Skincare Terms Explained: Glycation May 13, 2013

In July, 2012 I wrote a post all about how terrible sugar is for the skin.  This post is going to expand on the term “glycation” and explain what exactly that process is and how it relates to the skin.  But basically, it all comes back to the same thing again – sugar ruins our skin (and our health).

In her book Heal Your Skin Dr. Ava Shamban explains just what glycation is (page 22 in the paperback edition):

As delicious as sugar may seem to your taste buds, it can be extremely destructive to your skin.  A spike in your blood sugar levels – which can come from eating processed foods or foods with too much refined sugar – can leave too much sugar circulating in your body.  A process called glycation and the formation of advanced glycation end products are the results.

Glycation is a process whereby a sugar molecule, such as glucose or fructose, is added to collagen and elastin fibers, proteins found in the extracellular matrix, which surrounds skin cells.  This makes the collagen stiff, as it is now cross linked in an abnormal way.  In addition, the enzymes that normally remodel collagen no longer have access to the protein, and it can no longer be remodeled in a normal continual fashion.  When the process occurs, the skin appears prematurely aged.

Glycation damages collagen in other organs in the body, too, including the blood vessel walls.  When this occurs, the skin doesn’t remodel in the same way as before, prematurely aging the tissue.

Dr. Peter Pugliese discusses the subject of glycation extensively in his book Physiology of the Skin, 3rd edition (written with Dr. Draelos) in chapters 30 and 31.  A lot of the information from the book was also published in two articles in Skin Inc.: Physiology of the Skin: The Impact of Glycation on the Skin, Part I and Part II.  I urge you to read both articles if you want a very in-depth and scientific description of the glycation process (there are also lots of pictures and chemical equations).  Suffice it to say though Dr. Pugliese’s explanations are welcome they can be a bit overwhelming for those of us who still have upsetting flashbacks to high school chemistry (I still cringe when I think about the periodic table; I was a poor chemistry student to say the least) so I’ll just quote the summary here:

Glycation is the non-enzymatic joining of a sugar and a protein, or a lipid. It is a process that occurs naturally in foods, especially when cooked. The Maillard reaction is one of these processes that starts by forming a Shiff base and proceeds to forming multiple chemicals called advanced glycation end-products, or AGEs, that have adverse effects on a person’s biological processes. AGEs can link up with many proteins and denature them or alter them to be nonfunctional, cross-linked collagens, which is an AGE protein complex responsible for stiffness of the skin.
Skin collagen has a long half-life; these cross-linked forms do not go away and are not fully reversible at present. Elastin is another long-lived protein that is easily glycated and lasts a long time. Denatured elastin is associated with slackened skin. AGEs have cellular receptors known as RAGEs that initiate inflammatory reactions when activated by an AGE complex. These reactions tend to be chronic and are associated with arterial diseases, metabolic disorders and rheumatoid arthritis. Once they are started, the AGE-RAGE system will accelerate and perpetuate itself.
In the skin, glycation accounts for accelerated aging, yellowing and stiffness of the skin, and decreased circulation. Skin cannot look young and healthy with glycation products. Treatment is best started with prevention by diet control, reducing total calories, avoiding high sugar foods and not cooking at high temperatures. Supplements such as aminoguanidine, pyridoxamine, carnosine and benfotiamine are excellent glycation preventors. A new class of drugs called glycation breakers is being developed to correct the existing glycation protein complexes associated with many chronic diseases. They will truly be the youth drugs of the future.

In my previous post about the subject of sugar and how it negatively impacts the skin I shared with my readers how hard I have found it to cutback on sugar in my diet.  I also started noticing how sugar lurks in all sorts of foods; I try to read food labels more carefully now.  But after researching this post I realize that I also have to be careful about the method of how I cook my food since foods cooked at high temperatures (broiled, barbecued) can negatively impact your health and skin as well.  I wish I had the will power (and the time) to become a raw food vegan, but in the meantime I’ll still keep working on cutting down on how much sugar I consume.

Further Reading:

• If I do say so myself my post One of the Worst Foods For Your Skin has both plenty of good information and references about the subject of sugar and the skin
• Why Your Sweet Tooth Isn’t So Sweet – For Your Skin:  Refinery 29
• Your Skin on Sugar: Total Beauty
• Kris Carr (read my review of one of her books) gives her fans a peek into her pantry.  Inspiration for very healthy vegan eating.

Image from rokderm.com

May Is Skin Cancer Awareness Month May 7, 2013

The number of times I have written a post in this blog about sun safety, skin cancer, or sunscreen could, at this point, fill a book.  Well maybe not a book but at least a thick pamphlet.  But since it is once again Skin Cancer Awareness Month I thought it important to revisit these topics yet again.  It is always good to be reminded about proper sun safety.  Skin cancer is an almost entirely preventable cancer so keeping yourself and your loved ones safe from the sun is of utmost importance.  Yes, proper sun protection takes some extra time and thought, but preventing skin cancer shouldn’t be an afterthought.  And I haven’t even mentioned the wrinkles and pigmentation issues that come from daily sun exposure.  So if skin cancer doesn’t concern you particularly at least protect your skin from the sun in order to keep it looking young and fresh.

The Skin Cancer Foundation provides the following sun safety tips:

Since its inception in 1979, The Skin Cancer Foundation has always recommended using a sunscreen with an SPF 15 or higher as one important part of a complete sun protection regimen. Sunscreen alone is not enough, however.

• Seek the shade, especially between 10 AM and 4 PM.
• Do not burn.
• Avoid tanning and UV tanning booths.
• Cover up with clothing, including a broad-brimmed hat and UV-blocking sunglasses.
• Use a broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher every day. For extended outdoor activity, use a water-resistant, broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.
• Apply 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of sunscreen to your entire body 30 minutes before going outside.
  Reapply every two hours or immediately after swimming or excessive sweating.
• Keep newborns out of the sun. Sunscreens should be used on babies over the age of six months.
• Examine your skin head-to-toe every month.
• See your physician every year for a professional skin exam

Allure adds even more tips:

As much as we know about skin cancer, though, only about 20 percent of us wear sunscreen daily. (Which is crazy, considering in a poll we did onAllure’s Facebook page, 68 percent of our fans said they either have had skin cancer or know someone who has.) But here’s the thing: It’s never too late to start taking care of your skin. Here, a few sun-protection tricks to keep in mind as the temperatures start to rise:

• If you’re the outdoorsy type, you may want to take a summer vacation from retinols: They thin the top layer of skin and can make you vulnerable to redness and brown spots, says dermatologist Fredric Brandt.

