Age Spots - Safe and Treatable

You may have noticed some brown spots appearing on your face, chest, arms, and hands. Age spots. Find out where they come from, how to prevent more from appearing, and what to do about the ones you already have!

What are age spots?

“Age spots,” or “liver spots” are not caused by aging or the liver, but rather sun exposure. They are darkened brown, black, or grey spots that appear on areas that are most frequently exposed to the sun–hands, neck, face, chest, and hands. They are not painful, and more importantly, not dangerous or cancerous. That being said, skin discolouration of any kind should be checked regularly with a dermatologist to make sure that no cancerous cells are involved. Great news–age spots are found on the top layer of the skin, which means their appearance can be treated through several means.

Prevention

The first rule of skin care is always: Wear Sunscreen! Wearing a light UVA/UVB protected moisturizure all year and every year prevents discolouration, wrinkles, and skin cancer. Even if you may have age spots now, a combination of wearing an oil-free sunscreen and employing one of the treatments below will get rid of the spots while preventing others from appearing. Great skin is possible at any age, and the most important thing to know is that prevention is an ongoing process, and treatment is always an option.

Treatments

There are several options to treat age spots. Here are few of the pros and cons of the two most popular treatments for age spots: chemical peels and laser treatments.

•  Chemical Peel Chemical peels aid with discolouration and encourage growth of new top-layer skin cells. Along with sunscreen use, new skin cell production is key to young looking and balanced, healthy skin as dirt is removed and oils are stabilized.

•  Laser Treatment Laser rejuvenation will take longer to decrease the discolouration, but shows fewer signs of treatment afterwards. As chemical peels renew the top layer of the skin, the new skin will appear red briefly afterwards before showing the results of renewal. However, laser rejuvination takes more sessions to do. Both are safe and worth the results!

Restylane: Who it’s For, Where it Targets, and How it Works

What it’s For

Restylane is a non-surgical skin rejuvenation product, used in the same manner as alternatives such as Juvéderm. Many people have different skin sensitivities or are allergic to collagen, and Restylane is a non-animal based, collagen free, and FDA approved alternative used to add volume to, decrease wrinkles from, or contour the face.

Restylane is used to:

• Add volume to lips.
• Fill in wrinkles and fine lines such as crows feet, under-eye, forehead frown lines, and mouth laugh lines.
• Contour around the eyebrow, cheekbone, and nose

How it Works

Restylane is an alternative to collagen-based fillers such as Juvéderm for people with allergies. Both are hyaluronic acid fillers, which is a natural part of your skin’s composition. This attracts fluid to the area, adding volume and tightness to the targeted areas of your skin.

More about Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is a natural substance produced by your body. High concentrations of hyaluronic acid are found in the fluid surrounding your eyes. It acts as a passage through which nutrients can go from the bloodstream to skin cells, increasing the youthful look of skin by “plumping” up the active areas. It is also used to help people with arthritis to provide extra comfort in the joints.

Effective

Restylane has shown to be just as effective as the alternative, producing results immediately.

Benefits

• Collagen free for those with allergies
• Unlike surgery, Restylane has minimal bruising and recovery time
• As hyaluronic acid is naturally occurring in the human body, there is no risk of allergic reaction and thus no allergy test needed before hand
• As stated before, Restylane is a non-surgical anti-aging treatment, and is thus less intensive, invasive, can be reversed, and has few side effects

Why should I use a primer?

Primers are not just for oily skin. There are many different categories of primer, and all are used to decrease the appearance of lines, tired eyes, or uneven skin colour. Consider the benefits of using a primer, and understand how each kind is working for you. What is a Primer?

A primer goes on first, before foundation, and can be used to even out skin colour where redness is a problem, decrease the look of fine lines, minimize the appearance of pores, or brighten the complexion before adding makeup. Primers improve the application and resilience of foundation and are a barrier between your skin and your foundation. The ideal primer is lightweight and refreshes and hydrates your skin.

What Are the Differences in Primers?

Brighteners

• There are many, many primers out there, but most fall under a few categories that are aimed for different needs. Some primers brighten the skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines and containing a pink tint to keep your skin looking (and feeling) hydrated.

