Q+A with Dermatologist Dr. Macrene Alexiades

Dr. Macrene Alexiades is a dermatologist based out of New York who combines art and science in an exemplary way; her 35+ year research background, three Harvard degrees, and artistic training have allowed her to approach the world of dermatology with a unique and stunning lens. Read on to learn more about Alexiades' Park Avenue and Hamptons private practice clinics, her own brand MACRENE actives, debunking the myth that skincare does not achieve dermatologic results, and more.

Q: How did you get into dermatology?

After reading Rachel Carlson’s "Silent Spring", at the age of 12, I started making plant extracts at my local university in New York where I was born and raised, with the goal of finding non-toxic, plant-based alternatives to pesticides. Since that young age, I devoted my life to finding clean solutions and prioritizing the environment in my scientific pursuits.

As an undergraduate, MD, and Ph.D. at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, I gained tremendous experience in both scientific research and medical training. As a Fulbright Scholar, I devoted myself to finding non-GMO alternatives for agricultural crops in my ancestral homeland of Greece.

Not only did environmentalism and wellness inspire my skin products, but they also informed my work in my choice of the medical practice of cosmetic dermatology. Over the past two decades as a board-certified dermatologist both in the US and the EU, I see patients every day in my cosmetic practice and conduct clinical FDA trials on lasers, women’s health devices, and dermatologic aesthetic treatments both in my Manhattan and Hamptons offices.

As a dermatologist and scientist, the Derm-Scientist®, I’ve harnessed my expertise in plant and environmental science and my extensive research and clinical experience in cosmetic dermatology, injectables, and lasers to discover organic plant actives in my lab, to originate and define clean beauty by eliminating hidden toxins in personal care products, and to deliver procedure-grade efficacy and clinical results through my skincare formulations.

Q: What do you love most about what you do?

As an artist, dermatologist, and Ph.D. scientist, I have devoted the past 40 years to creating beauty in my living subjects and originating and developing clean sustainable skincare products and best practices in order to bring my artistic and dermatologic surgical gifts to all through the topical skincare science that I have mastered.

I love bringing out the natural beauty in my patients, not only through my innate artistic talents and skills with injectables and lasers in the office, but even more so through my Herculean accomplishment of doing so for my patients and clients at home through my topical healthy, clean and effective skincare formulations.

My vision, which gives me joy every day, is to leave the world sustainable for future generations and more beautiful than the way I found it.

Q: During your time at Harvard, you excelled in portrait art and sculpture before ultimately choosing medicine and science. Can you tell us a little about how your two passions work together and have helped you shape the career you’ve built?

I am first and foremost an artist. Since the age of 3, I have made portraits of my family and parents' friends, and, upon attending school, of my teachers each school year. I am a Greek-American dual-citizen and studied sculpture and art both at Harvard and in Greece, having spent time there throughout my life. It’s an innate gift. I have a natural artistic talent combined with technical skills to manifest natural beauty. The syringe is my sculptor’s tool and artist’s brush to create and restore a more youthful appearance. My art touches everything I do from my dermatologic treatments that restore beauty at a surgical-grade level without a scalpel, to my combination of actives from my home-grown botanicals that replace procedures with active ingredients, and to the biodegradable natural manufacturing and packaging that ensures the health and beauty of our earth as well as the creatures that inhabit it.

Q: You’re the inventor and manufacturer of skincare brand MACRENE actives. Can you share with us a bit about the line, what drove you to create your own line of products, and why it was important to you to use clean formulas?

As the inventor, formulator, and founder of MACRENE actives, I created the luxury skincare line that pioneered clean beauty and is rooted in environmentalism. My products are not only organic but plant-derived in natural biodegradable packaging with all ingredients and components directly sourced by me. As a clinical trial dermatologist and scientist, I ensured they are also scientifically proven and clinically active to actually deliver procedure-grade results. MACRENE actives work to maintain skin health, restore skin quality and reverse the damage from environmental exposures to mimic the effects of cosmetic procedures, including injectables and lasers, with thousands of proven active ingredients that are liposomally-delivered, active, and stable. You can read all about my comprehensive derm-science knowledge and 40 years of research in Alexiades’s Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery, my seminal textbook published this past year. My goal with MACRENE actives: to replace cosmetic procedures with scientifically active plant-based clean formulations.

I pioneered clean beauty over 12 years ago with the launch of the first multi-active plant-derived toxin-free skincare in glass packaging. Now over a decade later, I have published my manuscript defining Clean Beauty for the industry and founded the Clean Beauty Authority, which has established the criteria of clean for the beauty industry. My important pioneering work in establishing clean beauty guidelines does not stop with organic plant-derived clinically proven toxic-free formulations. I have extended my work to reforming manufacturing and sourcing practices. MACRENE actives is ethically sourced, cruelty-free, and packaged in glass to eliminate the toxic bisphenols and environmental hazards of plastics; the paperboard is raw uncoated, and the inks biodegradable. The brand donates 10% to charity including Harvard research labs and the NAACP. These efforts are my way of healing the earth alongside my healing others as a physician.