• One bottle of sunscreen is not going to last. “One ounce is the right goal for each application, as well as for each reapplication, so a 12-ounce bottle is 12 servings—and that’s not a lot,” says Patricia Wexler, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Set an alarm on your phone to ring every two hours to remind you to reapply.

• If you’re outside for 30 minutes or more, wear a chemical sunscreen (like one with Mexoryl SX or Parsol) topped by a physical one (with Z-Cote or titanium dioxide). “Neither type is 100 percent perfect, and whatever rays get through the first layer are caught by the second one,” says Miami dermatologist Leslie Baumann.

• Think twice before you use sunscreen wipes: The FDA is reviewing their effectiveness, along with powders and shampoos containing SPF. (No decisions have been made yet.)

So whatever your daily beauty routine is make sure that it includes an SPF of at 15 but SPF 30 is better.  Apply 365 days a year, rain or shine.  And be sure that everyone you love and care about is protected from the sun as well.

My Related Posts:

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I’ve written so much about the topic of this post that I decided to choose some of my related posts to share here.  If you type “sun” into the search line on the home page of this blog you’ll find even more related posts.

• UPF Clothing – Really Protecting You From The Sun?
  
• Sunscreen Myths – Beware of  Things You Read and Hear
• Should You Avoid Spray on Sunscreen?
• Does Brush On Sunscreen Give You Any Sun Protection?
• Sunscreen Basics Easily Explained
• Sun Protection 101
• Sun Protection While Driving
• Sun Protection for Your Lips – Part II
• Sun Care For Your Baby and Child
• Vitamin D and Your Skin – Part II
• Skin of Color and Skin Cancer – Everyone is at Risk
• I Got A Skin Cancer Screening – Here Are All The Details

Image from askdegas.com: Sunbathing by the Sea.  And yes, I do think everyone should go to the beach fully dressed

What Are Free Radicals? April 23, 2013

I’ve written about the importance of incorporating a cream or serum with antioxidants into your daily skincare routine in this blog before (see the list below of my related posts), but when I came across the following information about free radicals I thought I should address the subject of antioxidants from a different angle.  That angle, of course, would be to address the issue of free radicals more in-depth.

In their book Physiology of the Skin Drs. Draelos and Pugliese devote an entire chapter (chapter 8) to the subject of free radicals and the skin (those words also happen to be the title of the chapter).  I want to highlight some of the more accessible parts of the chapter (page 163):

A free radical is any atom or molecule that has one or more unpaired electrons and is capable of independent existence.  Oxygen, then, is a free radical.  In fact, oxygen is a diradical, which means it has two unpaired electrons.

Here, simplified, is the secret of the free radical – one or more unpaired electrons in a molecule or atom that can exist independently, and can react actively with other nearby molecules to alter or destroy them.  An example will make this concept more graphic and easier to remember.

Water contains hydrogen and oxygen.  It is a very simple molecule, and is written in chemical notation as either H2O or HOH.  The hydrogen atoms exactly balance the electronic charges in the oxygen atom to give us one molecule of water.  If only one molecule of hydrogen would react with the oxygen molecule, a free radical would exist, the deadly hydroxyl radical ·OH.  The little dot to the left of the “OH” formula means it is a free radical.  This ·OH is called the hydroxyl radical and is a very nasty free radical because it reacts immediately with any molecule adjacent to it to alter or destroy it.  It is a blessing that oxygen does not react with hydrogen in this manner to form hydroxyl radicals because life would be impossible if it did.

The chapter goes into great detail about oxygen – its chemistry, the molecule itself, the process and repercussions of oxidation, and oxidative stress.  On page 171 there is a graph that clearly shows how free radicals affect cells by damaging DNA, nerves, and all body tissues.  According to the book “it is the oxygen that you breathe which ultimately destroys your body”.

At the end of chapter eight in their book the doctors discuss a few specific ways free radicals specifically impact the skin and how to combat these subsequent skin problems.  The skin issues discussed are: skin inflammation, photo-damaged skin (sun damage), and aging skin.  For example when it comes to skin inflammation the doctors explain (page 177):

Any inflammatory response will involve free radical formation – no ifs, ands or buts.  If you see a red area that is tender and hot, it is inflamed and seething with free radical activity.  Superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radical will be there.  Iron will react with the superoxide and peroxide to form hydroxyl radicals, and produce great tissue destruction.

In her book Simple Skin Beauty Dr. Ellen Marmur explains, in easier to understand terms, how the sun damages our DNA and how the sun produces free radicals (page 138 in the hardcover copy):

Free radicals may sound like some kind of rock band, but they are toxic by-products in the body.  To make a very long and complex scientific phenomenon short, this is how they are produced through UV damage to cell’s DNA.

A photon (the sun’s laser beam) zaps through the cell membrane and cytoplasm, through the nuclear membrane (the safe, womb-like center of the cell), and hits the DNA.  Imagine DNA as being like two pieces of spaghetti laid parallel, with crosshatches all the way along like a ladder, then rolled up and twisted like an intricately knotted cuff link.  When a photon burns a hole into the DNA knot, it starts to unravel and the two sides of the ladder begin opening up.  The immune system immediately sends out enzymes to fix the problem.  (Enzymes are proteins that act as workers in the body, fixing damage by causing chemical reactions.)  One enzyme comes in and gobbles up the damaged portion; then it creates a new DNA rung to fix that ladder.  Another enzyme double-checks it, another seals it together, and another wraps it up into a nice, perfect knot again.  All these chemical reactions done to reconstruct damaged DNA give off toxic oxygen by-products, or free radicals.  Oxygen can be stable, with two electrons in its orbit, or, if it has only one electron (as free radicals do), it’s on fire – trying to steal an electron from another molecule in order to become stable.  An unstable oxygen molecule races around like a toddler with a pair of scissors or a Tasmanian devil, causing destruction to anything it its path until it runs out of energy.  Antioxidants quench and destroy that toxic free radical.

