Less Is More: Dr. Julia Milman on Aesthetic Medicine & Empowerment [video]

Dr. Julia Milman on Empowering Women Through Subtle, Natural Beauty [video]

I really enjoyed having Julia come to the VIP Group for Empowered Women of Chicago for an interview on LIVE WITH LIZ about “Confidence is Beauty: Dr. Julia Milman’s Approach to Empowering Women Through Asthetics!”

Confidence Is Beauty: My Interview with Dr. Julia Milman

This week on Live with Liz, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Julia Milman, a board-certified physician and anesthesiologist who also happens to be the founder of a thriving aesthetic medicine practice in Northbrook. Julia is known for her “less is more” philosophy — helping women achieve natural, subtle results that enhance their confidence without ever feeling overdone.

From the moment we started chatting, it was clear that Julia’s approach goes far beyond procedures and treatments. Her mission is rooted in empowerment, education, and building a supportive community for women.

What Is Aesthetic Medicine, Really?

For many women, the world of aesthetics can feel intimidating or misunderstood. Julia explained that aesthetic medicine is a legitimate field of medicine — backed by science, research, and constant innovation. While it’s not about treating conditions that are “medically necessary,” it’s about helping women feel more confident in their own skin. That could mean anything from a simple medical-grade facial to more advanced treatments designed to boost collagen and slow the aging process.

And as Julia reminded me, aesthetics doesn’t have to be extreme. Sometimes, just one or two small changes can make someone feel 100% better.

The Exciting Future of Aesthetics

One of the highlights of our conversation was hearing Julia’s passion for the growing field of regenerative medicine. Instead of only adding fillers or quick fixes, regenerative treatments focus on working with the body to restore collagen and elasticity naturally.

“Collagen loss is at the root of almost all visible signs of aging,” Julia shared. “Starting around age 29, we lose about 1% of our collagen each year — and even more after menopause.”

Her enthusiasm for science-backed, safe, and effective treatments was contagious. She stressed that safety is always the top priority, but she’s excited about the innovations that are helping women age gracefully while still looking like themselves.

Less Is More: A Guiding Philosophy

One thing I loved hearing was how often Julia says no. Not because she doesn’t want to help her patients — but because she cares about giving them natural results that align with their goals.

“In aesthetics, we can always add. We can never subtract,” she explained. “That’s why I believe in starting small, taking baby steps, and focusing on subtle changes that let someone’s natural beauty shine.”

She also encourages women to simplify their skincare. No 25-step routines here — just a handful of effective, medical-grade products and, of course, daily sunscreen.

Confidence as the Foundation of Beauty

Julia and I share a belief that confidence is what truly makes a woman beautiful. Whether it’s through boudoir photography or aesthetic medicine, helping women feel good about themselves on the inside radiates outward.

“I see it all the time,” Julia said. “Someone walks in with a small concern, and after we address it, you can see the change in how they carry themselves. Their smile is wider, they stand taller — that inner glow just shines through.”

Community Over Competition

Another part of Julia’s story that inspired me was how she collaborates with other local physicians and providers. Instead of seeing others as competition, she believes in a community over competition approach.

She and her colleagues often attend conferences together, share ideas, and even support one another if challenges arise. It’s proof that when women come together and uplift one another, everyone benefits.

Where to Find Dr. Julia Milman

If you’re curious about aesthetic medicine or just want to learn more about Julia’s work, you can find her at:

🌐 Website: www.drjuliamilman.com
📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.julia.milman/
📱 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julia.milman.md

Her Instagram is filled with behind-the-scenes videos, before-and-afters, and even her husband’s lighthearted Friday reels that bring some humor into the practice!

Talking with Julia reminded me so much of why I love featuring women in our community. She embodies the same mission I have at Chicago Boudoir Photography — helping women feel confident, empowered, and truly themselves.

✨ Confidence really is beauty. And the more we support one another in that journey, the brighter we all shine.

