The importance of skin quality

 

In the overall package of youth and beauty, a healthy complexion is paramount.

The current – fingers crossed – overdone Instagram craze is bonkers. So, once a sensible scaffold of support is in place with traditional fillers, investment should be directed into a glowing complexion.

This is either to restore a loss or maintain a youthful glow.

Ultimately, our skin tells tales on us –  how old we are and how we’ve lived/live our lives. Sun, partying, diet, excess or lack of care. The skin will dob you in.

Nothing signals youth and vitality like clear, even, supple and hydrated skin and for those of us who don’t drink enough water, regulalry enjoy wine ‘o clock, or just haven’t really bothered with our skin, there are a stellar range of products and procedures to help us stay fresh faced.

Collagen reduction

Decade on decade from our mid-twenties our good collagen (Type one) is on the decline. There is nothing that you can do about this without intervention (and plenty to speed it up).

The sun is the worst offender for speeding up your decline in collagen.

Slowing down of the skin cycle.

Fresh baby skin cells are born at the base layer of the epidermis and over the course of approximately four weeks, climb to the top layer and shed.

As we age our skin cycle slows down and dead cells accumulate on the surface of skin causing a dull, dehydrated and lack lustre appearance. Bacteria can become trapped, which is a formula for breakouts.

Mix in free radicals from pollution, poor diet, hormonal shifts, lack of hydration, smoking/partying, stress, and we have a formula for fine lines and wrinkles with a dull, pigmented pallor often coupled with breakouts.

So, what can we do?

With a combination of in-clinic treatments and active (mainly medical grade) home-care products, we can blitz break outs, repair damage and speed up the skin cycle, ensuring the old dull skin cells shed, making room for the younger more vibrant ones.

Procedures:

Peels:

Easy-peasy, tailored treatments to combat ageing or troublesome skin in all its guises. The most effective brand we’ve discovered is VIPeels.

One – three 30- minute sessions can deal with all the tell-tale signs of aging or neglected skin with tailored, prescription ingredients. They speed the skin cycle, slough off the dead cells making way for the new, remove pigmentation and keep everything firing as it should.

Products –  no need to over complicate

Protect your skin:

For anyone who doesn’t know the importance of using an SPF, rain or shine, I have to ask, where the hell have you been? It’s one of the easiest things you can do. Plus, if you’re going to invest in making your skin tip-top, surely you want to project it.

A broad-spectrum UVA/UVB SPF is best, such as ZO’s intelligent SPF, that blends to your skin tone, or Obagi Matte. Both SPF 50.

Eliminate free radicals:

Antioxidants will gobble up the free radicals, created from things like pollution or smoking.

A winning example is a Vitamin C serum, which helps to eradicate the free radicals and protect the surrounding cells from any damage.

Regenerate

Retinol/Vitamin A is a master product in the product armoury as it works at a cellular level to regenerate collagen and increase cellular turnover.

NB: You can’t get better than prescription strength Retinol– namely, Tretinoin.

(Interesting fact) As with many discoveries, the antiaging properties of retinol were found as a bonus for those trialing it for acne. Those struggling with breakouts discovered their skin quality much improved. So double whammy.  Spotless and smooth, what’s not to love?

Hydration:

All of our cellular processes take place in water. Hyaluronic acid (HA) binds approximately 1000 times It’s molecular weight in water. It therefore makes sense to have a good supply of HA in the skin. It’s the first thing to tail off, approximately seven years before collagen and elastin. By the age of 60, there’s a chance that you will have…NONE.

Whilst filler is HA, you can introduce it into the skin without generating unnatural contours.

Both Profhilo and the more traditional skin boosters function only to hydrate the skin, creating no heaviness and almost imperceptible volume but lashings and lashing of hydration.