lee break down exactly how physician billing works, why the CMS framing of this as an "efficiency adjustment" misses the point, and what the real-world impact looks like across every specialty. This isn't a dermatology problem. It's a pediatrics problem, a cardiology problem, an ENT problem. Any doctor who currently handles two separate concerns in one visit would be forced to split them. For patients in rural areas who drive long distances to see a specialist, that's not a minor inconvenience. For practices already operating on thin margins after decades of declining reimbursements, it could mean staff cuts, dropped insurance plans, or closing altogether. The good news: there is something you can do before the comment period closes. Contacting your two state senators and congressional representative directly, by phone or email, carries more weight than a CMS comment. Links to a sample letter and a tool to look up your representatives are in the show notes. If you add something personal, why this would affect your specific situation, it will land harder than a form letter. Please share this episode. The more people who contact their representatives before September 14th, the better the outcome for patients. Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Austin Lee, PA-C Instagram: @austinleepac Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

    Featured Episode: A Medicare Proposal Could Change How You Receive Care — Here's What You Can Do

  2. Aug 6

    Guest Episode: Dr. Mary Alice Mina on Perimenopause, Collagen Loss and What Women in Midlife Actually Need

    At 40, Dr. Mary Alice Mina noticed her neck for the first time. She was a dermatologist, she knew the science, and it still caught her off guard. That moment of recognition is exactly what she now builds her practice around. Dr. Mina is a board-certified dermatologist, host of The Skin Real podcast, and one of the clearer voices in a space crowded with noise about menopause and perimenopause skin care. In this conversation with Dr. Portela, she covers what actually happens to skin during this chapter of life, why perimenopause symptoms are so easy to miss, and what women can realistically do about the changes they are seeing in the mirror. A few things stand out. The collagen loss that happens gradually in your 30s can accelerate sharply once estrogen drops at menopause, sometimes up to 30 percent in a five-year window. The window to do something about it is earlier than most people think. Dr. Mina and Dr. Portela both practice what they preach: daily SPF, a retinoid, and an antioxidant serum cover most of the ground. Collagen supplements, creatine, and protein intake all come up, with honest takes on what the evidence actually supports versus what sounds good on a label. Everything beyond the basics is diminishing returns unless sleep, nutrition, and stress are also being addressed. The conversation on topical estrogen and hormone replacement therapy is candid and nuanced. There is promising data and real gaps in the research, and Dr. Mina is honest about both. She also makes a point that tends to get lost: vaginal estrogen is one of the most evidence-backed and underused treatments in women's health, and many women who could benefit from it have never been told it exists. On the in-office side, she walks through laser resurfacing, microneedling, and biostimulators like Sculptra and Radiesse for collagen restoration, with a clear-eyed take on why patience matters and why the lifestyle foundation has to come first before any cosmetic procedure can do its job. Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Dr. Mary Alice Mina Instagram: @drminaskins Podcast: The Skin Real Perimenopause Guide: hi.theskinreal.com/peri Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

    Guest Episode: Dr. Mary Alice Mina on Perimenopause, Collagen Loss and What Women in Midlife Actually Need

  3. Jul 30

    EP 51: Sunburn, Sweat Acne and Summer Skin Damage — What Dermatologists See Every July

    Summer has a way of reminding people that their skin has limits. Every July, the same things land in Dr. Dustin Portela and Austin Lee's clinic: sunburns that crossed a line, back acne that appeared out of nowhere, rashes from sources nobody thought to question. This episode is their honest take on the summer conditions they see year after year, what causes them, what to do, and in a few cases, what not to do. Sunburns get a proper breakdown, including the biology of why the damage keeps happening after you're already out of the sun, what actually helps during those first miserable hours, and when a burn is serious enough to warrant a trip to urgent care. The conversation on sweat acne and folliculitis is worth the listen for anyone who spends significant time outdoors and can't figure out why their skin keeps breaking out. Tinea versicolor comes up too, including Austin's admission that he deals with it himself every summer. The diagnosis that tends to stop people cold is phytophotodermatitis. Most people have never heard of it. But if you've ever squeezed a lime into your drink at a backyard barbecue and gone back outside, you've taken the risk. The case stories here are genuinely funny, and the condition is genuinely real. Sea bather's eruption, swimmer's itch, and chiggers round things out in ways that will make anyone reconsider their relationship with warm, still water. Somewhere in the middle, a 1933 physician decides to let a black widow spider bite his own finger to prove a point to skeptical colleagues. It goes about as well as you'd expect. Product of the Week Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Body Mist SPF 70 and Inner Glow Sol Defense Supplements A water-resistant spray sunscreen for easy summer coverage, paired with a polypodium-based supplement that helps neutralize UV free radical damage from the inside out.  Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Austin Lee, PA-C Instagram: @austinleepac Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