Suggestions for combating these free radical induced skin problems include the use of sunscreens with antioxidants in them, taking multiple vitamins daily, using Retin-A, getting regular exercise, and avoiding stress.  Of course all those tips not only will help your skin stay healthy but your body as well.  Just keep the following in mind when it comes to skincare products, antioxidants, and combating free radical damage:

Any client with aging skin should be approached with the fact that treatment is a lifelong reality.  There are no easy fixes and no miracle products.  It takes time to age, and time to restore the skin to normal.  Good and effective anti-aging products address the free radical problem by containing antioxidants at levels that prove they work.  Do not buy a product that has not been tested for antioxidant activity.  Beware of products that have antioxidants listed at the end of the ingredients; they are low in concentration and are useless.  …

In addition, do not smoke cigarettes; they produce an alarming amount of free oxygen radicals that damage both the lungs and the skin.  Avoid sun exposure as much as is practical.  Use sunscreens that provide both UVA and UVB photoprotection whether working indoors or outdoors.  Increase dietary intake of fruits and vegetables at each meal, remembering to eat them freshly picked and raw to optimize nutritional content.  Unripened and preserved fruits and vegetables do not have the antioxidant levels found in fresh vine ripened varieties.

(Physiology of the Skin, pages 178 – 179)

My Related Posts:

• Skincare Tip: Add Antioxidant To Your Home Skincare Routine
• Inflammation: The Ultimate Skin Enemy?
• The Vitamin C Breakdown
• Ingredient Spotlight: Green Tea

I haven’t read this book yet, but it turns out that there is a whole book devoted to the subject of antioxidants and skin aptly titled Antioxidants and the Skin.

Image from docstoc.com

My Beauty Regrets February 12, 2013

This post was inspired by two separate posts I read online.  The first was Beauty Regrets I Wish I Knew In My 20s from My Beauty Bunny and the other was ATB Learning Curve: 10 Beauty Lessons I Learnt in My 20s from Addicted to Blush.  (Full disclosure – I found the second post since my blog is mentioned in the post.  Before then I did not know of this blog, but I am finding it quite fun to read a beauty blog from India)  Though I am well past my 20s, and nearing 40 more and more with each passing day, I did find parallels in my beauty regime to what the ladies mentioned in their posts.

Overall I try not to have regrets when it comes to anything or everything in my life.  But try as I might, of course, I do still have regrets.  Mine mostly revolve around something I should have said to someone or something I shouldn’t have said to someone.  I’m a work in progress but aren’t we all?

So without any further delays my beauty regrets are as follows:

• Not taking sun protection more seriously sooner.  I started using a moisturizer with SPF in it back in high school (or at least I think I did, maybe it was college), but now I know I didn’t use enough and I never reapplied.  I have the sun damage to prove it.  In the last few years I’ve become a sunscreen fanatic, and I am never without a sunscreen at all times so that I can reapply.  Many people think I am insane because of my sunscreen fanaticism, but I don’t care .
• I wish I had learned about skincare ingredients sooner.  Until I started studying esthetics about five years ago I got all my beauty information from glossy fashion magazines.  Not that those magazines cannot provide helpful information for the consumer, but they are certainly just one perspective on a complicated and far-reaching subject.  Once I started my esthetic training I discovered a wealth of publications for estheticians that I currently read and blogs that help me sort through all the beauty mumble jumble out there (for a list look at the right hand side of my home page under “links I love”).  I also started reading lots of books by dermatologists which I have found very informative (look under “book reviews” for my reviews).  Better informed you are the better choices you make when it comes to taking care of your skin.  Lastly, always remember to keep an open mind.  I am constantly learning new things from my fellow estheticians, the reading I do, and from taking care of different client’s skin.
• I wish I had understood the link between skin health, particularly acne, and food earlier.  Last year I read quite a few books about skin health/beauty and food.  What I found most fascinating was the information about an alkaline diet and skin health.  (You can find more information about this in my two earlier posts Is An Alkaline Diet Good for Your Skin? and Book Review: Stop Aging, Start Living)  I also wish I had realized sooner how awful sugar is for your skin and health.  I am still trying to break my sugar addiction.  (For more information on how terrible sugar is for your skin see this post of mine)
• I regret not doing chemical peels sooner.  Chemical peels are a great way to treat a myriad of skincare conditions including, though not limited to, hyperpigmentation, acne, and fine lines.  (For more information about chemical peels see my post 13 Reasons You Should Get a Chemical Peel from an Esthetician)
• I wish I had learned to apply make-up earlier.  I’ve reached the point in my life were I really look better with some make-up on instead of none.  It took me years and years and years to get over being intimidated by make-up, any make-up.  I can’t say that I am great at applying make-up, but I do have simple routine down pat.  Make-up is also a great way to be creative without having regrets since you can simply wash your face and be done.  (I recently discovered Lisa Eldridge’s make-up tutorials.  Check them out!)

So what are your beauty regrets?  Share below!

Image from http://www.underconsideration.com

Can Anyone Use Retin-A? October 11, 2012

Recently a long-time reader of this blog (thank you Louise for all your support!) asked me to address the issue of Retin-A use in my blog from a different angle than I have before.  So far the posts I’ve written about Retin-A have been an overview post on the subject (All About Retinol) and another post explaining why Retin-A remains the anti-aging superstar ingredient that it is (Back in Vogue: Retin-A).  Though this post will have some overlap with my past posts about Retin-A and retinol I do hope that this latest post will help explain how anyone can use Retin-A or retinol effectively and just how to do that.

I think it is best to start this post with a summary – what does Retin-A do and what is the difference between the different Vitamin A derived ingredients we see in skincare products?  Dr. Leslie Baumann does a good job of breaking things down:

First and foremost, retinoids speed the rate at which skin cells turn over, which means they thin the layer of dead skin cells and help keep healthy, younger-looking cells on the surface. Retinoids also promote the skin to produce more collagen while preventing the breakdown of existing collagen.This thickens the dermal layer of skin and helps minimize the appearance of lines and wrinkles. Here’s the lowdown on the different members of the retinoid family, which are all derivatives of vitamin A.

Beta carotene: If you eat too many carrots and your skin turns orangey yellow, it’s because you’ve ODed on beta carotene. (Don’t worry, it’s actually good for you.) This is a great antioxidant, so it’s important to get beta carotene from food. Don’t waste your money on topical creams with carrots or beta carotene because it does not absorb when applied to the skin.

2.Tretinoin (Retin-A): Perhaps the best known retinoid (and the gold standard for skin improvement), tretinoin got its start as an acne treatment before its inventor, Albert Kligman, MD, realized that patients on the medication had less wrinkles than those who were not. Dr. Kligman then developed Renova, a tretinoin cream that got FDA approval for the treatment of wrinkles. A little fact: Tretinoin does not cause sun sensitivity, however it is less effective when exposed to UV light, and this is why it’s best used at night. Other brand names of tretinoin now include Atralin (formulated with hydrating glycerin), Refissa, and Retin-A Micro.

