This is an episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the beauty and wellness industries. More from the series →
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Midi Health is betting on topical skin care and body care as it diversifies its telehealth offerings to capture more women.
“Women in midlife go through amazing changes with their hormones, … [and] our skin care needs actually change over time with our hormone evolution,” Dr. Kathleen Jordan, MD, chief science officer of Midi Health, told Glossy. “I usually talk about [this care expansion] as ‘hormone informed skin care’ because that’s really what the market’s been lacking.”
That is, skin care that treats a variety of skin concerns that can develop in mid-life such as dryness, loss of collagen, hyperpigmentation, and acne.
“We saw patients for many years without having [skin-care] products, but what we saw was them struggling to get good products that were actually designed for them,” Dr. Jordan said. “We now see tens of thousands of women every week, and we actually hear from them. We hear their questions. We understand where they’re struggling to get products that actually are meaningful [for their skin concerns], and then in response, we can develop products that actually help them.”
For Midi Health, this means offering prescription and OTC products with ingredients like estrogen, retinol, hydroquinone and tretinoin. In June, Midi expanded its skin-care selection to include topical copper peptides. According to Dr. Jordan, this is just the start for the company.
Midi Health launched in 2021 and currently treats around 25,000 women per week. Oftentimes, this includes care for issues dismissed by the traditional medical industry, like fatigue, weight gain, mood and sleep disturbance, which can be treated with things like hormone replacement therapies or other OTC and prescription interventions.
Midi Health is privately held by its founders plus investors like Connie Britton, Brandi Chastain, Tory Burch, Amy Schumer, and Meghan Markle, as well as private equity firms like Google Ventures and Emerson Collective, plus a laundry list of tech execs including Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Meta, and Tekedra Mawakana, the co-CEO of Waymo. Midi Health was valued at $1 billion following a $100 million series D funding round in February.
Glossy West Coast correspondent Lexy Lebsack sat down with Dr. Jordan to discuss Midi Health’s skin- and body-care aspirations, the category’s role in telehealth in the future, and how Midi Health hopes to earn more market share.
On estrogen in skin care
Dr. Jordan: “There are actually hormonal topical care solutions that have been historically used on women’s skin with great success. [One example is] estrogen put in makeup in the 1950s because these makeup companies knew that it helped skin, right? As things became more regulated over decades, they had to take it out because they hadn’t done the studies, but it goes to show you that we have known for a long time that topical estrogen actually helps skin. We’re hormone experts, right? So it makes sense from a sort of functional viewpoint [for us to play in this space]. If estrogen depletion is triggering some of this, does adding estrogen back in help it? We looked at these collective studies, and it does [help]. Topical estrogen products have been shown to increase collagen deposition on biopsy studies. It’s been shown to increase skin thickness, skin turgor and overall skin health. It’s also been shown to help with moisturizing and combating dry, crepey skin, which is what tretinoin didn’t have.”
On why people seek out Mid Health
Dr. Jordan: “Most of the women that come to Midi are in midlife, so they’re past fertility and birth issues and really looking to be their best self. To feel well and do well, and they’re becoming increasingly concerned with longevity. … They’re exhausted. They have trouble sleeping. Some of them, for the first time, are gaining weight. They’re seeing changes to their hair and skin. So we use that. We use these concerns to sort of engage them in their healthcare. This is a great time to look at what you’re doing for your own health, and really engage them in meaningful, evidence-based things they can do to feel well and do well.”
