Cancer treatment changes many aspects of a person’s well-being, and the skin is no exception. In patients undergoing or recovering from cancer treatment, the skin can become significantly more sensitive, while its barrier function may be substantially compromised. As a result, products that once worked perfectly may suddenly become unsuitable.
But what about professional skincare?
From Charitable Practice to a Proprietary Methodology
For an esthetician, all of the above means one thing: working as gently as possible is no longer enough. This is precisely the conclusion reached by Anna Kosichenko, creator of the K-OBI (Kosichenko Oncology Barrier Index), educator, and founder of Hush & Glow Advanced Facial Bar.
“For a long time, I volunteered and provided complimentary treatments to women who were undergoing cancer treatment or were already in remission. I kept seeing the same problem: there was no clear decision-making algorithm that an esthetician could use,” the expert recalls.
Can a treatment be performed right now? How can a practitioner determine that it needs to be modified? What signs should prompt the esthetician to stop and refer the client to a medical professional?
Anna began systematically studying supportive skincare in the context of cancer treatment in late 2025.
“I conducted an in-depth review of scientific literature on skin barrier function, the effects of anticancer therapy on the skin, the safety of cosmetic ingredients, supportive skincare, and existing dermatologic assessment tools,” the researcher explains. “I then compared this knowledge with my own practical experience.”
The result was K-OBI, the Kosichenko Oncology Barrier Index, a system that transforms observations about the condition of the skin into concrete professional decisions.
About the Developer
Anna Kosichenko is an advanced esthetics professional. She holds active esthetics licenses in Florida, Texas, Washington, Missouri, and North Carolina.
As a member of Associated Skin Care Professionals, the Professional Beauty Association, and the Beauty Skills Association, Anna collaborates with professionals from across the United States and provides both in-person and online training for colleagues in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, as well as in Canada and the Bahamas.
Another area of Anna’s educational work is conducting professional workshops for beauty schools. She is invited as an external expert and guest speaker to lead practical training sessions for students, including at Crave Beauty Academy in Ballwin, Missouri, and Luxemore Beauty Academy in Tampa, Florida.
“To teach colleagues, you have to keep learning yourself,” Kosichenko says, a principle she has consistently followed throughout her career.
She regularly completes certification programs and Continuing Education courses and continues her training in supportive skincare for oncology clients and research methodology.
A Standardized Approach for Non-Medical Estheticians
Medical professionals already have systems for assessing skin toxicity associated with cancer treatment. Non-medical estheticians, by contrast, have long had to rely largely on professional judgment and intuition.
The system developed by Anna Kosichenko simultaneously takes into account the context of cancer treatment, symptoms reported by the client, visible changes in the skin barrier, and tolerance to cosmetic ingredients.
The resulting information is translated into a caution score ranging from 0 to 100 and one of three levels of esthetic care.
“But the numerical score is only one part of the system,” the developer notes.
K-OBI also includes stop criteria, referral rules for medical consultation, documentation procedures, follow-up protocols, and clearly defined boundaries of non-medical practice.
In other words, the initial screening must always lead to a specific decision: proceed with the treatment, modify it, postpone it temporarily, or refer the client to another professional.
“Thank you for an amazing Oncology Esthetics class! Your knowledge, patience, and dedication made learning enjoyable and meaningful. I feel confident and inspired to serve oncology clients with greater care and compassion. Highly recommend this course!” — this is the review that Lata, one of Anna’s students, shared publicly about the course.
First Practical Results
Dozens of women have already received specialized supportive skincare based on K-OBI protocols.This means that Kosichenko’s approach has moved well beyond the stage of a conceptual model.
At the same time, the developer has built a broader professional infrastructure around K-OBI.
“It includes an intake and screening questionnaire, three levels of care, home-care recommendations, forms for obtaining medical clearance and communicating with the oncology team, clinical case studies, student materials, documentation procedures, and clearly defined stop and referral points,” the expert explains.
The Kosichenko Oncology Barrier Index can therefore not only be applied in practice but also taught to other professionals. With this goal in mind, Anna launched the H&G Advanced Skin Institute. The platform is already operating, and its founder is actively seeking experts to co-develop courses.
“My students learn how to collect relevant information, identify visible changes in the skin barrier, recognize stop criteria, document their decisions, adapt a treatment, and refer a client to another specialist in a timely manner when the situation falls outside the scope of esthetic practice,” she says.
The story of this system began with charitable treatments and the realization that, when working with clients undergoing or recovering from cancer treatment, an esthetician should be guided not only by empathy but also by a clear professional protocol.
Today, K-OBI exists in two dimensions at once: as a practical tool for working with clients and as a structured model for professional education.
Will K-OBI become a future professional standard? Time will tell. Yet Anna Kosichenko’s system already has several important foundations for broader adoption: practical application, a structured methodology, and the ability to transfer the approach to other professionals through formal training.