3.Adapalene: This is considered a second-generation retinoid because its chemical structure is different than naturally occurring retinoids. The brand name is Differin, and it is more stable when exposed to the sun and less irritating. The prescription EpiDuo contains adapalene and benzoyl peroxide to help fight acne. In recent news, adapalene is now available as a generic.

4.Tazarotene: A third-generation retinoid, this is stronger than adapalene, less irritating and more sun-stable. I like it for patients who have been able to tolerate tretinoin and/or adapalene without any problems.

5.Retinol: This is the over-the-counter version of tretinoin, but the big drawback is that it’s very unstable, and the product packaging is crucial for its effectiveness. Johnson & Johnson has had the patent on retinol packaging, which is why my favorite OTC retinols are from RoC and Neutrogena. It’s much weaker than tretinoin, but studies do show it works to improve wrinkles. I like to start my patients on retinol and then work them up to tretinoin, and then tazarotene.

6.Retinyl esters (retinyl palmitate and retinyl linoleate): These ingredients are broken down into retinol once they’re applied to the skin. However, it takes time for them to absorb which is why there’s some controversy surrounding retinyl palmitate—based on a report by the Environmental Working Group. They aren’t irritating (because they don’t really absorb), but they don’t really work, so I say skip them.

7.Retinaldehyde: This penetrates better than retinyl esters, but not as well as retinol (which is why it’s less irritating). If you’re looking for results and bang for your buck, stick with retinol or a prescription.

(From Retinoids: An Essential Ingredient for “Wrinkled” Skin – Skin Type Solutions LibraryTips)

As great as Retin-A is for the skin many people cannot use it because it causes them too much irritation.  The Vogue article The Return to Retinol explains:

The thing is, Retin-A and its various prescription descendants (Renova, Tazorac, Differin)—may have launched a thousand lineless faces, but they also launched as many irritated ones: scaly, red, angry. In those early days (fifteen years ago), retinoids could be used only at night because of their sensitivity to light; they could make skin extra-sensitive and made time in the sun, even incidental exposure, a cardinal sin. “Everyone was really excited from the beginning, but the big issues were dryness and irritation—mostly because people would apply too much,” says dermatologist Fredric Brandt, M.D., the New York– and Miami-based skin-care Svengali who has thousands of seemingly ageless women in his thrall (retinoid enthusiasts Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow included). But even when skin wasn’t in outright crisis mode, a telltale sort of “retinoid face” could develop: spookily taut and shiny, like Barbie plastic. This is because the retinoic-acid molecule works a little too well: It’s so tiny it can penetrate all the layers of the skin, prompting extra-speedy cell turnover and exfoliation in the process. “You’re helping fix photo-aging, brown spots, acne, roughness, and collagen breakdown,” says Brandt. Miraculous, yes; gentle, no.

So what can you do in order to prevent irritation if you want to use Retin-A (and I personally strongly recommend Retin-A for those people who want to combat the signs of aging or who have acne and have tried numerous other anti-acne treatments to no avail), but cannot live with flaky, irritated, and red skin?  Start off slowly – use a retinol, an OTC product, before using a prescription product. You can try a product that is meant for sensitive skin like ROC Retinol Correction Sensitive Night Cream  (truthfully I don’t know how well this product works, but it worth a try if you have sensitive skin or are wary of trying a stronger product)  first before working your way up to a stronger product.  In a sense you will prepare your skin to tolerate stronger prescription products in the future.  According to Dr. Ellen Marmur in her book Simple Skin Beauty there are a few other ways to prevent skin irritation associated with using Retin-A (pages 278-279):

Prescription retinoids are the strongest and most effective form of retinoic acid.  Over-the-counter products contain milder vitamin A analogs; either retinol or retinyl palmitate (retinyl palmitate beign the weakest).  In order to have an effect on retinoid receptors, these must be converted to retinoic acid inside the body, and that conversion may not happen with the trace amount of low-strength vitamin A contained in a beauty product.  Although the results are therefore inconsistent, an OTC retinol might be worth at try if you’re skittish about using a prescription medication or if you have especially sensitive skin.  Stabilized, high-strength retinol may be somewhat effective, but look for one that states the percentage of retinol on the label.  Otherwise there’s probably just a tiny, ineffectual amount in the product.  (Personally, I would rather use a prescription retinoid with a percentage of medication that I know works.)

Side Effects:  Retinoic acid is a drug and there are risks associated with its use.  Since it decreases sebum (remember, this is still an acne medication), it makes the skin extremely dry.  (If that’s the case for you, applying moisturizer on top of retinoic acid is the answer, and it won’t dilute its potency.)  It makes the skin photosensitive, so daily sunscreen is a must – which is also why retinoic acid should be used at night.  It tends to irritate even moderately sensitive skin, so be careful not to overdo exfoliants such as glycolic acids (one a week is plenty).  For the same reason, be sure to stop using retinoids three to five days before having any skin procedures done, from simple waxing and facials to medical peels or lasers.  For those who have a hard time tolerating even a low-dose prescription retinoid, I recommend trying short-term applications: apply a pea-size amount over the whole face and neck, leave it on for fifteen minutes, then rinse it off.  You may get the same benefits as wearing it overnight.

Another thing to keep in mind is that even though having flaky and red skin is a side effect from using Retin-A it is a temporary one.  Your skin will get used to the product and those skin irritations will gradually disappear.  But if you live in a cold or dry climate your skin might constantly feel dry with Retin-A use.  Simply use a moisturizer twice daily at least or more if necessary to combat this dryness.  Be sure to wait about 10 or 15 minutes after applying your Retin-A before applying your moisturizer on top so that you allow the Retin-A to absorb properly into your skin.  Lastly, keep in mind that Retin-A comes in a wide variety of formulations.  Refissa, for instance, is a 0.05% tretinoin cream that is buffered so that it causes much less irritation for the user.  Many people do not peel at all when they use this product.

