Skin care can seem so complicated, especially when you start throwing around medical-grade terms like retinols and free-radicals.
We’ve all heard about cleansers, toners, and moisturizers, and that’s a great first step in taking care of your skin.
The world of medical aesthetics and prescription grade skin care adds new opportunities for next level care of your skin. It also adds in some new concepts in maintaining skin health, and treating concerns.
We are here to break down the basics and help walk you through an easy, general purpose skin care regimen.
We are also always available in the office, or over the phone, to give you a complete and customized skin care regimen. Our skin care consultant, Michele, is dedicated to working with you to meet your skin care goals – and to develop the perfect regimen for your budget, lifestyle, and concerns.
This skin care regimen is good for “almost” everyone, with the exception of pregnant or lactating women, those with serious acne concerns, or clients with darker skin types. If this applies to you, please give us a call and we will help you customize products just for you!
This is also our CEO, Liz’s, exact skin care regimen. It takes time, but she has seen drastic improvements in the condition of her skin over the past 6 years of regular product usage.
We like to talk about skin care essentials as:
A: Vitamin A, or Retin-A/Retinoid, which is the most highly recommended and most well-researched skin care product in the world. It has so many benefits because it promotes regular cell-turnover/exfoliation that prevents acne, softens fine lines, and stimulates collagen growth — helping our skin stay and look young. Retin-A should be used only at night and it does increase your sun sensitivity, so you must be committed to wearing sunscreen regularly and correctly.
B: Prevent Burns! High quality sunscreen with a physical block should be your best friend. Sun exposure is the #1 way skin ages. Sun exposure creates free radicals in the skin and breaks down skin tissue, as well as promoting pigment/dark spot production. Sunscreen lasts only about 2-3 hours, so you must reapply throughout the day — and recognize tricky ways you may be exposing your skin to the sun, like when driving or sitting near a window at work. We recommend a sunscreen with a physical block, like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, listed as a first or second ingredient on the packaging.
C: Vitamin C is a key anti-oxidant, which helps prevent free radicals from breaking down collagen in your skin. It’s a preventative product that when regularly used can actually reverse the signs of skin aging, like fine lines and sagging skin. We recommend a vitamin-C serum used in the morning.
CORRECT:
Do you have a skin care concern like acne, aging or pigment that we can help treat? This is where you may in a product or two to round out and amp up your regimen.
For acne, we have several products to suppress oil production and better exfoliate your skin.
For aging, we have products that can boost your own collagen production or smooth fine lines.
And for pigment concerns, we can offer pigment suppressors with or with the medical grade ingredient hydroquinone.
Dryer skin types can add in a moisturizer with a hylauronic acid base, though sometimes dry skin is really just masking poorly exfoliated skin, and adding in daily retin-A use can resolve that dry feeling.
Our most recommended skin care regimen: (and our CEO Liz’s personal regimen, see her dramatic before/after photos)
Morning:
- Step One: wash face (the cleanser you use really doesn’t matter, but it should not be too abrasive)
- Step Two: Apply Vitamin C serum
- Step Three: Apply Hydroquinone to suppress pigment production
- Step Four: Apply Sunscreen
Evening:
- Step One: wash face
- Step Two: Apply Hydroquinone to suppress pigment production
- Step Three: Apply Retin-A
- Optional: in the winter months, apply a moisturizer
That’s it! Three to four easy steps to radiant skin!
*Results may vary from patient to patient