Faster Healing After Laser Resurfacing

 

There are a number a different techniques used to resurface skin using lasers.  They all accomplish a similar objective which is to provide a much smoother, even toned skin surface with less wrinkles. There are a number of issues that arise as a result of these procedures.  They include effectiveness of the procedure, pain involved with the procedure, side effects including pigmentation after the procedure and of course down time.  While all of these are important and we will discuss these in later blogs, we will address downtime here.  You can see in the above series of photos that half of this patient's face cleared completely in 72 hours as opposed to 100 hours on the other side.  This significant decrease in downtime was due to a post healing agent which included, anti-histime actives, anti-inflammatory actives and anti-cytokine actives.  Make sure when deciding to have a laser resurfacing procedure done you discuss with your provider the downtime and how they handle that.  It can make a differences in your quality of life, the effectiveness of the procedure and your overall comfort. 

 

If you are interested in more information on this study e-mail info@skinprint.com

 

Let's see your basic skin IQ. Answer the following questions.  The answers are at the bottom:

1.  A sunscreen with an SPF of 30 is twice as effective at blocking UV rays as an SPF 15. (T or F)

2. Imparied barrier function leads to chronic dehydration and dryness. (T or F)

3. Scars can be improved by using topical products. (T or F)

4.  Once you find a solution for acne you should stay with it (T or F)

5.  "Better than Botox" products work to remove forehead and crow's feet lines?

 

Answers:

1. False: The sunscreen scale for protection is logarithmic which means the protection does not increase in a straight line with the number.  SPF 30 gives about 7% more protection than an SPF15.

2. True: You may have run into people who say, "I cannot get my skin hydrated no matter what I do".  The reason that people experience chronic skin dryness is due to barrier impairment.  This means that lipids in ther skin are not function properly and water is allowed to escape from the skin very quickly.  Fix the barrier and fix the dehydration!

3. False:  For the most part, there is very little you can do for most scarring.  The products that are used super hydrate that area around the scar and therefore make it less obvious.  Once the hydration reduces the scar will come back.

4. False: The biggest problem with acne treatment is that people assume that once something works for their acne, it will continue to work.  Acne has multiple root causes and constantly changes with age, environmental conditions and other factors.  Bottom line: you will always have to change your product regimen to stay ahead of your acne.

5. False: For a topical product to work like Botox it would have to go through the skin layers, the fat layers and then be active between the nerve tissue.  That will never happen so don't believe the hype.

 

Congratulations on your success.  Watch for IQ test #2.

A Peptide Structure

---

A peptide is a protein fragment.  There are literally hundreds of peptides now used in the skin care industry in retail and professional products.  The purpose of these peptides is to "signal" target cells in your skin to start or stop performing some action.  For instance, palmitoyl pentapeptide-3, one of the most popular) signals a fibroblast cell in your skin to start producing more collagen.  This in turn helps with fine lines and wrinkles.  Other peptides signal the skin to make ceramides, barrier repair lipids, elastin and some retard the growth of MMP's which are compounds that degrade collagen and elastin in skin.

 

Some peptides work well and others do not.  The skin care formula that the peptide is formulated into is the main reason that the peptide will work or not.  The peptide has to get deep into the skin to find the target cell and then "turn it on or off".  If the product formulation doesn't allow for the deep penetration of the peptide then it will not work.

You may have seen some peptides being sold as neuro peptides or "better than botox" peptides.  These peptides are not responsible for the activity that you see from the skin care product making the claim.  For that product to work, the peptide would have to be delivered below the skin, below the fat tissue and into the muscle layer....not happening.  These types of products work due to very good moisturization properties which plump the skin to look like the wrinkles are going away.

Yes, Peptides are for real......most of the time.  Look for the dose (amount in the product), look for the product dleivery system and finally make sure you are not using any other products which could occlude your skin.  This will block the peptide from absorbing and then you have wasted you money.

 

Are These Products Organic?

---

There is ongoing controversy regarding the words "organic" and "natural" when is comes to skin care products. Let's start with the official regulatory agency..FDA...which oversees the cosmetics industry.  The FDA has no formal definition regarding these terms.  Therefore, legally, the terms confer no legal significance in the marketplace and manufacturers can use ingredients of their choice to convey these claims.

 

Responsible manufacturers make it a point to look at their ingredients carefully and make decisions regarding their source based on numerous factors.  These factors can include supplier certifications, independent "Organic group" certifications, internal definitions that the company has defined for itself as well as defining for themselves what is organic, natural or not.  There is a new lawsuit that has been filed against a number of companies making the organic claims by specific third party certifiers along with manufacturers who agree with these particular certifiers.  They have argued that third party certification is required and had invoked the USDA as the authority here.

These types of lawsuits are self serving and only add to the confusion in the market place.  There is a lot of money to be made with these little words "organic and natural"...but buyer beware...unless the FDA gets involved to set standards with regard to these terms, there will be no standard.

