The Skin Specialist Code
The system behind the specialist.
Start Here: Using The Skin Specialist Code
Don't just label the skin. Learn to think like a skin specialist. Start with what you can observe, then use the ABC Method to connect the client’s story, your findings and your reasoning before preparing their plan.
Welcome, and the ABC Method at a glance
You don’t need to know every answer straight away. The Skin Specialist Code helps you think beyond generic categories, record what you notice and consider what the skin may need. Your professional judgement stays at the heart of each decision.
Adjust: understand the client’s story, homecare, lifestyle, history and how their skin is responding.
Balance: assess basic majority skin type, texture, colour, secretion and relevant barrier observations alongside that history.
Consider What’s Next: reflect on the findings, choose your priorities and consider what to monitor, adapt or refer.
Watch the training
Look deeper, not just at labels
- Look beyond the labelsWhy the system looks beyond labels such as normal, oily, dry and combination.
- Work through a structured consultationHow to work through a structured consultation.
- Read the skinHow to read the skin by considering type, texture, colour, secretion, barrier and priorities.
- Use the ABC MethodHow to use the ABC Method: Adjust, Balance and Consider What’s Next.
- Carry it into a planHow consultation information informs a personalised client plan.
Your first consultation
Open the consultation below. It is the same one you use with clients, not a practice copy, so work through it with a fictional client while you are learning.
First, add your practice details in Setup & Library. Questions, or something that felt confusing?
Consultation reference documents
- Advanced Skin Analysis Consultation Form (PDF)
- Advanced Skin Analysis Consultation Checklist (PDF)
- Prescription Cover Letter (PDF)
- Prescription Cover Letter (editable Word copy)
Original blank references. The example report is not shared here because it contains personal details and photos.
How This Consultation Works
The ABC Method is a simple way to work through a skin consultation without jumping straight to products or treatments.
Adjust. Review the client’s current routine, how products are being used and how the skin is responding. Identify what may need changing.
Balance. Consider barrier function, comfort and stability when deciding what the skin needs. Choose homecare and in-clinic support based on the findings.
Consider What’s Next. Review the response and decide on the most appropriate next step: continue supporting the skin, maintain, adapt, introduce targeted treatment or refer where needed.
The aim is to understand what the skin is showing you, decide what matters most and build a plan that makes sense for that individual client.
Don't just label the skin. Learn to think like a skin specialist.
Not “what type is it?” but “why is it behaving this way?” Client name is needed to save a visit. Other answers can stay blank when unknown. Record what you are unsure of rather than guessing.
Who you are seeing, and what they have agreed to.
Your Client
These notes are saved in this browser on this device. They are not uploaded. They only leave the device if you print, save a PDF or download a backup yourself.
Other client details
Their story, history and current homecare. What might be behind what you are seeing?
Adjust: What is their story?
What is the client already using, how often, and how is their skin responding? Could the current routine be contributing to the concern?
Previous treatments
Some medicines change how skin responds to treatment, so note anything prescribed or taken regularly.
Why the client’s story matters
What information supports what I am noticing? Ask when the concern began, what changed and how the skin responds to their current homecare. Consider lifestyle, health history and previous reactions alongside your observations, not as automatic explanations.
If relevant history is missing or something is outside your competence, gather further information or seek appropriate guidance before proceeding.
Adjust: The Everyday Picture
Skin doesn't live in the treatment room. Sleep, stress and everyday habits shape how it looks and feels, often weeks later.
Adjust: Deeper History (private)
What you can see and feel. Not what type is it, but why is it behaving this way?
Skin characteristics & how to recognise them
Balance: Oil Flow & Skin Type
Oil flow sits on a scale from lipid dry to oily, and skin moves along it. It is not a box you put someone in. Type first, conditions second: redness, congestion and dehydration are findings, recorded below, not types. Ask why the skin is behaving this way, not just what it looks like. If you cannot tell yet, say so. Skin type is for your understanding only and never appears on the client plan.
Why start with basic majority skin type?
Within this framework, look across the areas you assess to establish the overall pattern before considering additional conditions. A shiny nose or one red patch does not establish a type on its own. Consider texture, colour and secretion together with the client’s history.
Choose “Not sure yet” if the picture is unclear. Note what you have seen and what you still need to explore. The type supports your reasoning; it does not decide a treatment.
Not sure? How to tell each type
Cues to consider together, not a checklist. Look at the whole face, neck and décolleté, not one area. Majority rules: what you see most decides the type. Based on Florence Barrett-Hill, Advanced Skin Analysis. For your eyes only.
Lipid dry
- See and feel: little oil over most of the face and neck. Matt, dull, rough or parchment-like, sometimes flaky, with early lines at the eyes, mouth and neck.
- Colour: blotchy and dull, sometimes with pigmentation or fine capillaries on the cheeks.
- Wood’s lamp: few or no oil pinpoints. More often a lilac or purple haze, with white flaky patches.
- Often confused with: dehydration. Oil is low here, water may not be. Ask if it feels hot or itchy with heating or weather changes.