Skin Care

• Some primers contain SPF and focus on moisturizing the skin while creating a barrier between the foundation and your face. Like all good primers, these are ideally non-oily and lightweight, and are used instead of “priming” the face with a moisturizer in the morning, or before makeup application.

Colour Correctors

• Primers are interesting because they use colour theory to pinpoint and correct the desired area of improvement. A lavender colour will re-liven skin with yellowish tones, while green decreases the uneven appearance of red tones in the complexion.

Silicone

Some people stay away from silicone because of sensitivity or allergies. If you already use a silicone-based foundation and are happy with it, make sure to pair it with a silicone-based primer so one does not break down the other. There are, however, many silicone-free primers on the market. Whether you are silicone-friendly or silicone-free, remember to look for a primer that is focused on good skin health: hydrating your skin, protecting from the oils and talc in makeup, providing vitamins, and avoiding clogging your pores.

Colorescience Primers

Colorescience Primers are a line of dermatologist recommend primers that focus on sun protection, and avoid any harmful ingredients such as: harsh chemicals, dyes, talc, alcohol, mineral oil, and fragrances. Colorescience uses mineral powders that create a protective barrier between the skin and makeup, keeping the skin clean and hydrated. This is an example of a primer that, no matter what the focus—colour correction, reduction of fine lines, or creating a clean barrier—it is dedicated to keeping skin healthy.

Get Rid of Unsightly Veins

Laser Vein Removal

Laser Vein Therapy is a non-invasive treatment done with pulsing light to treat the appearance of veins. There are many reasons why veins can become highly visible over time: sedentary lifestyle, age, sun-exposure, and the natural effects of gravity are some of the causes for blood backing up, especially in the legs, which is where the appearance of veins is most common. Though spider veins and varicose veins are often something that happens naturally over time, they are easy and painless to treat.

Who it’s For

Laser vein removal is not recommended for knotty varicose veins. However, smaller varicose veins and spider veins can be treated very effectively with laser vein therapy. The treatment reduces the appearance of both superficial and deep veins, changing the appearance of skin that has been heavily veined for years. As it is non-invasive, laser vein therapy is for almost anyone who wants more youthful looking skin.

How it Works

Unlike other more invasive treatments that use chemical injections, laser vein removal uses pulsing light to reduce the appearance of veins in the skin. The high power of the light causes the veins to fade and finally disappear. Britannia Dermedics treatments are safe and are intentionally designed to sensitively treat many different skin tones and types.

Prevention

In combination with laser vein therapy, prevention is key so spider veins don’t reappear and to dramatically improve the health and appearance of your skin. Here are some quick tips:

Exercise often

•  Not only does it improve your energy levels, but an active lifestyle keeps blood flowing throughout the legs and arms and improves your vein strength and blood circulation. You don’t have to do a marathon–just keep moving.

Elevate Your Legs

•  In line with exercise, elevate your legs when you are resting. This reduces the amount of time blood pooling in your legs.

As Always - Wear Sunscreen

•  Sun damage to the face can cause spider veins to appear. Though spider veins can be treated on the face with Limelight facials, prevention is always important in combination with skin treatments. A combination of daily skin care from the right sunscreens and moisturizers to gentle rejuvenation treatments is the key to skin that looks and feels young for a long time.

The importance of medical grade skin care

We live in Calgary, with one of the harshest climates in the world. When winter arrives, it’s as if an enormous vacuum has sucked up all the humidity in the area. The harsh weather and heated buildings seem to collaborate to rob skin of moisture. Our skin and lips immediately begin to dry and crack. Although we can’t emphasize enough the importance of regular skin care throughout the year with a medical grade skin care line, it’s even more important in the winter.

Why?

They’re far superior to over-the-counter products for these reasons:

• Higher concentrations of active ingredients than over-the-counter products
• Real results: Scientifically tested and published in medical journals

In our harsh climate, it’s essential to ensure you are using the best products available to protect and moisture your skin.

Medical grade products also:

• Enhance and prolong cosmetic surgery procedure results
• Increase collagen and elastin production, reducing fine lines and wrinkles and decreasing hyperpigmentation resulting in ongoing skin transformation.