Summary of Different Ways to Prevent Irritation When Using Retin-A:

• Only use a pea size amount for your entire face.  There is no need to use more.
• Start off slow – use your Retin-A only twice a week or every other night for at least two weeks before determining if you want to use it more often.  For some people using Retin-A twice a week is enough.
• If you are wary of using a prescription product start off with an OTC product.  Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for use.  After using a product like this for a few months you can move on to prescription one.
• Ask for a prescription buffered product like Refissa if you know your skin is reactive and/or dry.
• Work through the initial phase of irritation. That means be patient – you’ll see results in about three months.  Don’t give up on the product before then.  If you start and then stop and then start again using Retin-A your skin will get stuck in phase one of use.  Simply put your skin will constantly be irritated and red.
• Use a moisturizer on top of your Retin-A.  Some of my favorite moisturizers to combine with Retin-A use are the renewal products from Epionce.  Be sure to wait at least 10 minutes after applying your Retin-A before applying a moisturizer on top.
• Avoid irritating your skin further by overusing other facial exfoliating products like glycolic acid.  Products with Vitamin C can even be too irritating for some people if they are using Retin-A.
• Use sun protection daily.

OTC Products 

I don’t want to call this recommended products since I haven’t tried any of them, but all the products below come from reputable companies:

• PCA Intensive Age Refining Treatment
• PCA Intensive Clarity Treatment
• Skinceuticals Retinol 0.5
• Skinceuticals Retinol 1.0
• La Roche Posay Redermic [R]
• Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Serum
• ROC Retinol Correction Deep Wrinkle Night Cream

Sources and Further Reading:

• Retinol: When to Use It, and When to Avoid It - WebMD
• Anti-Aging All-Stars: 5 Ingredients That Pack A Punch – Allure
• Retinol Skin Tips From Big Brother’s Dr. Will – Allure
• Retinol Cream: Your Skin’s New Best Friend - O, The Oprah Magazine
• A New Generation of Retinoids and Dr. Diana Howard on the Benefits of Retinol – The International Dermal Institute
• Vitamin A: the Gold Standard for Extrinsic Aging – The New Ideal in Skin Health by Dr. Carl Thornfeldt and Krista Bourne, LE – pages 153- 156
• The Only Proven Wrinkle Reducers and Age Fighters: Retinoids – The Mind-Beauty Connection by Dr. Amy Wechsler – pages 29-30

Image from anti-aging-skin-care-guide.com

Cosmetic Botox Turns 10 September 3, 2012

 

In April, 2012 Botox turned 10 years old.  That is it has been 10 years since the FDA gave Allergan approval to sell Botox Cosmetic as a solution for moderate to severe frown lines between the eyebrows and not just for medical purposes (As many readers may know Botox has numerous medical applications as well).  Now that Botox is so widely used (and even abused some would say) this is a good opportunity to look back over the last decade to see what people had to say about Botox then and the reality of its use today.

Take for instance Dr. Richard Friedman’s piece Cases: A Peril of the Veil of Botox in The New York Times from August, 2002 just after Botox was approved for cosmetic use:

Unlike a face-lift, where the skin is stretched taut like a drum but facial expression is unaffected, Botox paralyzes the underlying muscles that control facial movement and produce wrinkles. Botox, or botulinum toxin, is the neurotoxin derived from the bacteria Clostridia botulinum, the cause of botulism.

Botulinum toxin is the most poisonous substance known and is a potentially potent bioweapon. A single gram of the purified toxin, widely dispersed and inhaled, could kill a million people.

Ingested systemically, botulinum toxin kills by paralyzing the diaphragm, the muscle used in breathing. The toxin prevents neurons from releasing acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that causes muscle contraction. But injected locally, it paralyzes just a small area of skeletal muscle. The effect is temporary, lasting three to four months.

Little is known about the long-term cosmetic effects of Botox. But there is evidence that prolonged use can cause some people to produce neutralizing antibodies against Botox, which diminish or block its effect over time.

Botox had wiped the wrinkles from the woman’s brow but had also robbed her face of some human expressiveness. It made her appear not so much youthful as lifelike — a frozen imitation of youth.

Unlike this woman, many Botox users receive extensive injections above the nose, around the eyes and across the forehead, which deeply alter their expressions.

It made me wonder: Should we become a Botox nation? What are the implications for human relationships? I’m not too worried about the adults; they can figure out that their friends and loved ones are poker faced not because of lovelessness but thanks to Botox. But what about infants and children?

Now some of the above concerns have come true.  There are people who have developed a tolerance for Botox rendering it less effective or completely ineffective for them.  Additionally some people have gone overboard with their Botox injections causing their foreheads to become motionless and their expressions frozen, but keep in mind if Botox is used judiciously this should not happen.  Certainly the popularity of Botox among Hollywood celebrities has greatly contributed to its use amongst the general popular.  While celebrities are at the forefront of the use of new cosmetic products and procedures they can also clearly show the pitfalls of these procedures as well.  (For a good illustration of how this pertains to Botox see Shape magazine’s article Botox: Hollywood’s Most Frozen Faces)

The key to a positive Botox experience and a great result?  Finding an injector, either a doctor or a nurse (In the US any doctor, not just a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon can inject Botox, and any registered nurse can inject Botox.  I would love to know from my readers in other parts of the world about how popular Botox is in their country and who can inject it), who knows their stuff.  If you place yourself in the hands of a skilled injector your face looks refreshed, not overdone.  Your forehead will still move while you look alert and your wrinkles are smoothed.  There has been a great improvement in how Botox is injected since it was approved for cosmetic use in 2002 so the concerns from then as mentioned above, while not to be taken lightly, are not as much of a problem today.

Just how did the FDA approval of Botox for cosmetic use change the anti-aging game?  The impact of Botox should not be underestimated.  According to a Skin Inc. article about the 10th anniversary of Botox being approved for cosmetic use:

“When approved by the FDA in 2002, Botox Cosmetic changed the way that physicians could treat patients who were interested in improving the appearance of their vertical frown lines between the brows,” says David E.I. Pyott, chairman of the board, president and CEO, Allergan, Inc. “Botox Cosmetic has become the No. 1 neuromodulator in the United States and the number of patients considering talking to their doctor about treatment has more than quadrupled to 5.8 million since 2002.”

Botox secured its first FDA approval more than 22 years ago as a treatment for two rare eye muscle disorders, making it the first product of its kind approved in the world. In 2002, the same formulation with dosing specific to frown lines was approved under the name Botox Cosmetic.

