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Top Five Questions

Our patients often ask us…

My parents both have a lot of wrinkles. Am I doomed to get them? Wrinkles are a normal part of aging. We develop wrinkles with normal facial movements such as smiling or frowning. We develop deeper wrinkles as we lose volume in our face as we age. It’s important to know that there are ways to prevent wrinkles. There are neurotoxins that can prevent some of the wrinkles that occur with movement and fillers that can address the deep wrinkles.

What happens to my skin as I age? There are many things that happen to your skin through the march of time. First, the collagen in our skin starts to break down, becoming more difficult for our skin to build it back up. Second, the supportive subcutaneous fat, supporting your skin, reduces with age, making our skin much thinner. That means that if you get a cut, your skin is less likely to heal as well as it did before. Because of this loss of subcutaneous tissue, more structures become prominent in the skin as we age, such as pores, follicles and oil glands. Your skin structures are less efficient, meaning that we sweat less. Also, you may notice your skin is more sensitive to the light and to heat and extreme temperature.

Do anti-oxidants really help my skin? Anti-oxidants are present in food like blueberries and pomegranates. While anti-oxidants for general health is important, topical anti-oxidants on the skin is another issue. Anti-oxidants provide a layer of protection to the skin, protecting against oxidation. Well, what is oxidation? Well, go ahead and just take a banana peel and lay it on the counter and come back four or five hours later and that banana peel or banana has a brown color — that’s oxidative stress. Anti-oxidants available over the counter for skin application have the active ingredients containing vitamin C, vitamin E, and ferulic acid.

I think I might have rosacea – what are the symptoms? Rosacea is sometimes misdiagnosed as adult acne. Rosacea symptoms include redness in the face, flushing, the presence of small blood vessels, acne, surface irregularities (especially on the nose), skin sensitivity, and enlarged sweat glands. Rosacea symptoms can be addressed by controlling oil production, reducing inflammation, reducing cellular build-up, and minimizing the skin’s bacteria production.

I know sun exposure isn’t good for my skin, but I really like the sun! What happens to my skin? Ultraviolet light exposure is undoubtedly linked to photoaging. Ultraviolet light not comes from the sun, also from other commercial light sources. Furthermore, ultraviolet light does pass through certain types of window glass such as in your house or in your car. Ultraviolet light also reflects off of surfaces such as cement, water and snow. Not only is it directly linked to photoaging, but it also is directly linked to skin cancer. Skin cancer is the number one cause of cancer. And, of course, melanoma is a form of skin cancer that has a very high mortality rate.