Over-the-counter products are:

• Not formulated in a way to penetrate below the skin’s surface
• Contain many chemical agents, which can irritate sensitive
• Not able to treat the underlying skin condition which results in the obvious signs of aging

Although they may seem more expensive initially, a little goes a long way with a medical grade product.

Holiday stress and your skin

It is a busy time of year, leading to skin that looks tired and stressed. How can you get through the season with skin that keeps its beautiful glow?

1. Exercise on a regular basis. Not only will it keep oxygen flowing to your skin, it’s crucial for your overall health. Don’t stop exercising because you are busy—fit in somewhere—just keep moving!

2. Minimize rosacea  flare-ups by avoiding these triggers: stress, cold weather, spicy foods and alcohol.

3. Make sleep a priority. We need seven to eight hours of sleep each night—our skins rejuvenate, our muscles repair and our minds relax while we’re sleeping.  Say no to a few events.

4.  Feeling good about yourself can reduce stress. If you notice you’re losing volume in your face, try a derma filler, or even better a combination of Botox and derma filler to plump up wrinkles and add volume for a more youthful appearance.

5. Watch your alcohol intake. It’s easy to overdo it during the holiday season, leading to more calories and bloating. Alcohol can also be a factor in facial redness.

6. Hydrate. No matter what else you do, don’t forget to keep sipping water throughout the day.

Remember to take care of yourself during the holidays—it’s easy to put self-care at the bottom of the list when you’re busy.

All the best over the holiday season from the team at Britannia Dermedics!

Look great after a flight

It’s the time of year when we do a lot of traveling. We’re visiting friends and family over the holidays or we’re escaping cold weather and heading off to somewhere warm and tropical.

How do you protect your skin while traveling?

Hydrate. The most important thing you can do is moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.  Just before you get on the plan, apply a rich moisturizing cream. Always stay hydrated by drinking lots of water before and during the flight. Avoid caffeine and sodas as they rob your skin of moisture.

Cosmetics. Keep your make-up to a minimum. Focus on lips, and cheeks as eye makeup can smear and flake. If you must, wear foundation but no powder as it can dry out your skin.

Finish right. Just before landing, apply some concealer under the eyes, and then touch up blush and lipstick.

Instant camouflage. If it’s been a long flight and you’re exhausted, wear sunglasses.

Sagging Skin

There are many benefits to attaining a certain age—wisdom, maturity and patience come to mind. Then there’s the side of getting older that’s less appealing—sagging skin.

Skin loses its firmness eventually, a natural effect of aging because of collagen breakdown and loss. Plastic surgery, until recently, was the only solution for skin tightening. For many, it wasn’t an option because of the expense, potential complications and downtime.

How to you fight sagging skin?

To improve skin tone, it’s necessary to increase collagen production. Recent advances in procedures to fight aging skin include the use of lasers to stimulate the production of collagen.

Skin Tightening Lasers can treat:

• face
• jawline
• chin
• neck
• abdomen
• back of upper arms

Problem areas can be targeted with lasers, and there’s little to no downtime depending on the type of laser treatment. Lasers are also non-invasive, no surgery or injections are involved.

Don’t Let Menopause Upset Your Amazing Skin

What’s more fun than dealing with extra-dry skin while you get pimples you haven’t seen since you were in public school? These seemingly polar reactions to your changing hormones require a kind, consistent, but super-simple regime. Menopause–just when you’re on the top of your game against aging skin, this heavy weight champion comes in to knock you down a few pegs. Don’t fret. You and your skin are more capable than ever, and dealing with the one-two punch of menopause on your skin may be more simple than you expect.

Fine lines and wrinkles are part of the aging process, but this doesn’t mean you have to succumb to them - Britannia Dermedics offers a variety of wrinkle and fine line treatments in Calgary.

Hydrate:

Your body needs water, and your skin loves it. A decrease in estrogen during menopause can let testosterone affect your pore size. Water will flush out the bad sugars, dirt, and oils that you may be more susceptible to, which aggravate healthy cell production and create extra oil. Dry skin can be caused externally by sun exposure or too much wind, but is typically an indicator of dehydration.