“The FDA approval of Botox Cosmetic enhanced the practice of plastic surgery by providing plastic surgeons with a new treatment option for patients seeking to reduce the appearance of vertical frown lines between the eyebrows,” says Malcolm Z. Roth, MD, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

In the decade since Botox Cosmetic was approved, aesthetic specialty physicians–which include dermatologists, oculoplastic surgeons and facial plastic surgeons–have developed extensive experience in the art and science of administering Botox Cosmetic to yield predictable results for their patients. These physicians have performed approximately 11 million treatment sessions since 2002 and have also contributed to the extensive clinical database demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the drug.

“The approval of Botox Cosmetic in 2002 dramatically changed our ability to treat our patients by giving them an effective option to treat the appearance of moderate to severe vertical frown lines with a minimally invasive procedure,” says Susan Weinkle, MD, president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. “Botox Cosmetic has become more accepted by the public, and this treatment has brought more patients into aesthetic practices to learn about other treatments available.”

Though I have yet to try Botox (or Dysport or Xeomin which do the same thing as Botox yet are newer to the market) I am certainly not opposed to trying it in the future.

Have you tried Botox?  Are you open to trying it?  Share your thoughts below.

Further Reading:

There is, of course, endless amounts of information available about Botox online.  Here are some good sources for more information about this product.

• Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Botox (About Were Afraid to Ask) - Allure
• I typed “Botox” into the New Beauty search box and all sorts of interesting articles (with photos) popped up.  Here’s the list.
• While researching this post I came across a story that was one of those “the truth is stranger than fiction” stories.  Here is Vanity Fair‘s version of the events – The Botoxed and the BoldFaced.  This article also includes information about how the poison botulism became a cosmetic injectable.  Certainly an interesting read.

Image from allure.com

Nora Ephron on Beauty July 12, 2012

 

Nora Ephron passed away on June 26, 2012 at the age of 71.  A prolific essayist, screenwriter, and movie director Ephron was known for her wit and insight – particularly when it came to women’s issues and feelings.  Since she passed away I’ve been looking, knowing it must be out there, for Ephron’s take on beauty in order to share her thoughts with my readers.  I hit pay dirt when I finally found her essay On Maintenance which was published in the October, 2005 issue of O magazine.

The essay is a very funny discussion of everything that Ephron does in order to look good.  Since this is a blog all about skincare I’ll share what she had to say about skin maintenance:

I have cream for my face. I have lotion for my arms and legs. I have oil for my bath. I have Vaseline for my feet. I cannot begin to tell you how much time I spend rubbing these moisturizers into myself. But I still get pimples on my face and rough patches on my arms and legs. What’s more, the skin on my back is so dry that when I take off a black sweater it looks as if it’s been in a snowstorm, and the skin on my heels has the consistency of a loofah.

The conclusion of the essay is witty and insightful all at once:

I have no doubt omitted something where maintenance is concerned. The world of maintenance is changing every second, and I may not know about all sorts of things that women my age are up to. (The other day, for instance, I had lunch with a friend who assured me that I hadn’t lived until I had tried having some sort of facial that seems to include a mild form of electroshock.)

What I know is that I spend a huge amount of time with my finger in the dike, and that doesn’t begin to include all the things I promised not to go into—the pathetic things. I have never had plastic surgery, but I have done any number of things that fall just short of it. I even had all the fillings in my mouth replaced with white material, and I swear to God it took six months off my age. From time to time my dermatologist shoots a hypodermic needle full of something called Restylane into my chin, and it sort of fills in the saggy parts.

But the other day, on the street, I passed a homeless woman, and as I watched her shuffle down the street, it crossed my mind that I am only about eight hours a week of maintenance away from looking exactly like her—with frizzled flyaway gray hair I would probably have if I stopped dyeing mine, with a pot belly I would definitely develop if I ate just half of what I think about eating every day, with the dirty nails and chapped lips and mustache and bushy eyebrows that would be my destiny if I ever spent even two weeks on a desert island.

Eight hours a week and counting. By the time I reach my 70s, I’m sure it will take at least twice as long. The only consolation I take in any of this is that when I’m very old and virtually unemployable, I will at least have something to do. Assuming, of course, that I haven’t spent all my money doing it.

That’s just a little taste of what Ephron had to say about beauty and maintaining her looks.  Her wit and humor will definitely be missed, but you can always watch one of the movies she directed or wrote when you feel you need some humor and heart.

Further Reading:

• Nora Ephron Dies at 71; Essayist and Screenwriter with a Genius for Humor – New York Times

 

Image from O magazine

One of the Worst Foods For Your Skin July 5, 2012

Just how bad is sugar for us and for our skin?

According to Dr. Sanjay Gupta in the July issue of Prevention magazine sugar is a potential toxin (page 96):

People think the problem with sugar is that it makes you fat.   But it’s not just inches around your waist.  Sugar is a potential toxin.  The liver becomes fatty, and it starts to release small, dense particles of LDL, which are most damaging kind of blood vessels.  There is also some interesting new data suggesting that a third of some common cancers, including breast and colon cancer, have insulin receptors on them, so you could be fueling indolent cancers.

If that is what sugar does to your body, what does it do to your skin?

The Prevention article Face Facts About Sugar explains:

At blame is a natural process that’s known as glycation, in which the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins to form harmful new molecules called advanced glycation end products (or, appropriately, AGEs for short). The more sugar you eat, the more AGEs you develop. “As AGEs accumulate, they damage adjacent proteins in a domino-like fashion,” explains Fredric Brandt, MD, a dermatologist in private practice in Miami and New York City and author of 10 Minutes 10 Years. Most vulnerable to damage: collagen and elastin, the protein fibers that keep skin firm and elastic. In fact, collagen is the most prevalent protein in the body. Once damaged, springy and resilient collagen and elastin become dry and brittle, leading to wrinkles and sagging. These aging effects start at about age 35 and increase rapidly after that, according to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology.

Besides damaging collagen, a high-sugar diet also affects what type of collagen you have–another factor in how resistant skin is to wrinkling, says Brandt. The most abundant collagens in the skin are types I, II, and III, with type III being the most stable and longest lasting. Glycation transforms type III collagen into type I, which is more fragile. “When that happens, the skin looks and feels less supple,” says Brandt. The final blow: AGEs deactivate your body’s natural antioxidant enzymes, leaving you more vulnerable to sun damage–still the main cause of skin aging.

According to the article How giving up sugar can take 20 years off your looks from The Daily Mail:

…  a direct link has been established between the amount of sugar circulating in the blood and how old a person looks. Scientists from the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, and Unilever in the UK, measured the blood sugar levels of 600 men and women aged between 50 and 70.

