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If you are unhappy with the appearance of your skin, you may be considering a cosmetic procedure, either now or in the future, but a lot can be done to protect or improve your skin by changing your lifestyle.
While it's true that by a particular age, a certain amount of environmental damage has been done and some sort of treatment may be needed to improve your face and bring back that natural youthful appearance, your lifestyle undoubtedly has a big impact on how you look.
Here are my five essentials for good skin.
You may have read some of my articles on the importance of being sun smart and using SPF. As most of us know, UV exposure, even day-to-day levels, can be a big factor in the development of skin cancers such as melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
From a health perspective, it is very important to protect your skin, even on overcast days, have moles and dark or unusual marks checked regularly, and know what to look for when checking at home. In summer, avoid the sun when it’s strongest, from 11am to 3pm and, as I tell all my patients, the use of sunbeds is a very bad idea.
All the above relates to health, but the same UV rays are also responsible for increasing the signs of aging in the skin. In fact, the things we tend to equate with aging; pigmentation marks, fine line, wrinkles and loss of volume or firmness, are mostly caused by sun exposure. Up to 90% in fact, so it’s clear that being sun smart from a young age will offer significant help to skin in the quest to stay healthy and youthful-looking.
I advise using a high-quality, broad spectrum SPF daily. For casual exposure in Ireland, such as going from the car to the office, SPF15 is adequate, but you’ll need at least SPF30 in summer or while on holidays. Far from making you look healthier, a tan is your skin’s way of showing you that it is trying to combat the effects of harmful UV rays, so to enjoy real health, you need to give your skin a hand by reapplying SPF often, and staying in the shade when the sun is at its strongest.
We are what we eat, and a healthy balanced diet goes a long way to keeping skin plump and youthful looking. Antioxidants help to protect skin from external aggressors like free radicals and pollution. A diversity of brightly coloured fruit and vegetables, lean protein, good fats (found in oily fish, etc) and lots of water will all benefit skin. Try to cut back on alcohol, tea and coffee and instead try green or herbal teas.
It may go without saying but, as well as being very bad for your health, smoking has a detrimental effect on your skin. Smokers tend to develop fine lines around the edges of the mouth, and of course smoking can also lead to yellow teeth and fingernails, which is not a good look.
Because smoking thickens the blood, damages blood vessel walls and disturbs normal heart rhythms, it significantly reduces the amount of oxygen being supplied to the skin that is needed to keep it supple and healthy looking. This also impacts severely on the skin’s ability to heal after injury or any sort of medical or cosmetic treatment.
The collagen you need to keep skin supple and strong contains an amino acid called hydroxyproline, and smokers have been shown to have less available hydroxyproline, resulting in less tensile wound strength. This means that smokers who undergo a cosmetic or aesthetic surgery procedure have been found to experience more complications and less effective results, and often require further procedures.
Essential for overall health, exercising regularly helps to keep the blood well oxygenated, keeping skin bright and healthy. If you’re prone to rosacea or redness, avoid overly strenuous exercise or things like hot yoga as they can cause the capillaries to contract and exacerbate these conditions.
A good skincare regime can go a long way towards keeping skin smooth and cared for. Cosmeceutical ranges offer more results than cosmetic brands, and can be very effective in smoothing skin, evening out skin tone and reducing the appearance of fine lines. Any regime needs to be strictly followed to see the benefits.
Following these five guidelines will help your skin stay healthy and young looking for longer, but if you do feel that the time has come when you want a little help, there are many great treatments and procedures available to restore vitality and a youthful appearance.
Injectables such as Botox and fillers are effective for facial rejuvenation, but there are also non- surgical procedures such as the thread lift, an innovative and convenient procedure that can be performed under local anaesthetic and which restores definition and reduces the signs of aging while also promoting the production of collagen in the skin.
Cosmetic or aesthetic surgery procedures such as a facelift, brow lift or neck lift can also be performed to restore your youthful appearance, should you feel they are necessary, but it is important to be aware of all the considerations involved in undergoing these.
If you are thinking about a cosmetic surgery procedure, find out all you need to know about your options and the factors you need to consider in our free guide: Considerations Before Deciding on Cosmetic Surgery and Post-Treatment Care:
Download Mr. Chan's Guide to Cosmetic Surgery Considerations
If you are unhappy with the appearance of your skin, you may be considering a cosmetic procedure, either now or in the future, but a lot can be done to protect or improve your skin by changing your lifestyle.
