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Most babies are born with beautiful smooth blemish free skin. When you look at a young person, (unless they have problem skin), they have lovely even toned skin. There are no brown marks or wrinkles or rough areas of solar damage. Hence smooth skin is one of the most critical factors in a person appearing young and attractive.
We often don’t pay enough attention to skin and although I love my botulinum toxin and filler treatments, I am passionate about caring for mine and my patients’ skin and preventing and reversing further sun damage.
I use mainly the Obagi and Neostrata ranges of skincare, but also Heliocare sunscreens and other products. These are scientifically researched to a very high standard and supported by dermatologists.
I only ever recommend pharmaceutical grade products which have evidence behind them and some of my recommended products are very reasonable as they do a great job too.
The gold standard products are SPF 30-50 and a retinol or tretnoin to rebuild collagen and elastin, thicken the skin layers and mend damaged cells which lead to aging and sometimes skin cancer.
Skin peels and dermaroller take the dead skin off the epidermis and cause microdamage which causes new collagen growth and thicken and tighten the skin leaving it fresh, smooth and even toned.
Skin can be fed with Vitamin products and brown pigment can be faded with prescription products.
Oily skin prone to breakouts can be massively improved by products designed for this and if necessary I can prescribe antibiotics
Tretinoin 0.05% cream
Tretinoin cream was originally developed as an acne treatment. It was, and still is, a very effective treatment for acne, greasy skin, blackheads and whiteheads. However it has some very useful additional properties which were noticed by ladies using the cream for acne rosacea. They noticed that fine lines, wrinkles and ‘freckling’ (solar keratosis) due to excess sun were all much improved after using it.
Histological (microscope) and dermatology tests showed that this was indeed the case and consequently it has formed a very significant part of modern skin care today. It has been noted to slow down and reverse ageing of the skin and this can clearly be seen under a microscope. Because it is so effective, it is a prescription only medicine and must also not be used by pregnant women. There are many weaker forms on the market such as retinols, but none can be as effective as a prescription cream, as it is not allowed.
Because Tretinoin has such an effect on the skin, it can be very drying and irritant.
It will take a while for you to get used to what dose your skin can cope with. Most people start with a pea sized amount applied a few minutes before night cream, every third night. If your skin tolerates this well, then increase to every second night or even every night. It may be different in different areas of the face as well. If your skin gets too irritated and sore, you can give it a break for a week or so, or indeed however long you like. So for example it should be used for months before a wedding, but stopped a month or so before, to allow the skin to settle.
Don’t expose your skin to the sun or other uv light when you are using it.
I usually stop for the summer and use it throughout the winter. But of course we should all be using factor 30/50 every day even in the winter to keep up the good work of reducing our levels of sun damage.
Tretinoin is one of the few proven skin products that actually does something active to the skin. That and spf are the most important creams in skincare today.