Interview Auto-Generated Transcript:

Hello and welcome everybody. I'm Liz from Chicago Budoir. So glad to have you here this morning. This is our Live with Liz series where I interview local women who are making a difference. So glad that you're here today with me. I am here today with Julia. Hi, Julia. Hello. All right. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Yes. All right. Julia Milman. She is a boardcertified physician specializing in aesthetic medicine. And she is the founder of a fullervice aesthetics practice in Northbrook. Julia prioritizes a less is more approach, delivering subtle yet impactful results tailored to each individual. With the belief that confidence is the foundation of beauty, Julia empowers women to look and feel their best while staying true to themselves. An ethos captured in her practices guiding philosophy. Be beautiful, be confident, be you. Beyond Julia's expertise and is in aesthetics, she is passionate about education, transparency, and building a supportive community where women uplift one another. Well, we're so glad you're here, Julia. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Tell us a little bit about what you do and why you love it. Yes, of course. So, I'm um as you mentioned in my uh very nice bio, thank you. I am a physician. I have a board certification in anesthesiology. I graduated residency in 2009. So, it's been a little bit um it's been a minute. And um I still do anesthesia, by the way. I love anesthesia. I do a lot of medical missions. So, it's not that I, you know, quit being an anesthesiologist. It's that throughout the years, I have found a passion for aesthetic medicine. And um here we are. I just love uh making people feel more confident, more beautiful to themselves, and just looking natural most importantly, and I love what I do. That's so great. So, someone who might be listening who's like, "What is aesthetic medicine?" Can you give us some examples of some of the procedures and treatments that you provide? Absolutely. So just like any field by the way in medicine uh I think a lot of the times when people think of what aesthetics is people don't really think of it as actual medicine. However please um be assured it's definitely medicine. There's a lot of science behind it. There's a lot of education uh a lot of progress in this field. It's a very dynamic field. And what aesthetics essentially is is any sort of treatments uh that are cosmetic in the dermatology world. So things that are not necessarily uh a mustdo. We always think about medicine as something that we have to do. We have blood high blood pressure, we have to treat it. If we have a wrinkle, we don't necessarily have to treat it. This is an elective uh field of medicine. Uh and anything and everything that has to do with treating uh beauty is what aesthetics is. And it can be as simple as a facial or as complicated as a facelift. And by the way, I'm not a surgeon. and I don't do facelifts but in the whole realm of things uh it can be anything from very very uh basic things to complicated procedures. Fantastic. So what inspired you? You said you're still an anesthesiologist of course but what inspired you to take on aesthetics as well? Like what brought you to that place to open up a an aesthetic clinic? Yeah, that's a great question. I get that asked quite a lot actually. But um so I graduated residency when I was in my uh early 30s and um you know I was having a kid or two at that time. uh everybody starts noticing a little bit of this, a little bit of that on their face. And I started getting interested in well, what can I do for prevention so that it doesn't get uh worse, so to say. And um I'm not sure if uh if our listeners know, but there's no such thing as an aesthetic medicine fellowship or residency or anything like that. So, and it's a very new field and everything that we learn I don't mean to interrupt you, but maybe in the future there will be like it's Oh, I really hope so because it definitely needs to be way more regulated than it is right now. Yeah. Like that's an interesting idea that you could like be you could go from into a residency for this, right? Like absolutely it'll happen for sure. And there are a lot of organizations that are working on that at the moment. it's just not um not quite there yet because it's such a new field and it's so dynamic. I mean I've been doing this for you know over 10 years now and every single year still to this day I go to two to three conferences minimum because there's such advances every single year. So I just think that with the advances in science the education part of having it structured like a medical residency just hasn't caught up yet but it will. It will definitely. Oh, that's so interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah, for sure. It's really it's it's so exciting. I can't even tell you. But um you know, being an anesthesiologist, uh we use needles on daily basis and we do uh procedures such as blocks for if anybody had any sort of orthopedic surgeries, using uh blocks for with an ultrasound for those um anesthetic, uh ways to make sure that a patient doesn't feel anything. So um handling a needle is really you know second nature to me and everything else uh that I have learned I have learned as I had mentioned through all of the conferences and I still keep going every single year. There has never been a year that I haven't gone. Wow. Okay. So how did you um so what okay um you say that um there is like just a lot of change and dynamicism and and what what's kind of coming up what's new in the field that um is really exciting to you right now like what is something that you are excited about