Cleanse:

A medical grade cleanser will remove the excess oil from your skin without also drying you.

Moisturize:

Use of a light but effective sunscreen is essential to keeping a good relationship with your skin throughout menopause. If your skin is driving you mad, a light protective layer applied at least a few times a day actively works hard to prevent more aging and dry agitation from occurring. Avoid anything too oily as the influence of testosterone during menopause is already adding extra oils.

At night, use a cream that encourages collagen production, such as SkinTx’s Retinol SR Facial Treatment. The decrease of estrogen in menopause causes the skin to sag, as less collagen is being produced. Retinoids prevent collagen breakdown.

Skin care during menopause is a focus on just that–skin care.

Energy Boosters

Whether it’s a cold grey Monday or the end of a hot summer Saturday, sometimes we need a boost. There are many ways to keep your energy up as the weather changes –the changing of the seasons can sometimes give us headaches and drain our energy. Here are a few tips to keep you and your skin’s energy boosted and glowing no matter what the weather.

Go Carby

Completely carb free diets makes life and energy levels very dull–we become someone who constantly needs a nap. Complex carbs and multi-grains keep our energy up and us full without being full of sugar–as is the much less healthy carb-provider white bread. Multi-grains and complex carbs are able to be broken down and provide our bodies with energy and nutrients.

Stay Hydrated

As always, staying hydrated keeps us happy and healthy from the inside out. Drinking enough water a day (a litre and a half) will provide alertness, soft skin, and energy. Being hydrated also wards off sunstroke (come summer) and is a preventative measure against headaches and nausea.

Keep in Motion

Going for walks or even standing up between long periods of work is good for energy levels, as a sedentary life drags down energy and puts us in sleep mode. Go for short walks when possible; a bit of exercise is a better energy boost than a mid-day nap.

Sunscreen

The more the sun is out, the better able it is able to zap your moisture and make you tired. Wear a proper sunscreen and keep out of direct sunlight when possible to retain your moisture and keep your skin supple, glowing, and hydrated throughout the day. Wake up from the inside out with regular hydration, regular meals, and regular exercise for good, healthy, and bright skin.

The End of Blackheads

Blackheads–not just for teenagers, unfortunately. Blackheads, dark and most commonly on your face, are terribly annoying. Don’t fret! Microdermabrasion and some old fashioned TLC are here to help.

What They Are

 Blackheads are a widened or open hair follicle that has become filled with dirt, or more specifically, skin’s dirt, oils, and bacteria. The dark appearance comes from the oxidization of the sebum–your skin’s oils. If your sebum is being overproduced (usually a hormonal reaction) or not draining from the skin properly, your pores can become clogged, and, mixed with dirt, a bacteria forms and a blackhead appears.

Wash Your Face! But Just As Much as Normal

It is a myth that washing your face more frequently will make your skin healthier, clearer, and more clean. Washing your face more than twice a day will irritate and dry out your skin, and likely cause more oils to be produced as a reaction to this sudden drying out. Wash with a clean cloth, delicately, and moisturise with a non-oily night cream before bed. This will help keep your skin clean and calm any irritation.

Microdermabrasion

A specialised brush combined with a chemical cleanser applied by a Britannia professional carefully removes your top layer of skin to promote healthy production below. As blackheads are essentially a clog, it is important to clean dirt while helping your oil production levels to even out.

Soft Lift and Liquid Facelifts

Combining treatments allows for your natural beauty to shine through. Britannia Dermedics’ Soft Lift approach combines Botox and Juvederm treatments to highlight your exact areas of desired rejuvenation and put more life into your beautiful skin.

Combat the “3 Ds”

Deterioration

• Reduce wrinkles and combat texture changes. Changes develop over time from sun damage, dehydration, and the process of aging. Aging is inevitable–beauty is always possible.

Descent

• Counteract droopiness of the skin by combating collagen loss and tightening areas that may have fallen over time. Show brighter eyes and do your smile justice. Botox will lift your eyes, brightening your whole face.