They then showed photographs of these people to a board of 60 independent assessors and found that those with higher blood sugar looked older than those with lower blood sugar. In fact for every 1mm/litre increase in blood sugar, the perceived age of that person rose by five months.

‘We took into account other factors such as whether or not that person smoked and yet still the effects were clear — the higher the blood glucose, the older the person looked,’ says Dr David Gunn, a senior scientist at Unilever who helped conduct the trial.

‘Those who looked the oldest of all were the diabetics in the group. Because of their condition, they will have had the high levels of glucose for a long period of time.’ The skin experts agree. A diet high in sugar is a disaster for the face.

‘There is no point in spending lots of money on expensive skin creams if you are eating a diet high in sugar,’ says Dr Aamer Khan, a cosmetic dermatologist who is also medical director of the Harley Street Skin Clinic. ’Yes, you can protect and moisturise your skin from the outside with creams, but you need to feed and stimulate the growth of good strong skin cells from inside too and sugar will sabotage that.’

Are there any skincare products or ingredients out there that might help slow down this glycation process?  It turns out that scientists and cosmetic chemists are working on it:

Skin care too makes a difference. Scientists have been on the hunt for potent antiglycation agents since the ’80s, when biochemist Anthony Cerami, PhD, found that aminoguanidine molecules block glucose-collagen pairs from forming, but products containing viable AGE fighters only began to appear on the market about five years ago with the introduction of Brandt’s Lineless range. Now that glycation is widely recognized as a major cause of aging, lots of comprehensive anti-aging creams contain AGE fighters too. Superstar multitasker green tea has been proven to significantly interfere with the glycation process while stimulating collagen synthesis—so if you’re using a product containing green tea (or drinking it regularly), you’re already protecting your skin. “Anything that stimulates the fibroblasts to build new collagen is going to help eradicate damage,” Brandt says, noting that retinoids and some dermal fillers fall into this category. “Since your body has a process where old collagen is broken down by enzymes and new collagen is generated, what’s going to happen is that the old glycated collagen will eventually be eliminated and replaced by un-glycated collagen.”

(From Sugar and Aging: How to Fight Glycation – Elle)

I’ve been trying to cut back on sugar for over two years now, and I struggle with it on a daily basis.  I have finally admitted to myself that I have a sugar addiction.  If you are thinking that it is time to start cutting back on sugar keep in mind that sugar is hidden in all sorts of ready made foods, condiments, and processed foods besides the obvious desserts and baked goods.  I know from my personal experience that trying to limit my sugar intake has been next to impossible.  I started by cutting out my teaspoon of sugar in my coffee in the morning, and I try to eat small amounts of dessert when I have dessert, but I do still crave sweets.  I see how much my four and a half year-old son loves sweets, and I realize that our sugar addictions start very early.

One last thing – just how much sugar should the average person consume in a day (if you really need to have sugar)?  According to the Prevention article Face Facts About Sugar:

Keep added sugar to no more than 10% of total calories. If you’re a 45-year-old woman of average height (5-foot-4), that’s 160 calories (or 10 teaspoons) from added sugar–about the number in one 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola or six Hershey’s Kisses. By comparison, the average American consumes 31 teaspoons per day of added sugar, or the equivalent of 465 calories.

Watch for hidden sugar in food. Many prepared foods contain hefty amounts of sugar–but it’s hidden under aliases–including barley malt, corn syrup, dextrose, fruit juice concentrate, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, and turbinado–on ingredient panels. The key is determining how many teaspoons of sugar each serving contains. Doing this is easy: Check the nutrition label for sugars, which are listed in grams under total carbohydrates, and then divide that number by 4 (each teaspoon of sugar is equal to 4 g) to convert it to teaspoons. For example, if sugars are listed as 12 g, you’re getting 3 teaspoons of sugar per serving. Avoid high fructose corn syrup. This type of sweetener, which is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to fructose (another form of sugar), is believed to produce more AGEs than other types. Because HFCS extends the shelf life of foods and is sweeter and cheaper than other sugars, it’s a popular ingredient in soda, fruit-flavored drinks, and packaged foods such as breads, crackers, and other snacks. You can spot it in ingredient lists on nutrition labels.

Limiting our sugar consumption will help both our bodies and our skin.  Certainly if we can drastically cut down on the amount of sugar we consume we’ll be much healthier.  Good luck to everyone out there trying to limit their sugar intake!

Lots More Reading about How Bad Sugar Is For You (if you are so inclined to keep reading about this topic):

• What Is Food?  - Mark Bittman in The New York Times
• Your Brain on Sugar – Marie Claire
• Sugar Addiction: A Nation In Need of Rehab – Jeff O’Connell
• Fight the Negative Effects of Sugar in Your Skin – Daily Beauty
• This is How Corn Syrup Affects Your Skin – Daily Beauty
•  I Quit Sugar -  a blog by Australian television personality Sarah Wilson.  She even has a sugar free cookbook.
• Spoonful of Sugar Free – recipes and tips on going sugar free

Image from healthytimesblog.com

Back in Vogue – Retin-A April 16, 2012

While we are in pursuit of the latest and greatest skincare ingredients and the newest products that promise to miraculously give us perfect skin overnight we can lose sight of the tried and true skincare ingredients and products that really work as promised.  Case in point – Retin-A.

Vogue magazine recently published an article about Retin-A extolling its virtues and explaining its history:

All retinoids—the umbrella name for a class of compounds that encompasses retinol, retinoic acid, retinyl palmitate, retinol aldehyde, and a host of others—are derivatives of vitamin A, one of the body’s key nutrients. Vitamin A’s mighty chemical makeup was identified in 1931, and the man who isolated and described it, Swiss chemist Paul Karrer, was rewarded with a Nobel Prize for his efforts. Retinol was a slightly rickety compound, prone to quick degeneration when exposed to oxygen and light. But by the 1960s, researchers were metabolizing retinol into its more stable (and more active) cousin retinoic acid and were beginning to understand its tremendous power in skin-care applications. Retin-A—a brand name for retinoic acid (also known as tretinoin)—was FDA-approved in 1971 as a prescription-strength treatment for acne, but dermatologists noticed almost immediately that a lot more than just breakouts were vanishing. Scores of patients began reporting a reduction in fine lines and hyperpigmentation, and the stampede began.