personally very easy question to answer at the moment and that's definitely regenerative medicine like and what that means is what can we do to have our own body work for us. Meaning not necessarily adding fillers to somebody's face. Although there are plenty of indications when people do need that. But what can we do? How can we do things naturally so that we prevent collagen loss as much as it is happening with aging and just about anything with aging is um to kind of put it simply is collagen loss and elastin loss. We start losing collagen at 1% per year starting at roughly age 29. So it's kind of um it's kind of crazy and sad and yeah so anything and everything we can do to try to prevent that and that's what regenerative medicine is about and uh by the way once we reach pmenopause and menopause it jumps up to 5% per year. So um we are really trying to fight in this field uh anything and everything from every sort of pathway collagen loss and um what that means it's things like sculpture and exosomes and stem cells if anybody's heard of all of these things and radio frequency micro needling and all sorts of exciting things that are being researched right now again for collagen loss. It's all about collagen loss. So I'm super excited about that. Um, excitement is wonderful, but we also have to be careful. We have to make sure that there has been enough studies, that there has been proof that this stuff works, of course. And number one is always safety. It's definitely safety. Fantastic. Um, so what is um a misconception about aesthetic medicine that you hear frequently, maybe you hear from people outside or maybe you hear from your patients themselves that you like hear enough that you'd like to clear it up. Oh, that's a great question. I'd have to think about that a little bit more, but uh just the top uh off the top of my head, a very very common um comment that somebody comes in with um into my practice is saying that, "Oh my goodness, I didn't know that you could just do a couple of things and uh feel 100% better." I think a lot of times, especially in previous years, a lot of the times people have thought of aesthetics as being overdone, overfilled, having to use a 25step skinincare routine, just kind of over-the-top things that not only are most people not even able to afford financially, but most people wouldn't ever ever do that. And it just looks so horrible and terrible. And I think that's very common that people don't realize that you could do just a couple of things and just get a medical grade facial and feel like 100% better than you did walking into it. I think that's a very um common misconception. Yeah. You have like a less is more approach um to helping women feel more confident and you also say that confidence is beauty. Can you talk to me about what that means for you? Yes, of course. So, I definitely the less is more approach is uh I can't even tell you how many times per day I say that phrase. It's kind of funny. Um there are probably I never actually counted, but there are probably more times during the day that I say no versus I say yes to something. Oh, interesting. What are you saying no to? People want to do too much. For sure. Yeah. Sometimes. Well, and it's not that anybody really wants to do too much. is that they think they they need to do X Y and Z in order to get an effect and in reality it's it's really not that complicated and it's really not necessary to do more than the minimum. Um a lot of the times in aesthetics we can always add we can never subtract for example for Botox and this board and those kinds of injections there's no reversal for it. I mean of course there's time and time will let uh the medicines wear off but who wants to deal with that of course. So, I always say less is more. We can always add. We can never subtract. So, let's just do baby steps. We can always uh see you in a couple of weeks and see whether or not we need to tweak something, but we can never really take it away. So, that's what um the less is more uh approach is. And that also actually goes above and beyond just like Botox and Dysport. For example, doing lasers or doing uh skin care. I mean, I personally use like five products per day. I would never expect my patients to use a 25step skincare routine. I don't do it. I mean, who has the time for this, right? And uh so that that's really what it means. Um as far as confidence is beauty, I know it probably sounds a little bit cliche. I mean, I totally hear that. I get it. But I really do feel that uh once um a little tiny uh concern or a little tiny symptom is solved for a patient, they just radiate from the inside. You can see in the way they smile, they smile wider. They carry themselves taller and it just really radiates that glow, radiates that confidence from like a minor little thing that they've done. And I think it's so exciting and it's so fun to watch, you know. Absolutely. I believe that as well that confidence when you have that inner self-love, that inner confidence, then it it glows out to the outside and that's what allows us to bring love and light into the world. So, um, talk to me. I'm sure some of the things that you do at your clinic have downtime and some don't. How do you know or decide if you're going to do something that's going to leave you like you have I I don't know. Do you have things at your clinic where people have to stay inside for a week afterwards or do they just walk out of the clinic ready to go? So, great question. Nobody actually has to stay and hide from uh from the outside world and anything that we do. We do specialize in non-invasive uh procedures. And that really means that yes, you're going to have some uh