Winter Dry Skin Tips

Avoid hot showers. Dr. Neil Sadick, a dermatologist in New York City, says to avoid hot showers. Even though they may be comforting when it’s cold out, hot showers further dehydrate your skin, says Dr. Sadick. “Make showers as tepid as you can tolerate,” he said.

Be sure to use a moisturizer. Dr. Alicia Zalka, associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale, recommends an old standby: Vaseline. She says that if you’ve already got very dry skin it can be good to use it for a few days as a sealer and a protectant. Plus, if your skin is already cracked, it doesn’t sting, she says.

Also wear sunscreen to protect skin from sun damage, even in the winter. Dr. Sadick recommends applying a broadband sunscreen once a day.

Think before you drink. Drink beverages with alcohol or caffeine in moderation, as they can be dehydrating, says dermatologist Dr. David Orentreich.

Do drink water to stay hydrated, but don’t rely on it to keep your skin healthy while it’s cold.

Use a humidifier. Dr Orentreich also recommends using a humidifier in your house, especially in your bedroom. That way “healing and repair can take place while you sleep,” he says.

In addition to your skin, also take special care of your hair and nails during the winter, as they can crack and split like the skin does, according to Dr. Zalka. Try B vitamin supplements to improve hair and nails, she says.

Dr. Sadick also suggests using a conditioner more frequently during the winter to keep hair from getting too dry.

For those who suffer from psoriasis, you may also be interested in our post about ways to keep psoriasis under control during the winter.

There is a huge array of face-washing products — from makeup removers and scrubbing pads to exfoliating gels and toners. However, dermatologists recommend that if you have reasonably normal skin, all you need is a gentle face soap and a moisturizer. The skin care routine is simple:

• Wash your face in the morning.
• Apply a moisturizer with sunscreen.
• Wash your face before bed.
• Apply a moisturizer.

“You don’t need 25 products to have good, clean skin,” says dermatologist Karen Nern. “Cleansing your face is not complicated.”

Most pre- and post-face wash products are a waste of money for relatively normal skin, and some people “can do too much with too many products and irritate their skin,” Nern says.

For instance, dermatologist Meryl Blecker Joerg says that there’s no need for post-wash toners because “they tend to remove the natural oils that should remain on the skin.” Today most cleansers are at a normal pH, making toners unnecessary.

Dermatologists also warn against fads, such as washing your face with bleach or with hydrogen peroxide — two current ones being promoted on the Internet. “Way too harsh,” Nern says.

Choosing a Face Wash for Your Simple Skin Care Routine

Your face wash is important since it’s one of the only products you’ll use for your skin care routine.

You can choose a bar, gel or liquid; what’s important is that the product is formulated for the face, not the body. Also, avoid products that contain deodorant, antiseptics or other additives.

Talk to your dermatologist about which soap or cleanser they recommend. It doesn’t have to be expensive to work well. Brands like Dove, Purpose and Cetaphil are often recommended by dermatologists for patients who are on a budget.

Tretinoin products speed up the rate that skin cells turn over, bringing healthy, fresh skin to the surface and boosting collagen development. Available as a cream or gel, popular brands include Renova, Aberela, Airol, Atralin, Retin A, Avita, Refissa or Stieva-A.

Benefits of using a tretinoin product on your skin may include:

• Fewer fine lines and wrinkles
• Firmer, younger looking skin
• Even skin tone
• Clear skin
• The disappearance of hyper pigmentation or stretch marks

Does Tretinoin Work?

Regular use of tretinoin as part of a skin care regimen can reduce and even eliminate wrinkles. It may also clear up areas of darkened skin and improve skin clarity. The best results are seen when tretinoin is combined with a consistent skin care program.

You’ll need a prescription for tretinoin from your dermatologist, because while there are over-the-counter topical creams that may contain derivatives of tretinoin, they don’t have the concentrations used in clinical trials that showed the measurable benefits. Talk to your dermatologist before beginning a topical tretinoin treatment as it may interact with some medical conditions.

For a safe and effective topical treatment proven to minimize fine wrinkles and discoloration, even skin tone and improve skin clarity ask your dermatologist about tretinoin, which can be found in products such as Renova, available from Skin Speaks Spa M.D.

Spanish scientists found that the grapes in red wine contain compounds, known as flavonoids, that work to stop the chemical changes in the body associated with causing skin damage.