Deflation

• Re-inflate your cheeks, lips, jawline and more by putting volume back into your skin. Juvederm stimulates collagen production in the skin and returns the desired area back to a plump, healthy, and youthful place. Juvederm utilises hyaluronic acid to stimulate collagen production and bring youth back to aging skin.

Customise to your Age and Wants

Soft lift is customizable to your age group, desires, and skin type. Whether you are in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s or on, Britannia Dermedics is able to customise a treatment for your personal areas of need,your skin tone, and your skin type. Britannia Dermedics is a personal experience meant to perfectly meet your needs.

Lighten Up: Get Rid of Dark Circles

Dark circles under your eyes can dampen a perfectly good day, making you look down when you’re feeling good. They can also betray the fact that you’re tired when you want to look ready to go. There are many reasons why we get dark circles under our eyes, and many ways to get them out of your life.

Why do I have them?

Age

• Over time, skin loses its ability to produce as much collagen as when we were younger, which is what keeps our skin plump and youthful. Lying in the sun without protection speeds up this process by exposing skin to damaging, collagen-destroying rays of sunlight.

Genetics

• Light or thin skin below your eyes is a product of your DNA. The lighter your skin, or the thinner it is, the more obvious a lack of sleep becomes as blood pools under the thin skin.

Allergies

• This one is easy to deal with! Treating your allergies reduces itching, discomfort, and treats puffiness that doesn’t need to be there. Histamines are released by seasonal allergies, which cause blood vessels to become inflamed, resulting in swelling in your most sensitive area: beneath your eyes.

Treat It

With these causes in mind, treat your dark circles by targeting the cause.

•  If thin skin is the cause, consider collagen-building treatments, such as Juvederm, to improve collagen production.
• Good sleep helps, but only in improving your sleep posture. Sleep more upright by adding an extra pillow. Less blood will pool under your thin and sensitive under eye skin.
• If you have allergies, take anti-histamines. You have allergies!

Don’t Stress About It: Improving Skin Quality by Relaxing

Relaxation is something worthwhile to bring into your skin care routine. Acne, hives, rashes may not always come from stress or anxiety, but worry can play a major role in declining skin quality. Here are some tips on how to relax to improve skin quality while improving your day-to-day.

Hives

In a way, it starts with hives. Stress, anxiety, or nervousness sends blood pumping at a high-rate through your body, often bursting from pressure, or showing up in sensitive and thin areas of your skin–hands, neck, chest, and face.  Hives are irritated skin that can turn into pimples, or persistent acne.

Sweating

Increased sweating dehydrates the skin and leaves it vulnerable to dryness, irritation, peeling, and a quicker road to wrinkles.

Wake up Right

Interestingly, one of the best things you can do for your skin is centering yourself–no creams necessary. Get up in the morning and start with 15-30 minutes of alone time–no phones or computers. Become aware of the room, and focus on breathing and stretching out your limbs. Giving yourself that extra time to be alone in the morning can help you think clearly throughout the day and dramatically reduce stress.

Sleep Right

Being calmer throughout the day will help you get that beauty sleep you need. A good, regular sleep is essential to your skin’s nightly reparations, building up a barrier and providing your skin with all the hydration and collagen it needs to be plump, healthy, and happy in the morning.

Think about it–30 minutes in the morning can improve a lifetime of skin.

More on Foot Care: Prevent Aging, Improve Circulation, and Up Your Energy

Toe nail fungus is not the only cause of declining comfort and confidence with our feet. Toe nail fungus is treatable with good foot hygiene and laser treatment–safe, non-invasive, and bacteria-killing. A myriad of problems that we encounter as our feet age, weather changes, and our favorite shoes turn against us are also easily dealt with by knowing the cause of our discomfort. We’re on our feet all day, and it is important to remember that beauty goes hand in hand with comfort.

Common Problems

• Corns, Calluses, and Bunions The most bony parts of your feet rub against your shoes, causing corns and calluses that are uncomfortable and frustrate us throughout the day. Bunions are the result of swollen joints and require rest, shoes with looser toes, and staying away from pointed-toed heels. A discussion with your doctor is a good idea if you are in long-lasting pain.