what we call social downtime. So, you might have some redness, peeling, dryness, things like that. um things that I always say you are not gonna want to do a photo shoot the next day for. Okay. Okay. Um but nothing that will really make you stop your life and not be able to function uh as a you know as an adult. Um we always always discuss what plans patients have after they come in to see me. Uh whether or not they have vacations coming up because sun exposure is very important for a lot of things that we do. But everything everything in our uh menu of services is non-invasive. I even think that um the reason why we don't have a CO2 laser, some of our uh listeners might know the difference is because in my opinion CO2 laser is actually quite invasive because you do have to hide. Um and it's a great laser by the way. There's nothing wrong with it. Um it does a great job doing resurfacing, but it's just a little bit too much for to for it to be considered a non-invasive treatment. I love that you take into account people what they're going to be doing that night and that weekend too because as women we have a lot going on and we don't always have a week to just stay at home just because Yeah. No, for sure. And I have actually a lot of uh videos of literally every single procedure that we have in the office. Um if um our listeners would like to check it out um on our Instagram account, there are highlights that I videotaped myself personally. By the way, we don't have anything in the office that I personally haven't uh tried and haven't seen most importantly results from. And everybody can see what the downtime afterwards is. Oh, I'd love to check that out. I love behind thes scenes videos and before and afters. So, yes, a lot of them. Thank you. I know a lot of women, they're like curious about this. They want to, you know, maybe explore, but maybe they don't know what they need. Like, I know I need something, but I don't know what I need. What would you say to someone who came in that was just like, I'm a little afraid, but I kind of I've never done anything like this before. What would you say to her? Like, what advice would you give to her when she steps into your clinic? Absolutely. So, we first of all provide complimentary consultations and I see every single patient that walks into the clinic. Um I know that uh some people may not um kind of be aware of that but every single procedure here is uh a medical procedure. Well other than a facial I guess. Uh so it is uh something that I needs to be cleared by a physician. So I see every single patient that walks into um into this uh office. And when somebody comes in uh saying that they don't know what they need uh just like you're you're asking we first of all uh go over medical history. It's very very important to know what medications people take, what uh drugs or seasonal allergies they may have, what surgeries they've had, and of course I find out what concerns they have. And very frequently, somebody comes in and doesn't have any specific concerns. Um just kind of says just kind of like what you said. I mean, I don't really know what I need. What is it that I need to kind of slow down the aging a little bit? We uh go over first of all skinincare. Uh I'm a huge believer that what you do for yourself morning and evening is way more important than anything I can do for you in here. So we definitely go over that and uh we make sure I make sure that somebody uses number one a sunscreen. A lot of people don't even know that they need to use a sunscreen uh on a gloomy day like today. You need sunscreen. You never walk out of your bathroom without a sunscreen. It is the number one point that we talk about in every single consultation. And then we go over other uh skin care uh options depending on the skin type, depending on the concern etc. And uh like I said it does not have to be complicated. A skincare a normal skinincare regimen effective medical grade skincare regimen and a facial just goes from zero to 100% confidence in literally one hour. Everything other than that is all whether or not a patient needs it, whether or not they're comfortable. Uh, nobody walking in here has to have uh lasers and injections and fillers and everything else in the whole world in the world under the sun. Can I ask you a question about sunscreen? Of course. Um, recently on like Tik Tok, I've been seeing some people say that sunscreen is actually bad and that Yeah. Like what do you say like that where they're saying that like sunscreen is actually like I don't know it changes our body's natural ability to process the sun or something. I don't even know, but I've been seeing that recently. What do you have to say about that? So, I would have to see the actual Tik Tok video that says that because I'm not exactly sure. I'm I'm like a dinosaur. I don't have Tik Tok. Can you believe it? My kids Let's say someone came to you and was like, I'm worried about the sunscreen or No, no, no. Of course. Um, sunscreen is the number one number one protective ingredient against aging. uh UVA and UVB rays. Uh it's been proven over and over again. I actually made a Instagram story about this uh the other day when there was a truck driver that had his arm exposed his whole life versus his legs that were not and the difference in skin quality over the years. It it's it's crazy. It's insane what the difference is. Um it's been proven that you need sunscreen especially I mean of course the rest of our body should use sunscreen as well. However in this field we're mostly concerned about uh face and neck and the back of the hands by the way but all of our body needs sunscreen. There is um uh some talk regarding