“Vitamin A is the go-to skin-care ingredient,” says Jennifer Linder, M.D., a Scottsdale, Arizona, dermatologist and chief scientific officer for the clinical line PCA Skin. “The best anti-ager is sunscreen; the next is vitamin A. Nothing else approaches it,” she says. Virtually all skin-care experts agree on this point—and in today’s world of peptides, growth factors, glacial water, and extracts from rare Corsican flowers, that’s saying a lot. “You can imagine that the question dermatologists get asked every single day is ‘What really works?’ ” says Linder. “Retinoids trigger change in the skin to make it look clearer and more youthful; they actually help skin get back to a healthier place. And there’s strong, strong clinical data behind that.”

What does Retin-A do exactly for the skin that is so effective?  Allure sums it up well:

HOW IT WORKS: Retinol speeds up cell turnover, sweeps away the dead cells that cause dullness, and boosts collagen and elastin by stimulating cellular repair at the deepest level of the skin. It also pumps up circulation by increasing blood-vessel formation, so skin looks healthier.

While Retin-A is the most effective anti-aging product on the market and can help erase both fine lines and acne for some people it can be irritating.  Known side effects of Retin-A include redness, irritation, dryness, and flakiness.  Keep in mind, though, that these side effects do not last forever.  After a few weeks, once your skin adjusts to the product, you will no longer experience those side effects.

Also remember that there are numerous prescription strengths and non-prescription versions of Retin-A available so there really is a formulation out there for everyone.  Once again I’ll turn to the Vogue article to explain:

In an attempt to tame the wildness of retinoic acid, researchers revisited its milder parent molecule, retinol. For decades it had been neglected as a skin-care ingredient because it was even trickier to stabilize than retinoic acid. The genius of retinol, researchers realized, is that it isn’t active when applied to skin. Retinol goes on in an inert form and is then switched to on-mode by your own skin. Your cells receive the retinol, hang on to it until they’re ready, and then convert only what they need into retinoic acid. This has tremendous benefits, says dermatologist Dennis Gross, M.D.: “It dramatically reduces the negative effects of retinoic acid—the peeling, sun sensitivity, redness—but has all the same fundamental results. It just takes a little longer to get there.”

The latest breakthrough has been in making retinol stable enough to live in a bottle with other active ingredients. (Until recently, says Linder, some over-the-counter products touting retinol as an active ingredient were largely ineffectual, as the retinol frequently degenerated well before application.) In the past few years, cosmeceutical companies have made big advances in the microencapsulation of retinol: The retinol molecules are each surrounded by a tiny polymer film, like a slim-fitting suit of armor that protects it from light, oxygen, and other aggressors. When you apply the cream to your face, you create chinks in the armor, which frees the retinol to do its work.

There are so many different ways to adjust Retin-A or retinol use.  You do not have to use it every night to get great results.  If you live in an area that is cold during the winter you can use your Retin-A twice a week during that season and then bump up your use during the summer when the weather is warmer and there is more humidity in the air.  You might need to experiment a bit, but in the end you’ll figure out the right strength and how many times you need to use it a week in order to see great results with your skin.

I love Retin-A so much (I use a prescription version that is 0.05% strength and apply it three times a week at night) that I always wonder why everyone isn’t using some version of Retin-A or retinol.  If you haven’t tried Retin-A yet consider it, and if you have used Retin-A or retinol in the past but stopped figure out a version that will work for you.

Sources and Further Reading:

• The Return to Retinol – Vogue
• Anti-Aging All-Stars – Allure
• Retinol: What Is It and How Does It Work?  - Daily Beauty
• Rethinking Retinoids – Skin Inc.

My Related Post:

• All About Retinol  - a relative older post of mine, but a goody (if I do say so myself)

Image from prescriptionmedications.biz

Anti-Aging Musts April 5, 2012

Creating an anti-aging skincare routine isn’t all that hard. If you keep a few key things in mind you’ll help your skin look great now and into the future.

Though I don’t advocate going crazy with anti-aging treatments when you are in your 20s do start thinking at that time about protecting your skin. As the Web MD article 10 Ways to Slow the Aging Process explains:

Think the early twenties is too soon to see signs of aging skin? Dermatologists see them commonly.

“The earliest signs of aging really start around the eyes. You can start to see some fine lines, and then on the face in general, some broken blood vessels and sun spots,” says Doris Day, MD, a dermatologist in private practice in New York City and clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center. Typically, the more sun exposure, the greater the damage, she says.

Fortunately, the twenties and thirties are also prime decades for women to learn how to counter sun damage and other factors that age the skin, says Heidi Waldorf, MD, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is also director of laser and cosmetic dermatology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center.

“What you do for your skin or against your skin will have ramifications as you age,” she says.

First, younger women must understand the pitfalls. For instance, Waldorf sees many who still embrace tanning. Often, they wrongly believe that skin aging is something to worry about down the road, not in their youth, Waldorf says.

Another common habit that damages young skin: smoking.

Ok so the article already mentioned two of the big no nos – sun and smoking. Here are more tips about those and other anti-aging musts:

• Use sunscreen daily, even when it is overcast outside. When spending the day outside wear a hat and sunglasses, and reapply sunscreen every 2 to 3 hours when spending the day outdoors. Don’t forget that you get lots and lots of sun exposure even when you are going about your normal daily activities like driving, walking around the neighborhood, sitting by a window, and running errands.
• Don’t smoke – smoking ruins your skin is so many ways. See my post below for more information about smoking and your skin.
• Maintain a healthy lifestyle – exercise, practice relaxation techniques, and eat right. When you take good care of yourself it shows in your skin.
• Use skincare products with antioxidants in them to protect your skin from pollution, free radicals, and the sun.
• Use a retinol or prescription Retin-A skincare product starting in your 30s in order to correct skin damage, smooth your skin, build collagen, and treat acne (if you need to).

My Related Posts:

• Don’t Neglect Your Skin! Start Early, See the Results Later
• The Skincare Products Everyone Needs
• How Wrinkles Form
• No Lie: Why You Really Need Your Beauty Sleep
• Let’s Debunk Some Sunscreen Myths
• How Smoking Ruins Your Skin
• Skincare Tip: Add Antioxidants to Your Home care Regime
• All About Retinol

Sources and Further Reading:

• 10 Skin Tips to Slow the Aging Process - Web MD
• The 8 Best Skin Tips You’ve Never Heard - Allure
• The 10 Commandments of Anti-Aging - Allure

Image from hghwatch.com