Wetter Is Better: For Your Skin

Wetter is better: making our facial expressions can etch those smile lines into our skin, but studies also show that well hydrated skin is much less likely to become etched. We know this intuitively: think about folding a thick piece of paper: much harder to really form a crease than a thin piece of paper. How about trying the same technique wet: you may not even be able to generate a proper crease. Studies have started to look at how our skin ages and those who are well hydrated have significantly fewer wrinkles. So that even starting proper hydration at a younger age will improve the skin. And how to get that hydration into your skin is critical. Element protection, sun protection, chemical protection, and proper moisturizing is all important. Your asthetician can help you know if your skin is optimally hydrated or if the next time you select a product your skin hydration can be improved.

Red Face in Teens, Tweens or Twenties Not Likely Rosacea

Have you been worrying about the red color to your face? Did you think it was left over sunburn from not using proper sunscreen? Rosacea is a skin condition. The most common feature is a dry patchy redness to the skin, and it is a specific skin condition many do not know they have. It's important to get a diagnosis and skin care can treat and calm or make it worse and ideally should be tailored to your individual skin. Teens and young tweens do not need to be as concerned with this condition however as it usually occurs between the ages of 30 and 60. Another reason to get a consultation with your esthetician as you age is to take into consideration that you may have now developed Rosacea that you had not realized that you have had. Red face in youth may more likely be allergic reactions, inflammation due to acne, sweating or blushing.

Stand Up, There, That's a Better Smile Too!

Slumping never helped our circulation, our mood, nor our shape. Posture is critical to one's inner beauty and demeanor. Everyone knows that when we want to survey ourselves critically, do we look glance as we slouch in front of a mirror, of course not, we stand up, maybe even hold our breath, and tightened those stomach muscles. And suddenly your face brightens and your natural glow is enhanced. But posture is more than just not slouching when you drive, cook, or type. Posture can be one's bone health. At least 25% of women over the age of 50 will experience a spine fracture in their lifetime. The permanent hunch that results from spine compression fractures cannot be reversed. So when you are thinking about your skin, and your beauty, don't forget your posture, and get your physician to evaluate your posture for medical conditions that may be compromising it.

When is A Flush Not Just A Blush Or A Rush

Are you suddenly flushed? Feverish, hot flashing, embarrassed because you mom just busted out nude pictures of you to your new boyfriend? All of those reasons to be flushed are not much to worry about. Flushing to the skin in those cases probably is just actual blood flow rushing to the skin filling the blood vessels: blood red, and the flush can subside as quickly as the giggle of embarrassment or the heat of the hot flash. But other responses, don't be so fast to write them off. For instance, flushing red within 15-60 minutes of eating fish could actually be a sign of poisoning. Now those suffering from that sort of reaction the skin flush is a histamine release and the histamine release doesn't usually just cause cheek blush: could be whole upper body and have other symptoms such as fast heart rate, nausea, headache, and in worse cases more severe system wide symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. If the flush you have is itchy, as a raised area or a bump, consider a bug bite. But simple blush to both sides of cheeks, it's unlikely that's going to be the source. Those with more chronic red and blotchy completions are more likely to have Rosacea, a skin condition that is common, and formal definitions can be found at their national organization site. Those with rosacea also may have a burning or stinging to the redness, feeling like you've just come in from the sleet or from running a 5K into the wind on a sandy beech. Too harsh a chemical in your soap can also produce that same redness and stinging feeling that's just improper skin care. If you regularly get care with an aesthetician then she can help you understand your diagnosis, which is the first step in leaading to a cure.

Gain a Pound, Gain a Pimple

We make a liver protein called Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG), and it carries around our hormones making sure they don’t over act. Too much and we don’t have enough free hormone too little and we have too much. I think of it as a scrotal hormone, odd, I know, but there you have it, the same stuff , or darn near the same stuff, in guys, is made in the scrotum. Yuk right, but you won’t forget the thing will you! Here’s a new fact: Weight gain will decrease SHBG. This is mediated by both direct liver effects, and the amount of cholesterol and hormone production, as well as the amount of insulin in the circulation which is increased by being over weight or obese. In fact insulin is so tied in with SHBG you can use blood testing of it as a predictor of who is going to become diabetic.

Laser Skin Treatment Safety

Women who are considering laser treatments for skin conditions such as rosacea, acne, pigment changes, read spots, vessels around your nose, wrinkling or hair removal have concerns about the safety and the possibility of side effects. Laser light is electromagnetic radiation, when used in a specific beam length and in a focused way, can be designed to treat the conditions mentioned. Lasers make use of photothermal, photochemical and photoablative effects on the tissue and it's imporant to understand which therapy deployed is most likely to help you accomplish what you want to treat. Laser therapies when used properly are extremely safe, but it is still possible to have a side effect. Ablative lasers have more potential to treat severe conditions, but the non-ablative therapies can be extremely effective with less risk of side effects. One of the best ways to check this out is to first have your physician do a test spot treatment. In our practice it is standard to do some form of test spot. We just fire the laser and watch the effect over a few minutes. A more effective way to check this is to do a test spot and then recheck the skin’s response in 24 to 48 hours.  Since all skin types react differently to lasers, it is important to carefully monitor the test spot to see how your individual reaction may be. Most changes you will see are completely normal in the laser healing process including: a darkening of freckles or pigmented lesions, slight sunburn appearance 1-24 hours after treatment, minimal temporary swelling, and you may in addition have minor discomfort 1-2 hours after treatment. What you should not see if blistering, prolonged redness or moderate to severe swelling. Some time we use additional therapies to cool the skin or heal the skin after laser treatments. These aren’t really necessary after most spot treatments, but don’t forget to ask your individual provider if you need any special skin care after your test spot is done.