While it's true that by a particular age, a certain amount of environmental damage has been done and some sort of treatment may be needed to improve your face and bring back that natural youthful appearance, your lifestyle undoubtedly has a big impact on how you look.
Here are my five essentials for good skin.
You may have read some of my articles on the importance of being sun smart and using SPF. As most of us know, UV exposure, even day-to-day levels, can be a big factor in the development of skin cancers such as melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
From a health perspective, it is very important to protect your skin, even on overcast days, have moles and dark or unusual marks checked regularly, and know what to look for when checking at home. In summer, avoid the sun when it’s strongest, from 11am to 3pm and, as I tell all my patients, the use of sunbeds is a very bad idea.
All the above relates to health, but the same UV rays are also responsible for increasing the signs of aging in the skin. In fact, the things we tend to equate with aging; pigmentation marks, fine line, wrinkles and loss of volume or firmness, are mostly caused by sun exposure. Up to 90% in fact, so it’s clear that being sun smart from a young age will offer significant help to skin in the quest to stay healthy and youthful-looking.
I advise using a high-quality, broad spectrum SPF daily. For casual exposure in Ireland, such as going from the car to the office, SPF15 is adequate, but you’ll need at least SPF30 in summer or while on holidays. Far from making you look healthier, a tan is your skin’s way of showing you that it is trying to combat the effects of harmful UV rays, so to enjoy real health, you need to give your skin a hand by reapplying SPF often, and staying in the shade when the sun is at its strongest.
We are what we eat, and a healthy balanced diet goes a long way to keeping skin plump and youthful looking. Antioxidants help to protect skin from external aggressors like free radicals and pollution. A diversity of brightly coloured fruit and vegetables, lean protein, good fats (found in oily fish, etc) and lots of water will all benefit skin. Try to cut back on alcohol, tea and coffee and instead try green or herbal teas.
It may go without saying but, as well as being very bad for your health, smoking has a detrimental effect on your skin. Smokers tend to develop fine lines around the edges of the mouth, and of course smoking can also lead to yellow teeth and fingernails, which is not a good look.
Because smoking thickens the blood, damages blood vessel walls and disturbs normal heart rhythms, it significantly reduces the amount of oxygen being supplied to the skin that is needed to keep it supple and healthy looking. This also impacts severely on the skin’s ability to heal after injury or any sort of medical or cosmetic treatment.
The collagen you need to keep skin supple and strong contains an amino acid called hydroxyproline, and smokers have been shown to have less available hydroxyproline, resulting in less tensile wound strength. This means that smokers who undergo a cosmetic or aesthetic surgery procedure have been found to experience more complications and less effective results, and often require further procedures.
Essential for overall health, exercising regularly helps to keep the blood well oxygenated, keeping skin bright and healthy. If you’re prone to rosacea or redness, avoid overly strenuous exercise or things like hot yoga as they can cause the capillaries to contract and exacerbate these conditions.
A good skincare regime can go a long way towards keeping skin smooth and cared for. Cosmeceutical ranges offer more results than cosmetic brands, and can be very effective in smoothing skin, evening out skin tone and reducing the appearance of fine lines. Any regime needs to be strictly followed to see the benefits.
Following these five guidelines will help your skin stay healthy and young looking for longer, but if you do feel that the time has come when you want a little help, there are many great treatments and procedures available to restore vitality and a youthful appearance.
Injectables such as Botox and fillers are effective for facial rejuvenation, but there are also non- surgical procedures such as the thread lift, an innovative and convenient procedure that can be performed under local anaesthetic and which restores definition and reduces the signs of aging while also promoting the production of collagen in the skin.
Cosmetic or aesthetic surgery procedures such as a facelift, brow lift or neck lift can also be performed to restore your youthful appearance, should you feel they are necessary, but it is important to be aware of all the considerations involved in undergoing these.
If you are thinking about a cosmetic surgery procedure, find out all you need to know about your options and the factors you need to consider in our free guide: Considerations Before Deciding on Cosmetic Surgery and Post-Treatment Care:
Download Mr. Chan's Guide to Cosmetic Surgery Considerations
