Desquamation, Exfoliation, and Age Spots, Oh My!
Moisturizing, protecting your skin from the suns' rays, and smoking cessation are a few ways to help navigate your skin through the menopause minefield that you can practice everyday. Just like the damage from the sun is cumulative, so too are the steps you take right now to correct any damage and help prevent more from occurring. But there are other external means to help protect your menopausal skin that can also reap rewards for our largest organ.
Fact: your skin renews itself approximately every 28 days through a process called Desquamation. The epidermis, or outer layer of our skin, constantly flakes off throughout the day, and, about once a month, this flaking leads to a prevalence of new baby skin cells surging forth. Kind of ironic that it occurs along a menstrual cycle timeline, isn't it? The epidermis is responsible for keeping germs out and fluids in. This cyclical shedding gets rid of topical skin cells that have been damaged, dried out, or deteriorated. Think of a scab. Daily it gets smaller and smaller, the dying eschar finally falling off and if your are lucky, not leaving a scar behind. Just like Mom told you to never pick a pimple, NEVER pick a scab. Let nature take it's course or else you will have a little lifetime reminder of it in the form of a scar. Desquamation helps in this process of this healing.
Fact: as we and our skin age, desquamation, like everything else in our bodies, slows down. The slowing of this process leaves behind tell-tale signs in the form of fine lines, wrinkles, uneven skin tones and textures, and blotching. No one has perfect skin, not even those advertising models hawking beauty in a jar skin care products. Everyone has some skin aberrations. Natural Desquamation helps with these problems. But when it slows down, we need to help it along. And we can do that by Exfoliation, or what I call Artificial desquamation.
Fact: Exfoliation stimulates new skin cell growth by removing the cells from your body that it is no longer shedding naturally. When you exfoliate, you strip the epidermis of its dead skin cells, and thereby expose the newer, fresher cells laying underneath. Now, exfoliation shouldn't be a daily practice. Once, or at the most, twice a week is best, because it does take a few days for the naturally dying skin cells to accumulate on the surface of our skin. If you over-exfoliate, you will be killing new skin for no reason! And we want that new, fresh skin.
Fact: Our thinnest skin is in our eyelids; our thickest, the soles of our feet. It feels kind of wrong somehow that the skin we show to the world 24/7 isn't the toughest. NEVER exfoliate your eyelids or the skin directly under your eyes. It is wicked thin and you will do damage -maybe irreparable damage. The only thing that should ever go on this area is moisturizer. Having said that, I know we all get dry heels, especially during the winter months when our feet are constantly stuck in socks, boots, and shoes. A mild exfoliating scrub a few times a week in the shower to the heels is a great idea. It's a natural pick me up too, because when our feet feel good, so too do the rest of our bodies.
Fact: There are really only three main ways to exfoliate: manually, chemically or enzymatically. During the manual way, you yourself scrub away the dead skin. This is usually done during your shower where you use a product like St. Ives Invigorating Scrubs that you can buy at CVS. This is a gentle way you can shed the dry skin. During a chemical exfoliation, a chemical is applied by a dermatologist or aesthetician over the skin. The chemical dissolves the substances on your skin holding the dead cells together. In an enzymatic exfoliation, an enzyme is used the same way. OF course the cheapest and safest way is to do it yourself manually with an over the counter product. But if you require a more intense professional exfoliation, consult your Derm Doc about the options and costs. And please remember to moisturize even more after you exfoliate!
Fact: Age spots are called that for a reason: they occur as we age. Duh! Your Grandma might have called these live spots or sun spots, but however you know them by, they start to mass produce around the time we go through menopause. What they are are flat areas of brownish skin that accumulate in clusters or singularly in areas like the hands, neck, face and chest. All areas the general populous sees on a daily basis.These are not freckles. Freckles are cute. Age spots are not. You can try to prevent them by staying out of the sun and using a really strong sun screen, but it will truly be for naught, because just like the sun and moon rise everyday, so too do age spots come up at one time or the other. You can't get rid of them but you can take measures to fade them. Over the counter products that contain hydroquinone, (a bleaching agent) like Procelana, help. Clinique has a new product that claims to fade and remove the spots as well in a majority of the women studied. It's called Even better Spot Remover. Almost sounds like a carpet cleaning product! Most of the expensive retail store brands all have some kind of product they claim can fade them, but they require patience and continued use, not to mention the cost. Combinations of a bleaching agent and an exfoliant, retinol creams or glycolic acids can increase and accelerate the fading/bleaching process. But be careful: you need to use a strong sunscreen when you go out, because just a few minutes of direct sun exposure will negate all your good efforts. Dermatologists, of course, can prescribe wicked strong products as well. And you should definitely see a Licensed, Board Certified Dermatologist every year, especially if you are fair complected like me. A plethora of age spots in clusters in something to worry about and could be a precursor to skin cancers.