 

One phrase I observed coming from these certification organizations and the "ultimate natural and organic" companies is "chemical free".  I can tell you as a 25 year cosmetic chemist, if a product is chemical free then there will be nothing in the bottle.  Everything we touch or fell is a chemical of some sort.  One other inaccurate assumption that consumers seem to make based on some of these "natural group" claims is that natural is good.  What about arsenic, curare, petroleum, hurricanes, earthquakes...all natural...but good?

 

My best piece of advice is to read your skin care labels carefully.  If you are unsure about the ingredients call the manufactureer or go to a reputable source like this blog to ask questions.  Be an alert consumer and stay informed on all sides of these matters.

 

 

An important aspect in maintaining beautiful skin is keeping even skin tone.  As you can see in the picture above skin with even coloration tends to look better. The root cause of uneven skin tone can be of multiple sources.  It can range from simple accumulation of dead skin cells on the surface of the skin, pigmentary changes in skin including sun damage, hormonally based spotting and naturally occurring melanin banding, and redness from rosacea and generalized chronic irritation responses.

Exfoliation

Dead skin cells which are not removed from the skin are one of the easiest ways to improve skin tone.  Exfoliation techniques include: topical exfoliant products, chemical peels, micro-dermabrasion, laser ablation and derma-planing.  The choice of these is important relative to how much needs to be removed versus downtime. A word of caution; don't use topical products with "walnut shells",  "peach pits" or any other sharp exfoliants.  They tend to "micro-ablade" the skin which is like rubbing sand on glass...the skin will get duller.

Pigmentation Issues

As previously discussed pigmentation can be from mulitple sources.  If you have sun damage, there is only one ingredient or process that will completely remove it....endonuclease.  Melanin banding which is a completely inherited trait  (smooth darkness around the eyes and lower mouth which darkens with age) can be managed with topical lighteners to give a much more even look to the entire face.  The active ingredients would be chosen based on the presentation of the banding pattern.  Hormonal pigmentation like Melasma can be tricky but can be managed with topicals and laser therapy.

Redness

Again, chronic redness can be from mulitple sources.  The most common is rosacea which is a chronic reddening of the skin which can be made worse by caffeine, wine and stress.  There are several types of rosacea which may include a combination of redness with papules and pustules and capillary involvement.  An important note**:  In our clinic about 50% of the international cases which have been diagnosed as rosacea are actually excessive bacterial build up on the skin.  When this happens the bacteria reactions with skin oils to produce and irritant called short chain fatty acids which are a skin irritant.  This gives rise the the chronic redness.  We manage this with a simple anti-bacterial wash.

Bottom Line.....figure out what type of uneven tone you have and address it with the right combination of products and services and your skin with be Beautiful!

 

 

 We'll define nutriceuticals for the sake of this blog as products taken orally that are intended to improve skin quality.

The Nutriceuticals category is filled with minefields.  There are thousands of companies making many claims on nutriceutical products without strict regulations on them.  The latest craze is Acai.  If you list all of the claims made by companies selling Acai derivative products you would think that it could cure any disease we have ever heard of.

 There are are narrow range of products and product ingredients that actually have been proven to work directly on functions in the the body which affect skin function and appearance. This class of products is anti-oxidants which are primarily based on polyphenols (the actual chemical that does the work). The challenge is to find a product that has been "standardized" with a level of polyphenol that can do work in the body.

 Another group of products that can be beneficial to skin are anti-inflammatory products.  These are products which suppress inflammation reactions in the body which can give rise to a cascade of chemicals that can do damage to tissue cells.  Again, there are a few products out there that have the proper level of these ingredients that can do the work in the body.

There is one that I know of which has Phase II clinical trials on anti-inflammationa and DNA repair based on cat's claw (a natural botanical compound from Brazil).

 Be careful walking through this minefield!

Dermascope is a trade magazine primarily intended for estheticians to reference for information regarding their craft.  These are the people who treat customers all over the country.  Dermascope calls itself "The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics" and "The Official Publication of Aesthetics International Association".  Sounds impressive.

They published an article in their October 2009 issue named Mineral Skin Care - A Safe Chemical Free Approach by Anne Willis.  In dealing with Estheticians all over the country I commonly run into many of the myths that are promulgated in this article and frankly, they are  inexcusable.   Ms. Willis states that the reader should "Avoid chemical-based skin care products."  In the very same paragraph she states that the reader should use anti-oxidants.  Does Ms. Willis know the very basic definition of a chemical? I wonder if she knows that water is a chemical? From the title of the article I assume she thinks that minerals are not chemicals either. 

In another highlighted section of the same article she lists sunscreen ingredients that "are dangerous and potentially life threatening:"  She goes on to list many common ingredients which are known to be safe as used and regulated by the FDA.  She actually infers that all of the listed ingredients can possibly kill you!

This article is a prime example of how poorly we educate our skin care professionals. Dermascope and Ms. Willis she be ashamed of themselves and print a retraction.

As Ms. Willis recommends in her article "Do something silly at least once a day"....she and Dermascope have achieved that objective with this poorly referenced, written and published article which will now lead many estheticians astray.