chemical and physical sunscreens. So, a chemical sunscreen is something that works by being absorbed. And a physical sunscreen actually stays on your skin, and it's only two ingredients um that constitute a physical sunscreen, and that's zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. I definitely recommend a physical sunscreen uh for everybody that walks into the office. It is much better for sensitive skin, first of all. And whether or not a person has sensitive skin, it doesn't really matter because then we just kind of know that that person will react better to a physical sunscreen. And I love a tinted sunscreen. I personally wear tinted sunscreen every single day. I don't really wear makeup, um, you know, over it or anything. Um, I mean, of course, if I go out on a Saturday night or something, I'll wear makeup, but uh, on everyday basis, it just covers up a little bit of all of that stuff we all have. And it looks almost like foundation, but not. And um very very important to wear sunscreen every single day. Never walk out of your bathroom without it. That's good advice. Um okay, so how do you see your role? Like you're not just a doctor, you're not just a physician, but you also like partner with women um to help them feel empowered. You know, as I am a budoir photographer and my mission is to help people feel confident, empowered through budwoir photography. My guess is that you as a doctor, as a physician in aesthetics medicine, you also have the mission to help women feel empowered. How do you feel like what do you feel your role is in that? That's a wonderful question. Um, you know, from a business perspective, I've been uh lucky enough throughout my career to um be invited to teach. At first, it was anesthesia uh blocks and ultrasound use. I'm um ultrasound use is uh very important in aesthetics and in the anesthesia world and I've um taught many seminars and classes uh using those techniques and all of that uh obviously goes to giving back to the community, giving back to our industry and making sure that the next generation of doctors and I'm not that old. I'm turning 48 but it's like the next generation of doctors. I know it sounds like the next generation, but um the younger physicians uh and medical professions uh do get the knowledge of uh how to use these things. So I'm very lucky to be invited to uh teach a number of times per year and I love doing that. Um I do medical missions. Um last time I went to Dominican Republic, I've been to Honduras, etc. Um it just feels good to give back and um there's of course a lot of uh women that um you know that are involved in that since we're talking about women empowerment in the uh more closer community. I um am lucky enough to have a lot of our colleagues that are in the area. We all uh really really believe in the concept of community over competition. We all get together over dinner and exchange ideas and talk to each other and support each other. if there is a medical complication, we all help each other and we just have um it's not really a forum, but a group of people that are very close in the community and I'm sure some of our patients might be I mean listeners patients uh might be a little surprised to know that we're not, you know, like competitive with each other and crazy with each other. It's totally on the contrary. We love uh spending time together and we love making sure that everybody is doing well and like I said if there's a complication we're definitely right there next to each other. I love that. I love hearing that you're working together with local people because it's like a rising tide lifts all boats, right? Like you can provide better medicine, they can provide better medicine and everyone benefits, right? I love that. Absolutely. I'm there's a a woman who is like not even a mile away from me and we go to conferences together all the time and uh we have the best time. That's so great. Well, Julia, if people are interested in your services and finding watching those behind thescenes videos and finding out more about what you do, where's the best place to go to find you? Oh, thank you so much. It would be a pleasure to see anybody. Uh please always feel free first of all to reach out through DMs. I am the one who monitors uh the Instagram account and my Facebook account. Of course, it's mine. Uh it's just Julia Milman. So, please feel free to reach out. We have a pretty comprehensive website that describes all of our services with uh plenty of before and afters that keep getting added um all the time. Well, when I have time, um it's just www.juliaman.com. Our Instagram account is uh quite active. Uh my husband is uh very involved in our office. He makes the whole office run and he is the comedian in the office. Every Friday we release a fun Friday reel or actually a community support reel depending on uh what's happening at the moment. So uh please give us a follow. It's the same. It's just druliaman.com. I mean at Dr. Julia Milman. And like I said, please feel free to reach out. Our consultations are always complimentary. So, you can just click on the link to book and it would be my pleasure to see you and um talk to you. Well, thank you so much, Julia, for joining us today. I know I learned a lot. If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the comments and Julia will pop in and answer those questions or of course send her a DM on Instagram. Thank you again, Julia, for joining us and for your work to help empower women. I appreciate you very much and thank you for your work. All right, take care everybody. This has been Liz from Chicago Budwoir with our live with Liz segment. We'll see you next week. Thanks so much.