• Ingrown Toenails Ingrown toenails, like ingrown hairs, occur when the toenail (like the hair) begins growing back into the skin. Cut your toenails straight and keep them and your cuticles clean to get away from ingrown toenails which can cause pain and infection.

• Dry Skin Like other sensitive skin on your body, use a gentle cleanser or soap to keep your feet clean. Your feet do a lot of work for you throughout the day, so make sure they get the TLC they deserve. Use a hydrating lotion of your feet, heels, and legs to improve comfort and promote clean, healthy, and comfortable feet.

• Bad Circulation Bad circulation is genetic, but can be improved. Avoid crossing your legs (this also helps prevent the appearance of spider veins) to improve flow, and rest your feet by propping them up when possible. Blood rushes to your feet and can cause discomfort, tingling, and/or loss of sensation in the feet. This is also a cause of…

• Swollen Feet Swollen feet can be a result of bad blood circulation. Follow the same tips as above, and make sure to give your feet time to breathe and relax. Wear breathable materials on your feet (cotton socks) to keep air coming in and out throughout the day and relieve pressure.

Universal Tips to Live By

As we age, the fatty pads of our feet lose their cushioning, just as our collagen production goes down, showing “thinning skin” on our most sensitive areas: face, hands, neck, and chest. Improve your comfort by wearing shoes that are comfortable and support your arches. Our arches also sink as we age, and this is normal. We don’t have to wear orthotics to continue functioning the way we used to, but listen to your feet! The comfort of our feet directly affects the rest of our comfort, influences our posture, and comfort is the key to a clear mind. Be good to your hard working feet by giving them time to relax and keeping your feet, toes, and heels clean.

Plumped Lips

Topical lip plumping products are irritants employed to increase the appearance of your lips. Blood flow is increased, and temporarily larger lips appear as more blood is pumped to the area, producing swollen lips and mild redness that accentuate the best parts of your natural lip shape.

Effectiveness

These lip plumpers can work for a few hours, but overuse may be irritating. Using anything that irritates the skin–in this case, on purpose–can lead to unwanted dryness if used extensively. In the form of a lip gloss, these plumpers have varying levels of effectiveness related to their ingredients and your skin’s reception.

Hyaluronic Acid

As we know, hyaluronic acid is a key feature of “plumping”. Hyaluronic acid may be employed in a lip plumper to stimulate collagen production as well as draw in and trap moisture to improve the appearance of healthy, more voluptuous lips.

Best Products

The best products are not found by name, but by your body’s reaction to different stimulants, and your specific wants for your lips. The best customer reviewed products have in common:

• Minimal reactions
• Smoothing of fine lines for better makeup application and diminishing appearance of wrinkles
• Shine without stickiness
• Minimal redness around the lip area

No More Ingrown Hairs

No matter how we change our hair removal technique–wax, shave, or pluck–ingrown hairs always seem to make a magnificent comeback.

A Sign of the Time–Time to Deal with That Ingrown Hair

A short and dark hair, or red and irritated spots around your armpits, legs, or crotch, all suggest that an ingrown hair is forming. Ingrown hairs occur when the hair starts to grow back into the skin, causing inflammation, pain, and annoyance. Here’s how to prevent and how to deal with them when they are already there.

Prevent Ingrown Hairs from Forming

• Shave with the grain. It’s what your mother or shaving mentor told you and you ignored. Unfortunately, they were right. While shaving against the grain causes a closer cut, the shortness actually causes ingrown hairs to form. Cutting to close to the skin doesn’t allow for the hair to continue growing in the same direction, causing the  hair to grow back into the skin and cause irritation, or even infection as dirt gets caught and oils are trapped under the skin.
• Exfoliate when you shower. Exfoliating, by using a loofah (not too rough), helps to remove dead skin cells which can trap oil or dirt in your pores and cause infection with the ingrown hair. Hair has an easier time growing in to smooth skin with no barriers caused by dead skin cells.
• New razor. A new blade gives a cleaner cut, has less bacteria on it, and most importantly does not tug at your hair. Tugging causes irritation and affects the direction of hair growth, while cutting keeps the growth cycle clean.

