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Understanding Skin Care There are certain necessary steps which will be followed in all comprehensive skin care programs. |
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Cleansing | |
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During everyday life, dust, dirt and oil accumulate on your skin. The use of soap to clean your face disrupts the natural protective barrier of the skin, and should be avoided. Gentle non-soapy cleansers, such as Obagi's NuDerm Cleanser or the BioMedic Cleansers from LaRoche-Posey, are much kinder to your skin. | ||
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Exfoliation | |
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Skin cells tend to become dry and build up on the surface. Removal of these dry cells allows their replacement with healthier, moist cells. These new cells reflect light more evenly, yielding a more attractive skin glow. Exfoliation can be done rapidly by MicroDermabrasion ("Parisian Peel"), Dermaplaning, or by light chemical peels with products containing Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid, or Salicylic Acid. Slower exfoliation can be achieved through the use of topical creams of alpha hydroxy acids such as Gycolic or Lactic Acid; Beta Hydroxy Acids such as Salicylic Acid; or deeper-acting agents such as Retin-A® (Tretinoin). | ||
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Pigment Control | |
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With age and sun damage the skin’s pigment cells (melanocytes) become dysfunctional and create brown spots. These spots can be rapidly removed with light or laser treatments such as Intense Pulse Light (FotofacialTM), FraxelTM (laser) or Obagi "Blue Peels" (Trichloracetic acid peel). | ||
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Protection from Sun Damage | |
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Sunscreens can protect the skin from the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet rays. UVB rays cause skin cancer. UVA rays cause aging changes. A good sunscreen should be used to protect against both of these hazards. Mechanical sunblocks (those containing Zinc or Titanium) are best. They are present in SkinCeuticals Ultimate UV Protection and in IS Clinical’s Sunscreen Powder and Creams. Damage to the normal chemistry of your skin cells is one of the harmful effects of sun exposure. Antioxidants such as Prevage or Vitamin C help neutralize these damaging chemical effects. | ||
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Cell Stimulation & Wrinkle Improvement | |
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There is mounting evidence that healthy skin cell growth can be enhanced with products such as TNS (growth factors), or Procyte’s CU3 (Copper), or Retin-A® (Tretinoin). Wrinkles occur from damage to the deeper dermal layer of the skin and improvement requires more aggressive treatments that stimulate dermal collagen production. Treatments provided in EpiCentre can improve mild wrinkling. More severe wrinkling may require plastic surgical management. One new concept in wrinkle improvement is FraxelTM. Rather than using the light from a laser to create broad, uniform skin injury, it uses specially controlled Erbium laser technology to create separate, spaced cores of tightening in the skin. The cores are called "microthermal zones" (MTZ). By preserving the normal skin between these zones, FraxelTM treatments maintain skin pigment and texture. Similar to IPL, the treatments are spaced out over a period of time to achieve a cumulative benefit with minimal "down time." A slower improvement and prevention of fine wrinkles can be achieved with the Obagi Program of using Retin-A® (Tretinoin).
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