How does it work? When UV rays hit the skin, they activate “reactive oxygen species,” or ROS, which react with UV rays to destroy skin cells and cause sunburn. However, the flavonoids work to decrease the formation of the ROS’s in skin cells that were exposed to the sun’s UVA and UVB rays, which are linked to wrinkles and skin cancer, in addition to sunburn.

If red wine isn’t for you, eat grapes — the authors say they’re just as effective.

Study director Dr. Marta Cascante, a biochemist at the University of Barcelona, wrote that the “encouraging results should be taken into consideration” for the development of new skin care products.

“This study supports the idea of using these products to protect the skin from cell damage and death caused by solar radiation,” said Dr. Cascante in a written statement.

There are already cosmetics containing grape compounds available, but the way they act on cells was not fully understood. Learn more about effective skin care products.

The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reports that one New York aesthetician has created the “Blackberry facial,” which is designed to treat the wrinkles that may occur from continually looking down to check your phone. The procedure includes a neck peel, a hydrating serum, LED light and oxygen. A New York Daily News reporter who tried the treatment wrote, “At the end of my treatment, the one faint line on my neck did seem a bit fainter. But what I did notice was the smoothness. My neck had a texture of a flower petal.”

Another cell phone side effect can be breakouts on the side of the face where you hold your phone. To alleviate this, try exfoliating that side of the face nightly or try keeping your phone from touching your face. You may also benefit from a skin care plan and products from your dermatologist.

Neck Rejuvenation

If your neck is showing signs of aging, there are a variety of neck rejuvenation options. For instance, if you have neck “bands,” Botox treatments can be used to soften and smooth the neck’s appearance. Laser treatments can help to tighten up loose or sagging skin on the neck.

More invasive options also exist for those looking for more dramatic results. One surgical option is a neck lift to remove excess skin. For excess fat around the chin, jowels and neck, liposuction may be the best option for removing it.

The top three, which earned a Consumer Reports “Best Buy” rating, were:

• Up & Up Sport SPF 30
• No-Ad with Aloe and Vitamin E SPF 45
• Equate Baby SPF 50

Six other sunscreens also earned a “recommended” rating: Banana Boat Sport Performance SPF 30; Coppertone Sport Ultra Sweatproof SPF 30; CVS Fast Cover Sport SPF 30; Walgreens Sport SPF 50; Ocean Potion Kids Instant Dry Mist SPF 50; and Banana Boat Sport Performance SPF 100.

Jamie Hirsh, senior associate editor of Consumer Reports Health, said the ratings are based on UVA and UVB protection and how well they did in water. The top nine sunscreens received excellent marks for UVB protection, even after water immersion. To test water resistance, sunscreen was applied to the volunteers’ backs, and they were then submerged in water for 80 minutes, after which they were exposed to UV rays.

The sunscreens were also found to provide good protection against UVA rays — the rays that are linked with aging (i.e., wrinkling, sagging, brown spots).

Higher Price Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Better Protection

The ratings also showed that an expensive sunscreen isn’t necessarily more effective. For instance, one product that was $18.82 an ounce got an overall score of 79, while No-Ad with Aloe and Vitamin E SPF 45 (a Best Buy) costs 59 cents an ounce and got a score of 89.

Reversing Sun Damage

Wearing an effective sunscreen is important to help protect your skin from harmful rays, but if you already have damage from past sun exposure, there are treatments that can help.

The Fraxel Dual laser is an ideal option for treating sun-damaged skin; it’s the leading and only technology considered a pigment solution for patients suffering from significant sun damage.

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment is effective in treating all areas for unwanted pigmentation, such as age spots and sun-induced freckles on the face, neck, chest, hands and legs.

The researchers at the University of Minnesota used the 2005 Health Information National Trends Study, a random telephone survey, for their data. The survey had 2,869 participants, of which 821 answered questions about skin cancer prevention.

They found that women are three times more likely than men to use an indoor tanning bed and that few adults think avoiding indoor tanning is a way to reduce the risk of skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States.

Other results of the study were:

• 18 percent of women and 6 percent of men had tanned indoors in the previous year.
• Indoor tanning was most common among 18- to 24-year-old men and women and declined steadily with age.
• High school graduates or those with incomes of $50,000 to $75,000 were more likely to report indoor tanning in the previous year than women who had less than a high school education or an annual income of less than $35,000.

While most participants said using sunscreen, avoiding the sun and wearing a hat were good preventive measures for skin cancer, only around 13 percent of women and 4 percent of men suggested that avoiding indoor tanning would be beneficial.

