Glowing skin is the holy grail of dermatology. What gives this appearance and what can we do to help our skin?
Healthy skin looks calm, hydrated and even-toned, this reflects light better and is described as skin glow. Our skin cells are always renewing, from time to time gentle exfoliation allows the removal of dead skin cells again this makes skin appear brighter and allows better penetration of topical serums and emollients.
At night time skin renewal is at its peak, this is the time to apply active ingredients such as vitamin C and other anti-oxidants. Tackle pigmentation with vitamin C and liquorice. Dry inflamed skin is a common problem I encounter. I tackle this by looking firstly at skin care regime. I would say 50% of those I see in my clinic have too complicated a regime that is actually damaging the skin barrier and unbalancing the natural acidic pH. Finding a gentle cleanser is the most important part of a good skin care regime.
Applying anti-oxidant serums and oils will help to reduce inflammation and mitigate against the free radical damage caused by UV exposure, pollution amongst other common daily stresses our skin experiences. To help hydrate skin I recommend applying the active serum and then applying a moisturizer. Once a week I recommend a hydrating facial mask.
If despite these changes to your skin care regime skin still looks dull or lacking hydration, there more active steps you can take. I recommend skin needling especially when combined with anti-oxidants and plumping hyaluronic acid. This will stimulate new collagen. Skin appears firm and clearer. A course of 3 treatments is recommended. If down time is an issue then IPL laser in my view is an excellent solution. By varying the wavelengths different issues can be tackled, reducing pigmentation, thread veins and stimulating new collagen.
Finally to really plump and hydrate skin, skin boosters work incredibly well. Here hyaluronic acid, a natural substance found in skin is injected into the skin attracting water and giving deep long lasting hydration and skin glow.
Our skin reflects our lifestyle, especially as we age. regular exercise and a healthy balanced diet is wonderful for skin health.
A diet rich fruit and vegetables will supplement our bodies natural anti-oxidant defences. Yellow and orange peppers for example contain caretinoids, powerful anti-oxidants. Tomatoes contain lycopene that protect against sun exposure .Advocados contain high levels of Vitamin E, an important skin anti-oxidant. Oily fish and nuts help to maintain a healthy skin barrier and swapping your daily latte for a cup of green tea will significantly boost anti-oxidants and protect your skin.
What can a cream actually do?
The area of the skin where the collagen and elastin are found is in the dermis, these structures keep skin firm, the so-called skin’s scaffolding. As we get older intrinsic ageing and the effects of environment e.g. UV exposure, stress, pollution, smoking etc start to degrade the collagen and elastin. As a consequence wrinkles develop and skin starts to sag. It makes sense therefore that it would be unlikely that applying a cream would immediately correct this deficit. Although newer technologies allow for deeper penetration of topical preparations I am not aware of any cream that can truly firm skin after a few applications with lasting results. That said serums and creams with anti-oxidants can protect skin and mitigate against the free radical damage from the effects of pollution and sun exposure amongst other things. So in effect they can protect against damage to the skin’s collagen and elastin over time, if used regularly.
What can you do to prevent sagging where possible?
Over time we inevitably lose volume in our faces this is though loss of dermis, fat and muscle and bony changes. That said there is increasing evidence that external factors such as sun exposure, pollution, stress etc. have a significant effect on skin .A healthy diet with anti-oxidants, stopping smoking, reducing alcohol and stress and wearing an effective sun screen can dramatically reduce these extrinsic ageing factors. Twin studies increasingly show that these external variables can be more important than genetics in how our skin ages.
Can non-surgical procedures actually lift skin?
I am a believer in maintaining skin health and having a good skin care regime, healthy diet and having intermittent non-surgical interventions such as micro-needling, Mesotherapy and laser treatments can over time significantly slow skin ageing. Micro-needling works by mechanically damaging collagen, thus stimulating new collagen. Fractional laser causes multiple so called microthermal treatment zones in the epidermis and dermis. The damaged cells are expelled and this stimulates new collagen. Mesotherapy works by injecting a cocktail of vitamins into the skin to aid development of new collagen and give skin its glow.
What can I do to prevent or at least reduce skin sagging?
Always look for skin creams with active ingredients that protect skin from external damage. Always wear a sun cream even in winter. Remember although there is less UVB around in Winter, levels of UVA are still significant. UVA is a longer wavelength that can penetrate through glass. UVA ( or UV-ageing ) will over time cause a breakdown in collagen and elastin. It is vital therefore to make sure your sun cream not only protects against UVB, but also UVA. There is also a lot of talk now about the damaging effects of even longer wavelengths such as Infra red A and high energy visible light ( HEVL) that is emitted by screens. With this in mind physical blocks such as zinc oxide may be important as they simply work by reflecting light away from skin. There are also sun creams with anti-oxidants that also help to mitigate against the free radical damage from light exposure.
Any lifestyle tips that you recommend?
Firstly stop smoking. Smoking like sun exposure causes free radical damage. This damage causes the up-regulation of enzymes such as MMP-1 that breakdown collagen and elastin. There is increasing evidence now that pollution particularly in conjunction with UV exposure causes skin ageing. Topical and oral ant-oxidants can help to protect against free radical damage from the above. A diet rich fruit and vegetables will supplement our bodies natural anti-oxidant defences. Yellow and orange peppers for example contain caretinoids, powerful anti-oxidants. Tomatoes contain lycopene that protect against sun exposure .Advocados contain high levels of Vitamin E, an important skin anti-oxidant. A healthy diet, gentle exercise and sun protection will all help to protect skin and ultimately reduce skin sagging.