  4. Jul 23

    EP 50: When Your Skin Is Trying to Tell You Something Is Wrong Inside

    Your skin is not just your largest organ. It is also, occasionally, a window into something going wrong much deeper than the surface. Autoimmune disease has a reputation for being mysterious, slow to diagnose, and easy to dismiss. Part of the reason is that the early signs often look like something ordinary: a rash that won't quit, fatigue that sleep doesn't fix, joints that ache without a good explanation. What most people don't realize is that a dermatologist is frequently the first doctor to put the pieces together, sometimes years before a rheumatologist ever enters the picture. Dr. Dustin Portela and Austin Lee have both sat across from patients who had been to doctor after doctor without answers. In this episode, they talk openly about what those cases actually look like, what they're thinking when a rash doesn't behave the way it should, and what separates a routine skin condition from something that warrants a much closer look. Lupus, dermatomyositis, bullous pemphigoid, and gout all make an appearance, not as a checklist, but as real conditions with real presentations and real consequences when they go unrecognized. There is also a case that has nothing to do with autoimmune disease and everything to do with why the gut microbiome deserves more respect than it gets. A man was pulled over, failed a breathalyzer at twice the legal limit, and had not touched a drop of alcohol. What his body was doing instead is one of the stranger things documented in modern medicine. For anyone who has been told their labs are inconclusive, their rash is probably nothing, or their symptoms don't quite add up yet, this episode is for you.  Product of the Week Avene Thermal Spring Water Spray and Avene Cicalfate+ Fragrance-free, sterile formulas for barrier repair and inflamed skin. Links in the show notes. Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Austin Lee, PA-C Instagram: @austinleepac Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

    EP 50: When Your Skin Is Trying to Tell You Something Is Wrong Inside

  5. Jul 16

    Guest Episode: Johanna Young of Solbari on Sun Protective Clothing, Skin Cancer Prevention, and What Australia Gets Right

    Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the age of 70. That statistic is the backdrop for everything Johanna Young does. Johanna is the founder of Solbari, an Australian sun protective clothing brand now distributed in over 160 countries. What started as a solution for herself and her fair-skinned husband on the golf course has grown into a company of 35 people, a warehouse in California, and more than 800,000 customers worldwide. In this conversation, she joins Dr. Dustin Portela to talk about UPF clothing, why most people dramatically underestimate the sun protection their everyday clothes provide, and what the US could learn from Australia's decades-long commitment to sun safety. The conversation opens with something most people don't know: a standard white cotton T-shirt offers roughly the same protection as SPF 5 sunscreen, and when wet, that drops even further. UPF 50+ clothing, by contrast, blocks at least 98% of UVA and UVB rays and maintains that protection throughout the day without reapplication. Johanna breaks down what actually determines a garment's UPF rating, from fabric composition and weave density to color and stretch, and explains why Solbari tests every color in every product to ensure that rating holds through at least fifty washes. Dr. Portela and Johanna also get into the broader cultural question of why sun protection is non-negotiable in Australia while it remains a hard sell in parts of the US. The answer involves school policies, government-subsidized skin checks, a national ban on tanning beds since 2015, and a public health infrastructure built around prevention rather than treatment. It's a candid and genuinely interesting comparison between two countries with very different approaches to the same problem. For anyone who loves being outdoors but has felt caught between protecting their skin and actually living their life, this episode is worth your time. Product of the Week Solbari UPF 50+ Sun Protective Clothing Lightweight, breathable, moisture-wicking UPF 50+ clothing designed for all-day outdoor wear. Use code SKINFLUENCE15 for 15% off at solbari.com. Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Johanna Young / Solbari Instagram: @solbari Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

    Guest Episode: Johanna Young of Solbari on Sun Protective Clothing, Skin Cancer Prevention, and What Australia Gets Right

  6. Jul 9

    Featured Episode: Dr. Portela on Derm It Trotter, Debunking Social Media Skincare Myths

    Not everything trending on your feed deserves a place in your routine. This week, we're sharing a conversation Dr. Portela had on the Derm It Trotter podcast, hosted by board-certified dermatologist Dr. Shannon Trotter, where the two broke down some of the biggest skincare trends circulating online right now and separated what's worth your attention from what isn't. The conversation covers a lot of ground. Red light therapy gets a fair but nuanced take: there's real potential there, but the people most likely to benefit are also the ones already doing everything else right, which makes it hard to know what's actually driving results. Exosomes are generating enormous buzz, with search interest up thousands of percent in a matter of months, yet the science on sourcing, purity, and efficacy hasn't caught up. K-beauty earns some genuine praise for its innovative textures and formulations, though both doctors agree that 10 steps is a hard sell when two or three solid products do most of the work. Dr. Portela also addresses the anti-sunscreen movement that reliably resurfaces every year on social media. He traces where it comes from, why the studies people cite don't hold up in real-world human use, and why sunscreen remains the most evidence-backed thing anyone can do for their skin. Supplements follow a similar thread: the industry is larger than pharma, largely unregulated, and too often marketed as a shortcut around the lifestyle changes that would actually help. The episode closes with practical advice for anyone trying to find reliable skincare information online: cross-reference your sources, be skeptical of claims made on social media that the brand itself won't make on its own website, and when in doubt, get face time with a board-certified dermatologist. Please support Dr. Trotter by subscribing to Derm It Trotter: Don't Swear About Skincare wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