The Skin Cancer Foundation reports that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime, and that about 90 percent of non-melanoma skin cancers are associated with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. In addition, up to 90 percent of the visible changes attributed to aging are caused by the sun. The foundation also says that people who use tanning beds are 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma than those who don’t do indoor tanning.

Read the abstract of Prevalence and Characteristics of Indoor Tanning Use Among Men and Women in the United States online.

Flossing daily may also help fight the effects of aging over the long-term. If you don’t floss, you leave 40 percent of your teeth dirty with bacteria, which causes staining and yellowing, Dr. Eugene Antenucci, a spokesperson for the Academy of General Dentistry, told MSNBC for a recent article.

Too much plaque can lead to gingivitis, which is the first stage of gum disease. Symptoms of gum disease include swollen or bleeding gums, receding gums, and the formation of deep pockets between teeth and gums, according to WebMD. If left untreated, it can end with tooth loss due to destruction of the tissue that surrounds your teeth.

“You register an older look because you see more spaces, less and uneven gum tissue,” says Antenucci.

Gum disease can eventually cause the bones underneath to dissolve away, explains Dr. Donald Clem, a dentist in Fullerton, Calif. “In later stages of periodontal disease we would see disfigurement in terms of caving in of the lips and cheek and wrinkles around the lips and cheeks.”

Furthermore, a recent study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal looked at issues related to how specific bony aspects of the face change with age and what implications these structural changes may have on the techniques used in facial cosmetic surgery, according the abstract.

Don’t forget that in addition to your dermatological and cosmetic procedures—whether it’s a chemical peel or Botox—simple things you can make a habit, such as flossing daily, can go a long way in helping you age well.

Dr. Patrick Carney offers six full-service Advancements In Dermatology clinics throughout the Twin Cities.

In fact, fish is at the top of Perricone’s skin health list of anti-aging foods, pointing out that fatty fish contains skin health nutrients as well as those all-important Omega 3 fatty acids. He lists salmon, albacore tuna, and mackerel as great additions to any skin-healthy diet.

What is the scientific basis for this prescription? How is nutrition related to skin health?

Every day, our bodies naturally exhibit evidence of our lifestyles – diet being one significant aspect. But the process is more complex than the old cliche “you are what you eat.” It goes much deeper, right down to the cell-level, which scientists tell us are much like tiny chemical plants.

Take oxygen for example; it’s in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and in the food we eat. There’s no getting away from it. But oxygen has a natural tendency to combine with other processes in our skin to produce free radicals – the enemy of our skin tissue at the cellular level. It is much like the effects of oxygen on metal, which causes oxidation and eventually — rust. In our bodies this process leads to inflammation. On the skin, inflammation can make your pores look bigger, and your skin look dull, discolored, or aged. Wrinkles, acne, and even eczema are also related to the damaging effects of oxidation-related inflamation.

Now consider the fact that Vitamins A, C, and E are “antioxidant rich” adversaries of the free radicals that hide in our cells and attack our skin. Consider that Selenium is a mineral that experts agree is critical to the production of glutathione, another enemy of free radicals. Consider that Thiamine is a B vitamin that helps skin cells function normally. Consier that Zinc assists epidermal cell growth, that protein is essential for skin repair, and finally, that Vitamin C helps the body naturally manufacture collagen, a protein that keeps the skin supple and tight.

Research shows that vitamins and minerals are essential to skin health because they maintain a system of resistance to the processes commonly associated with aging, and those vitamins and minerals reside in the foods we eat.

What’s affecting the health of your skin? The best person to consult with is a dermatologist.  Read more about Advancements in Dermatology of the Twin Cities.

Read more about skin health and nutrition at Discovery.com

But Don’t worry: a few simple steps and skin care products can help.

Products

Find antioxidant moisturizers that contain water-binding and anti-inflammatory ingredients such as these:

- amino acids and fatty acids
- ceramides
- sodium PCA
- Glycerin

Your lips are especially vulnerable to the elements.  Keep them soft and smooth with quality lip balm.  Look for these key ingredients:

- Hemp oil
- Shea butter
- Vitamin E
- Beeswax
- SPF 15

Skin Care Steps

1. Don’t forget the sun protection.
2. When your skin feels tight, apply moisturizer.
3. To allow better penetration of moisturizer, exfoliate scaly areas with glycolic or salicylic acid.
4. Get a humidifier in your home.
5. Stay hydrated!