Block or Screen: The best Sun Protection?

Winter snows are glistening and the exposure you get to the sun just keeps coming. As you wander down the slopes, or slip along with your doggie on a morning stroll thinking, "save my skin" or "just lather up the baby oil" one last glow of tan can't hurt, right? Wrong! Protect Protect Protect! You're a woman, and probably hormonal, or taking hormones, or taking birth control pills, or leaking a bit of progesterone into your system from your IUD, or if you have a belly full of some baby and placenta: the hormones are summoning skin damage as that first ray of light beams in your morning window. So what's the scoop sunblock or sunscreen? Well, technically, blocking or screening are not the professional terms. And realistically, it's not the exact way it's applied either whether it be a powder, a gel, a lotion, a sprays, or an ointment, if it has Sun Protection Factor (SPF) then you have some protection. Now you may have to watch expiration dates on some of the more fragile formulation, so read labels. The rays of the sun damage the skin by exposing it to  UVA and UVB rays. UVB has always been the big bad UV to avoid, the "B" we nickname for the "Burn", but "A" could be thought of as the "Aging" UV. And as for the SPFs. The FDA has approved 17 agents for use in sunscreens that will provide SPF. Some are organic or the chemical sunscreens which absorb the UV before it strikes and others are the inorganic literally forming a physical barrier that also works by being strongly reflective. And lots of products have a bit of both. You can read an entire review the UVA and UVB at the Skin Cancer Foundation.
 So back to SPF, what exactly are you getting. Well, first of all there is no known UVA rating for protection. No SPF grading system is for UVA. So all of the grading is for UVB. And the ratings are for "amount of time, relatively, it takes you to burn.." A very general term. So if you normally burn in 10 minutes and you are wearing SPF 30, you should be able to stay in the sun for 300 minutes before you burn. But that doesn't mean that you haven't absorbed a lot of heat during that time, nor that the product has stayed on  that long, nor does it really mean that you really took that long to burn in the first place. Nor does an alarm sound when you have incomplete or inconsistent application, are at altitude, or exposed to conditions like wind, or taking medication that can compound the effects of the sun. Nor do these figures correct for age or ethnicity, that's basically up to us, so these products have a lot to be desired in their labeling. .And the concern over the lack of UVA protection was so great that last  July 3, 2009 caused a lot of alarm when they reported that three of five brand-name products "either don't protect the skin from sun damage sufficiently, contain hazardous chemicals, or both, according to a report by the watchdog organization Environmental Working Group."


And if you want to see just how smart you really are about this:
How about the sun safety IQ

Screen The Sun: Anti-Age Your Skin

New reports calling Sun Screens a cause of cancer is not true, nor its it technically possible to decrhonify (anti-age) your skin with sunscreen alone. Anti-oxidants, retinols, and a regimen of care and consultation is the best for these purposes. Nor is it true that there is any evidence that the products actually promote cancer instead of protect. I feel that our sun screens are extremely safe, but if you want to just use the powdered on minerals you will likely be the safest of all. Lots of public stories circulating in all aspects of medicine, but with sun screens, it seems the myths multiply rather than mumify. Your skin story should start like this: 1. Do you have healthy skin, for that you need to have a discussion with a health care provider who understands your body and your skin, 2. Can you persevere the health you have in your skin, for that you need MORE sun protection, 3. Can you reverse the damage and reduce your changes of skin cancer, again, back to the professional to discuss and to really understand how to dechronify your skin.

Smoke, Secondary Smoke, Firesides and Candles: Causes of Acne

Adult skin is sensitive to smoke. Smoke of all kinds. Most adult women have acne with large comedones (are you still being unscientific and calling these black heads and white heads?!). Smoke, especially cigarettes are a common cause of these types of acne lesions. So experiencing an increase in skin issues. Think about total smoke exposure and how much protection your skin needs for those winter fireside family get-togethers.And come to Hada to get a consultation on getting clearer skin Other factors to watch for in your skin issues: stress, milk intake, high glycemic index foods (those that release sugar).

Rose Blush or Skin Problem?

If you are fair and flush easily, it may not just be shyness, you might have rosacea. It is a skin condition but it's precipitated by anything irritating: could be hot food, or a menopausal flush or medications. There are actually four subtypes of rosacea, but all cases have the flush, most have inflammatory papules (red bumps), some pustules(pimples), and telangiectases. Some people will have these conditions in a background of a dry sting or swollen face. It would be rare to have associated other symptoms such as eye symptoms, so if your flushing has dry mouth, or eye itching, consult your health provider. We all have certain triggers that make the flush worse, and helping you skin is to learn them and avoid your triggers. Effective treateaments include topical antibiotics or oral antibiotics, retinoids, both the intense pulsed light (IPL) or vascular laser treatments give better long term control of symptoms. Consulting a trained laser therapist can help you plan your treatments.