Spot Cleaning: To Pop or Not to Pop

There are many non-surgical or and non-hormonal treatments to change the way acne affects our lives. If acne is a persistent problem for you, or if has recently emerged, you are probably familiar with the many treatments offered by Britannia Dermedics, including Pearl Laser Resurfacing, Laser Genesis, and Chemical Peels. Here are a few tips on how to deal with the emergence of a new pimple between treatments, or when to consider a treatment instead of a new face cleanser.

Hands Off

Acne scarring is caused by improper treatment of breakouts. While we don’t choose how our hormones affect our skin, we are in control of the way our skin is treated. Only some pimples are okay to be popped, which are pus-filled and have the familiar white head.

• Run a sterile needle through the very top to release what is inside.
• Never use your fingers to pop a pimple. They are covered in bacteria that will aggravate your skin even further and hinder the healing process. Furthermore, the pressure is aggravating and damaging to your skin!

Be Good to Your Skin

If these pimples are a recurring problem, consider Laser Genesis, Pearl Laser Resurfacing, or Chemical Peels–all promote new, healthier skin to form. On a day to day basis, consider these ways to deal with pimples you shouldn’t pop:

• Look for professional grade cleanser and face lotion that is catered to your skin’s needs.
• Don’t over-cleanse. It can’t be said enough–cleaning reaches a point of diminishing returns and should be reviving, not drying to your skin.
• Change your diet–if you notice one food is always around when you break out, try to cut it out and see how your skin is affected.
• Sleep on clean sheets and pat-dry your face with a clean towel to reduce bacteria, irritation, and inflammation. Cleanliness is key to speeding up the healing process, as well as helping to prevent irritation from occurring in the first place.

Primers – The Pre-foundation

Why a Primer?

Another layer of make-up on your skin? Will it clog your pores, irritate your skin, and promote oil production? Actually, the answer is no. The opposite is true: primers protect your skin by acting as a barrier between your cosmetics and your skin.

Here are a few reasons to consider a primer as part of your skin care routine:

Skin Protection

If you have sensitive skin, a medical grade primer protects your face from sun damage (causing dryness, aging, and redness) and creates a protective wall between makeup, sweat, and your face. A primer is best used when it contains sun protection and promotes an even layer upon which to apply the rest of your make-up.

Treat your Skin Routine Right

Use a medical grade primer in conjunction with the rest of your skin care routine to help moisturize, hydrate, and work with the vitamins that your night and morning moisturizer contain. By retaining moisture, you prevent oil from being produced as a reaction to dryness. A primer can help promote skin tone and texture that are more even in appearance.

Although it seems like just one more addition to your morning routine, primers can aid in a healthier complexion—they are not just for evening out your complexion or as a layer for your foundation to adhere to. They can also highlight areas of your face, and decrease the appearance of fine lines and redness.

Start your day out right for your skin with a medical grade primer!

Undo Summer Damage

Unless you’ve stayed inside all summer, you’ve likely accumulated some sun damage over the last few months. With fall just around the corner, it’s time to think about undoing that damage. One of the most effective methods is with an IPL or Intense Pulsed Light treatment, which improves skin tone and removes freckles and brown spots without pain or surgery. Skin texture, lesions, and age or liver spots are treated with an intense but painless light that gets straight to the affected area without damaging skin.

How IPL works

The affected areas of the skin on the damaged areas are heated using a painless, concentrated light, which diffuses redness and brown spots in the top layer of your skin to even out and improve quality.

With IPL, wavelengths of light are absorbed by the top layer of your skin, altering pigment to return it to a more youthful, and even skin tone. Low contrast or light brown spots, which previously were difficult to remove or improve, respond well to IPL treatments.

What areas does iPL treat?

Along with treating aging or redness on the face, IPL commonly treats:

• Hands
• Chest
• Arms
• Shoulders

What skin problems does iPL treat?

• Freckles
• Photo damage
• Hyper pigmentation
• Brown spots
• Rosacea

How long does an iPL treatment take?

An IPL treatment is non-invasive and will not interrupt your routine or require extensive recovery time. Treatment plans are designed to treat your goals; depending on the amount of damage, you may need more than one treatment. The best results are usually seen with three to five treatments.