Fact: The very first thing another person notices about you when you meet is your face. Your expressions, as well as the overall health of your skin go a long way to telling that person about you. Know that expression: put your best foot forward? It really should be : put your best FACE forward!
Fact: your skin renews itself approximately every 28 days through a process called Desquamation. The epidermis, or outer layer of our skin, constantly flakes off throughout the day, and, about once a month, this flaking leads to a prevalence of new baby skin cells surging forth. Kind of ironic that it occurs along a menstrual cycle timeline, isn't it? The epidermis is responsible for keeping germs out and fluids in. This cyclical shedding gets rid of topical skin cells that have been damaged, dried out, or deteriorated. Think of a scab. Daily it gets smaller and smaller, the dying eschar finally falling off and if your are lucky, not leaving a scar behind. Just like Mom told you to never pick a pimple, NEVER pick a scab. Let nature take it's course or else you will have a little lifetime reminder of it in the form of a scar. Desquamation helps in this process of this healing.
Fact: as we and our skin age, desquamation, like everything else in our bodies, slows down. The slowing of this process leaves behind tell-tale signs in the form of fine lines, wrinkles, uneven skin tones and textures, and blotching. No one has perfect skin, not even those advertising models hawking beauty in a jar skin care products. Everyone has some skin aberrations. Natural Desquamation helps with these problems. But when it slows down, we need to help it along. And we can do that by Exfoliation, or what I call Artificial desquamation.
Fact: Exfoliation stimulates new skin cell growth by removing the cells from your body that it is no longer shedding naturally. When you exfoliate, you strip the epidermis of its dead skin cells, and thereby expose the newer, fresher cells laying underneath. Now, exfoliation shouldn't be a daily practice. Once, or at the most, twice a week is best, because it does take a few days for the naturally dying skin cells to accumulate on the surface of our skin. If you over-exfoliate, you will be killing new skin for no reason! And we want that new, fresh skin.
Fact: Our thinnest skin is in our eyelids; our thickest, the soles of our feet. It feels kind of wrong somehow that the skin we show to the world 24/7 isn't the toughest. NEVER exfoliate your eyelids or the skin directly under your eyes. It is wicked thin and you will do damage -maybe irreparable damage. The only thing that should ever go on this area is moisturizer. Having said that, I know we all get dry heels, especially during the winter months when our feet are constantly stuck in socks, boots, and shoes. A mild exfoliating scrub a few times a week in the shower to the heels is a great idea. It's a natural pick me up too, because when our feet feel good, so too do the rest of our bodies.
Fact: There are really only three main ways to exfoliate: manually, chemically or enzymatically. During the manual way, you yourself scrub away the dead skin. This is usually done during your shower where you use a product like St. Ives Invigorating Scrubs that you can buy at CVS. This is a gentle way you can shed the dry skin. During a chemical exfoliation, a chemical is applied by a dermatologist or aesthetician over the skin. The chemical dissolves the substances on your skin holding the dead cells together. In an enzymatic exfoliation, an enzyme is used the same way. OF course the cheapest and safest way is to do it yourself manually with an over the counter product. But if you require a more intense professional exfoliation, consult your Derm Doc about the options and costs. And please remember to moisturize even more after you exfoliate!
Fact: Age spots are called that for a reason: they occur as we age. Duh! Your Grandma might have called these live spots or sun spots, but however you know them by, they start to mass produce around the time we go through menopause. What they are are flat areas of brownish skin that accumulate in clusters or singularly in areas like the hands, neck, face and chest. All areas the general populous sees on a daily basis.These are not freckles. Freckles are cute. Age spots are not. You can try to prevent them by staying out of the sun and using a really strong sun screen, but it will truly be for naught, because just like the sun and moon rise everyday, so too do age spots come up at one time or the other. You can't get rid of them but you can take measures to fade them. Over the counter products that contain hydroquinone, (a bleaching agent) like Procelana, help. Clinique has a new product that claims to fade and remove the spots as well in a majority of the women studied. It's called Even better Spot Remover. Almost sounds like a carpet cleaning product! Most of the expensive retail store brands all have some kind of product they claim can fade them, but they require patience and continued use, not to mention the cost. Combinations of a bleaching agent and an exfoliant, retinol creams or glycolic acids can increase and accelerate the fading/bleaching process. But be careful: you need to use a strong sunscreen when you go out, because just a few minutes of direct sun exposure will negate all your good efforts. Dermatologists, of course, can prescribe wicked strong products as well. And you should definitely see a Licensed, Board Certified Dermatologist every year, especially if you are fair complected like me. A plethora of age spots in clusters in something to worry about and could be a precursor to skin cancers.
Fact: The very first thing another person notices about you when you meet is your face. Your expressions, as well as the overall health of your skin go a long way to telling that person about you. Know that expression: put your best foot forward? It really should be : put your best FACE forward!
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