What’s Driving the Pocket Dermatology Boom

US conglomerate Oddity, the owner of Il Makiage and Spoiledchild, has entered the telemedicine skincare category with its newest label Methodiq that launched on Tuesday.

A personalised telemedicine (or teledermatology) service, Methodiq debuts in the US with a range of 28 SKUs, 19 of which specifically target acne. Some, like the oral medication spironolactone, are tried and true prescriptions; others are new-to-market formulas designed by dermatologists at in-house research unit Oddity Labs.

While traditional telemedicine firms aim to improve accessibility, they lack the product breadth for true personalisation, said Methodiq’s chief executive Tom Amsterdam. “Methodiq is not a skincare brand, it’s a medical system,” he added.

For patients, the process is straightforward: upload a selfie to the Methodiq system, then answer a series of questions designed to emulate those a dermatologist might ask a new patient. All of the data is then aggregated via AI into a patient profile, ready for a team of over 20 on-hand clinicians to review and prescribe products. “It’s essentially bringing the accuracy of my in-office evaluation to your smartphone,” said dermatologist Dr Sarah Gee, who helped develop the technology.

Methodiq is relying on its AI-powered diagnostics service and its suite of differentiated products to battle against established telemedicine competitors like Ro, and Hims. It’s also joining a wider global market with beauty-focused firms like Curology and Skin + Me that offer an experience geared toward dermatology, and solutions for acne, eczema and other skin conditions.

High demand in this space stems from a wider demand for personalisation and ultra-bespoke beauty plans, said Lisa Payne, head of beauty at trends agency Stylus. “As that beauty space has become more democratised, it’s become much more saturated, and you’ve got consumers who are hungry to explore new ingredients,” she added.

Scaling Super-Specific Skincare

Though many telemedicine skincare brands have launched over the last decade, their popularity has hit a new stride post-pandemic, said Payne. It was a catalysing factor for other teledermatology brands like Skin + Me, which launched in the UK in 2020. “By the time we came to launch, the waiting lists for dermatology in the NHS reached about 18 months,” said Rachel Jones, the brand’s co-founder. “The expertise was just not accessible.”

Despite ballooning demand, the model faces complications. Prescription drugs require a myriad of regulations which differ from country to country, meaning that teledermatology businesses are a far trickier proposition to scale than regular topical brands. This slower path to growth means that tapping categories beyond topicals is a true necessity.

Instead of expanding its footprint globally, Skin + Me have chased growth by expanding its range with Hair + Me (targeted at hair loss), and Renew + Me (marketed towards mature skin.) Others have eventually embraced retail: personalised prescription skincare label Curology, founded in 2014, launched an OTC range of 18 topicals in Target in 2023 before expanding onto Amazon in 2024.

Compliance is another issue faced by teledermatology brands, as consumers are often swayed towards products that provide more instant gratification than prescription topicals, Jones said. To tackle this, Skin + Me developed a first-of-its-kind packaging tube known as the “daily doser.” Each twist of the tube administers the clinician-approved amount of product which removes guesswork for users, but also helps them keep track of how many days they’ve remained consistent for.

Methodiq has its own AI-powered approach. “Our AI data set can generate a personalised improvement expectation timeline, essentially like a crystal ball showing the patient how they’re going to look if they adhere to the treatments,” said Dr Gee, adding: “It’s the first ever acne-coaching app.”

Methodiq will also launch with an acne-safe and high-coverage foundation and concealer, as well as a liquid supplement. This “holistic” approach is a sound bet, said Payne, who thinks brands should assess their patients’ lifestyles more broadly beyond just skincare.

“You would have tailored advice from an expert person who’s going, ‘Okay, well, let’s also look at your sleep. Let’s look at your diet’,” she said. “If that’s not happening, then I think it’s a missed opportunity.”

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