Oily
- See and feel: slick to touch across most of the face, not just forehead, nose and chin. Often a sallow sheen, with thicker texture, visible pores, blackheads or closed comedones.
- Where else: oil also at the temples, in front of and behind the ears, on the décolleté and between the shoulder blades.
- Wood’s lamp: yellow or orange oil pinpoints across most of the face. T zone only is not oily.
- Often confused with: dehydrated or harshly cleansed skin. Shine that feels tight, or shine with redness after cleansing, points elsewhere. This is the least common type.
Permanent diffused redness
- Colour first: permanent high colour or blotchy redness on the nose, nose wings, cheeks, in front of the ears and the chin. Redness on the chin is a strong cue.
- See and feel: fine and thin, marks easily, may flush up the sides of the neck, throat and décolleté. Can still be congested or blemished.
- Wood’s lamp: redness is usually visible without it. Look at the thin skin around the eyes first to train your eye.
- Often confused with: a temporary flush. Note known allergies or reactions in Adjust.
Still unsure? Tick “Not sure yet”. In doubt, Florence suggests treating gently, as you would permanent diffused redness, and reviewing at the next visit.
Balance: What do you notice?
Work through texture, colour and secretion, in that order. What can you actually observe? What might it suggest? What would you need to know before reaching a conclusion?
Add observation notes
What am I being asked to observe?
Texture: what can you see or feel on the surface, such as roughness, flaking or visible pores? Record the location and extent.
Colour: note the visible pattern and distribution of colour changes. Ask about timing and triggers rather than assuming a cause.
Secretion: note the distribution of visible oil or shine and how the skin feels. Consider cleansing, products and timing alongside what you observe.
Tap only findings you have assessed. Use the zone notes for detail or uncertainty. Record a possible meaning in “What it may suggest” below, not as a confirmed diagnosis.
Barrier & comfort
Which findings support your assessment of barrier function, and what else would you need to consider? No single sign proves impairment; each can have other explanations. If something is significant or unexplained, slow down and consider referral before treatment.
Add barrier notes
Consider the full picture
What information supports this observation? What else do I need to consider? Compare the visible findings, comfort, timing and reported reactions with the client’s story. One finding should not automatically determine a cause or treatment.
You do not need to settle every interpretation today. Record uncertainty honestly. Unclear, concerning or unexplained findings may need further assessment or referral within your local professional pathway.
Balance: Deeper Assessment (private)
Practitioner Reference Photos (Private)
Practitioner reference only, saved in this browser on this device and never included in the client plan. Only add photos once photo consent is ticked in Stage 1. Remove a photo with its Remove button.
Why the skin may be doing this, what matters most, and when you check in.
Why might the skin be behaving this way?
Possible contributors, not confirmed causes. What supports your thinking?
Treat the cause, not just the symptom. Before reaching for another active or an “acne” product, what might be driving this? Tick what fits, then write what you still need to find out. This stays on your sheet, never on the client plan.
What do you still need to find out?
What I saw, what it may suggest (private)
The first box brings together your existing analysis when empty. Check it against what you actually observed. In the second, consider possible meanings alongside the history, not a diagnosis. Both stay private.
Use “may suggest”, “could be consistent with” and “worth investigating”. If there is not enough information yet, write that rather than an explanation.
Consider What’s Next: What does the skin need first?
Start with comfort and safety. If you are unsure, finding out more can be your first step.
Which finding should you address first, and why? Would improving it help the other concerns become easier to manage? These stay on your private consultation sheet; they never print on the client plan.
Anything else to work on or watch?
Connect findings to a considered next step
- Observation: what have I actually seen or felt? Review the analysis and zone notes.
- Possible meaning: what might this suggest in context? Use the private “What it may suggest” notes if helpful.
- Priority: what deserves attention first, and why? Record your priorities and supporting reasoning above.
- Next step: what is appropriate to consider, monitor, adapt or refer? Check any suggestion before adding it to the client’s “What we consider next” line.
- Review: what will I monitor, and what would change my mind? Use the roadmap notes above, or “My plan: first steps & review” and “What would change my mind” in Full consultation.
Is this within my competence, or do I need further guidance or referral? Your reasoning matters as much as your recommendation. The generated wording is a draft for you to review, not a treatment decision.
A short worked example: observation to review
Illustration only: this is not a diagnosis or a recommendation for every client with similar findings.
Observation: a fictional client reports tightness after cleansing. You notice a small area of flaking on the cheeks.
Possible meaning: these findings could have several explanations. Ask when they began, what products are used and whether there are other symptoms. Do not assume the cleanser is the cause.
Priority: clarify the discomfort and the missing history before deciding what matters most.
Next step & review: record uncertainty, consider what further assessment is within your training, and agree what to monitor. If findings are concerning or beyond your competence, seek appropriate guidance or referral rather than choosing treatment from the signs alone.
Check, generate your sheet, then carry it into the client plan.
Final review checklist
Before You Finish
Saves this visit to your client list (if the client has a name), then clears the screen for your next client.