    Featured Episode: Dr. Portela on Derm It Trotter, Debunking Social Media Skincare Myths

  7. Jul 2

    Guest Episode: Dr. Wallace Nozile on Becoming a Dermatologist, Beating the Odds, and the Future of Medicine

    Most people who want to become a dermatologist know it's competitive. Few understand what it actually takes to get there when nothing is handed to you. Dr. Wallace Nozile is a board-certified dermatologist, social media educator, and someone who came very close to choosing a career in R&B over medicine. In this conversation recorded in studio, he and Dr. Dustin Portela trace the full arc of what it takes to match into one of the most competitive specialties in medicine, from a rocky undergraduate start and a student advisor who laughed at his ambitions, to a grueling step one prep schedule and a mentor who changed everything. Dr. Nozile is candid about the role discipline played, or didn't, in his early years. He was pre-med from the start but largely coasting until a dismissive advisor put a chip on his shoulder. That moment, he says, did more for his trajectory than anything else. He went from Cs in organic chemistry to a 4.0 in a master's program alongside first-year medical students, then into medical school, and eventually into dermatology, one of the hardest fields to match into in the country. The conversation gets into the emotional weight of that process in ways a checklist never could. Dr. Nozile talks about skipping his best friend's bachelor party to study, becoming temporarily socially awkward after weeks of 12-hour study days, and the unexpected mentor who turned out to be his greatest advocate. That mentor, Dr. Stanton King Wesson, was a Vietnam veteran and program director who told Dr. Nozile plainly: "The only difference between you and that person is time." It's the kind of line that stays with you. They also look ahead, discussing personalized medicine, genetic testing for treatment response, and what role physicians will play as AI reshapes dermatology. And in a field where social media has become its own form of medical education, Dr. Nozile reflects on why reaching patients who might never see a dermatologist matters as much to him as anything he does in clinic. Product of the Week Avene Tolerance Foaming Cleanser A gentle foaming cleanser Dr. Nozile recommends for dry, sensitive skin patients who thought foaming cleansers were off the table. Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Dr. Wallace Nozile Follow on social media (links in show notes) Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

    Guest Episode: Dr. Wallace Nozile on Becoming a Dermatologist, Beating the Odds, and the Future of Medicine

  8. Jul 1

    EP 49: What Happens to Your Skin After 35 (And What to Do About It)

    Your skin at 37 is not the same organ it was at 22. Collagen is breaking down faster than it's being replaced. Fat pads are shifting. Cell turnover is slowing. And one morning you wake up and wonder where your face went. Dr. Dustin Portela and Austin Lee break down the biology of aging skin in a way that's actually useful, covering the collagen and elastin loss that starts in your 30s, why the dermis gradually thins, how fat pads descend over time, and how cumulative sun damage eventually overwhelms your skin's antioxidant defenses. It's a slow process, mostly invisible, until it isn't. The episode then turns to what you can actually do about it. Sunscreen and sun-protective clothing are the foundation. Vitamin C serums help neutralize free radical damage. Retinols, on both the face and body, can slow collagen decline and improve texture over time. Diet matters more than most people realize: chronic sugar intake accelerates the breakdown of collagen, while inadequate protein makes it harder to rebuild. Sleep, cardio, and resistance training round out the picture, with real data showing that weightlifting can improve skin thickness, not just build muscle. For those already seeing changes, the hosts get more specific. Topical pigment inhibitors like hydroquinone and thiamidol can address sunspots, with the important caveat that not every dark spot is the same. Microneedling, chemical peels, and CO2 laser resurfacing each have a place depending on the severity of concerns. Dermal filler can be transformative for volume loss when used correctly, though Dr. Portela is candid about what happens when it isn't. The episode closes with a reminder that aging is not a problem to be solved. It's something to be managed thoughtfully, with realistic expectations and a little grace. Product of the Week Activé Restore Body Firming Cream — Dean Skincare A retinol body cream with hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and caffeine formulated to improve skin resilience and support collagen production. Available at shop.drdustinportela.com. Follow Us Dr. Dustin Portela TikTok | Instagram | YouTube (Reactions) | YouTube (Educational) | Pinterest Austin Lee, PA-C Instagram: @austinleepac Skinfluence Podcast Instagram: @skinfluence_pod

    EP 49: What Happens to Your Skin After 35 (And What to Do About It)
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Skinfluence is a podcast dedicated to helping you understand and take control of your skin health. Hosted by board-certified dermatologist Dr. Dustin Portela and Physician Assistant Austin Lee, each episode blends expert insights with practical advice to guide you through the world of skincare. From treating common concerns like acne and eczema to exploring the latest innovations in cosmetic dermatology, Skinfluence offers trustworthy information you can use—whether you're a skincare beginner or looking to take your routine to the next level. Tune in weekly for science-backed tips, patient stories, and honest conversations about what really works. Tag: 868329

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