For those of us in the colder parts of the country, the harshness of winter is taking its toll.  Taking its toll on our skin in many ways!

The biggest problem in the winter is dryness and dehydration.  This can make even young skin look tired and parched.  The key is to lock the moisture in and protect it from the dehydrating effects of the cold winds as well as the dry heat we are exposed to.

Now if we could alll live and work in an humidified environment that would be ideal.  At the very least get a humidifier for your bedroom, it will make all the difference!  A cool mist is most sanitary and prefered.

Moisturize moisturize moisturize!  Now is the time for heavy duty moisture, humectants such as hyaluronic acid are great.  Take the time for a weekly ultra hydrating mask.  Be liberal with lip glosses to protect chapped lips from the environment.

If your skiiing, don't forget sunscreen!

Summer is undoubtedly the best time of the year. We are all outdoors a whole lot more, but so is our skin...
How best to take care of your skin?
Sunscreen is a no-brainer, but which kind to use? If you have sensitive skin a lot of the sunscreens available can be irritating and cause breakouts and/or irritation.  A good way for women to take care of summer skin is use a tinted moisturizer or sheer foundation.  I like Sisley's sheer foundation which is purely natural and nonirritating.  Laura Mercier makes a very good highly rated tinted moisturizer.
During the summer go for the minimum of makeup and moisturize well to protect from  the elements.  Be carefull with products that contain retinol or other harsh antia ging ingredients since when you are in the sun you can cause increased inflammation and irritation.
Consider taking Heliocare a supplement that reduces damage produced by the sun.
Plain old aloe vera is a great solution for sunburns and if they are really rough consider a mild steroid such as hyrdrocortisone for a very short time.
Rachel Sullivan MD

Skin Care can be confusing.  There are so many ingredients and so many claims.  Just what are cosmeceuticals and how can they work to improve skin?

The term cosmeceutical was first used by Albert Kligman, the University of Pennsylvania researcher credited with discovering the effectiveness of Retin-A, a vitamin A, in smoothing aging skins. Now this term is used broadly to describe a spectrum of topical ingredients that are potentially benificial to the skin, specifically beneficial in treating skin photo-aging.

Cosmeceuticals are widely used today in many skin creams and can be found in products at your local pharmacy or at more expensive department stores and skin care lines.

Just because it is called a cosmeceutical doesn't mean that it is definitely effective, only potentially effective so a lot of ingredients can use this claim.  I think that is important to research your ingredients in regards to their effectiveness.  If a cosmeceutical is an anti-oxidant there is a good chance that will be an effective anti aging ingredient.  A few anti oxidants used commonly are alpha lipoic acid, vitamin c, vitamin e, grape seed extract, idabenone, coenzyme Q10 and more.  There are other cosmeceuticals that work in different ways such as argireline, DMAE and the retinoids.  Retinoids actually induce inflammation in the skin as one of the side effects but are very effective in reversing fine lines and wrinkles.  The most effective of these are prescription strength but these are also the most irritating to the skin.

How does sleep affect the skin?

What can I do to look less tired?

As an emergency physician working night shifts and crazy hours sleep is often a rare commodity.  How to keep looking good?  Here are some tips I have learned over the years:

Sleep when you can:   Every moment makes a difference, whether its a 5 minute nap or 20 minutes here or there, it can make a huge difference!

Avoid salty foods:  Believe it or not that puffy eyed look is not from lack of sleep but from excess salt in processed foods, it causes free water to accumulate where you want it least.  Drink lots of water and snack healthily on fruits and yes carbohydrates.

Exercise!:  Just ten minutes a day of getting your heart rate elevated will do amazing things to your body.  So even when your feet are dragging and your eyes are heavy lidded, take the stairs instead of the elevator or go for that quick jog.  Exercise is also a HUGE stress reliever.

Undereye Concealer:  When all  else fails this is my lifesaver.  I can come off a night shift, sleep 3 hours and throw a bit of concealer on and complain "Oh I am so tired" and have people comment, "but you don't look tired!"  My personal favorite is Cle de Peau.

How does sleep effect the skin?  It has a tremendous effect on skin, skin can look fatigued, saggy and puffy without enough sleep in the long run.  It truly is beauty sleep..

So... If I spend all this money on skin creams, does it make a difference?

The answer is yes and no..  I have found that the people that respond amazingly well to my anti aging products are those who have let their skin be at the mercy of the environment.  Those who worship the sun, who smoke, who haven't used a moisturizer in years...  These people respond dramatically to my anti aging creams and a difference is noticable in a matter of days to weeks.  For the skin care junkie who uses sunscreen daily, doesn't smoke, gets plenty of sleep, uses a good moisturizer daily, results are more subtle although present.

Skin looks old and wrinkled because of environmental stress, such as sun, oxidants and pollutants, dehydration and just breakdown of collagen over time.  What is most likely to respond to a skin cream are the fine lines at the corners of your eyes, the lack of lustre of the skin, age spots, puffiness, dehydration, and lack of overall "youthfull glow".  The deeper lines drawn by age such as the ones around the edges of our mouths (frown lines) or deeper lines in our forehead will not respond to a cream, since these are due to collagen breakdown at a deeper level.  These do respond best to botox, but beware, since botox will often give an artificial look with lack of expression.  Injectable fillers can also help these.

If your skin is dry, dehydrated, lacklustre, with crinkly fine lines you will see a dramatic difference immediately with a good skin cream.  Over several weeks a significant long term effect will be present as all the antioxidants and peptides kick in.  If you already take great care of your skin in make take several weeks but you will notice a change, since the peptides and anti aging ingredients work over several weeks to renew collagen and improve the skin.

 

There are quite a lot of skin care products on the market, and if you look a the price of some of them you will be amazed.  It is not unusual for large brand name prodcuts to cost hundreds of dollars. Does that make them better? 

The answer is no.  The reason these products are so expensive is the money that goes into advertising and marketing jacks up the price.  You can buy decent products for much less money.  But use caution, not all cheaper products are good.  Look at your ingredients, look at the scientific data behind your ingredients before you pull out your Visa.

Rachel Sullivan MD