The Clean Beauty seal is my life’s legacy to encompass all the other seals, including plant-based, organic, vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, BPA-free, as well as sustainable packaging. MACRENE Actives and the Clean Beauty seal espouse not only plant-based toxic-free formulations but also uncoated paperboard, vegetable-based biodegradable inks, and glass packaging to eliminate plastic. This is something in parallel with my love of the Earth. It is maintaining and protecting natural beauty in all aspects.

Q: Many of the organic actives found in your brand’s products can be found in your own organic farm! We would love to hear about the farming process, how you got started with it, and how it’s affected the development of your brand.

A number of years ago I realized my dream and founded an organic farm in the Hudson Valley where I grow many of the botanicals for MACRENE actives. I returned the land to agricultural use and protected wetlands as a give back to the earth.

The over 50 medicinal botanicals are planted by my own hands and derive all their needs from the earth, sun, and rain on my land. Among them are sage, mints, thyme, rosemary, arnica, St. John’s wort, echinacea, comfrey, calendula, foxglove, ageratum, cicely sweet, borage, verbena, lemongrass, lavender, goji berry, feverfew, chamomile, goldenrod, pennyroyal, lovage, epazote, fennel, and milk thistle, grown organically.

By growing them myself and extracting them in my lab, I can ensure ingredients’ activity and stability for three years by using a formula that goes well beyond the now-standard paraben-, phthalate-, and -sulfate-free labels.

I believe that the future is about active ingredients and the future is now. I spent the first half of my career replacing surgery with cosmetic procedures and now I am replacing those very procedures I helped pioneer with active ingredients.

Q: What is a myth about skincare that you want to debunk?

The skincare myth I have debunked is that shopping multiple products and applying layers is necessary to cover your skin’s needs. I have proven that you can deliver over 50 active ingredients more efficiently and healthier into the skin in one product, and that is exactly what MACRENE actives has accomplished and patented! Third-party labs and thousands of patients and customers have also shown that you can replace cosmetic procedures with MACRENE actives, debunking the myth that skincare does not achieve dermatologic results. Now it does.

Q: What do you wish people were talking more about in skincare?

Creating skincare with organic plant-derived clean formulations in glass, paperboard, and biodegradable vegetable inks with 10% donation to charity is my way of contributing to the greater good of the earth and helping others alongside my work as a dermatologist and scientist. My vision in establishing the Clean Beauty Authority–which I hope more people are talking about–is to leave the world sustainable for future generations and more beautiful than the way I found it.

Q: Anything else you want to share?

In my skincare lab and dermatologic research clinic, I am applying the topical application of MACRENE actives for lash, brow and eyes. I believe I will be able to replace prescriptions for hair growth and, hopefully, the need for eyelid surgery one day very soon.

Rapid Fire Round

Q: Worth the splurge:

Avocado Organic Luxury plush mattress and organic bedding. Say no to toxins while you sleep!

Q: Favorite drugstore or budget find:

Papoutsanis Olive Oil Soap, made the way I make my homemade Greek olive oil soap.

Q: Latest beauty empty:

MACRENE actives High Performance Face Cleanser (hand batched and out of stock again!). Cannot live without it, the best all around cleanser that cleanses beautifully while maintaining hydration and delivering healthy active ingredients to fight blemishes and keep the complexion smooth and bright.

Q: Recent discovery:

How to make my own paints. I have learned how to mix ground pigments that I create from rock, stone and other natural environmental substances with oils, water, and other vehicles to create my own paints and shades for my art. It is akin to the pigments I selected for my High Performance Tinted Moisturizer formulas, rare pigments I sourced from beautiful minerals.

Q: Product you can't leave home without:

My MACRENE actives High Performance Tinted Moisturizer and High Performance Lip Filler. These are all I need to protect my skin, keep me flawless throughout the day, and keep my lips plush and pink all day long. Both are plant-based, clean formulations which deliver the world’s most effective and healthiest active ingredients while keeping me camera-ready and toxin-free.

Q: Brand you wish more people knew about:

BioBag plant-based compostable trash bags, certified by ISO9001, ISO14001, GMO-free, TUV Austria, and BPI and AS4736. Everyone should only purchase plant-based fully compostable waste bags and packaging. This is what I am advocating for in our beauty industry through the Clean Beauty Authority.

For more of her favorite products, check out her shop below: