DULL SKIN DRAMA TAKES A ONE-TWO PUNCH
Oct 11, 2011 Posted by Corrie Shenigo
Hold on to your hats, folks. I’m enraged. (Yes, again.)
This aging thing is no joke and honestly I’m getting fed up with it. There was a time not long ago, when I didn’t have to rely on a full shellac of make-up to put on my party face. I could slap on some lipstick and mascara and head out the door. So imagine my surprise when I tried that trick the other night and saw visual, photographic evidence of what I’d been fearing for a while now. My dermis has grown dull. DULL! (*cue the torrential tears.)
After reeling through the four of the five stages grief, and then doggedly drawing the line at acceptance, I decided to fight back, first with a little research in changes I can make to my own at-home skin care routine to brighten my literal outlook again, and also some hard-hitting in-office procedures – ‘cause let’s face it, this might be one of those times when a professional touch might be in order. (*more tears.)
This dulling of the dermis probably started way back in my 20’s when stress, late nights and waking up with last night’s makeup smeared down my face all took their toll on my skin. What I didn’t know back then was the damage I was causing. That stupid stress hormone triggers inflammation and acne, while not getting enough zzz’s causes sensitivity and dryness. Top it off with letting my skin stew the night away in old make-up and it’s no wonder my once flawless skin looks like as dreary as it does right now.
And while those days are far behind me (most of the time), and my skincare routine has become something more akin to a religious ritual, time is still a’tickin’ and now the daily damage is being done not by my errant ways, but by the mere fact that cell turnover rates slow down as we age. You know what that means? A less-than-lustrous facial zone. (*sob.)
Slathering on an A.M. and P.M. cream with Vitamin C can help with it’s skin brightening abilities and a weekly peel with a 25% blend of AHA’s can help too… but this situation calls for something more serious.
Doctors are more and more using combination treatments to treat the dreaded deep-seated dullness of which I speak (*and cry and cry and cry.) Microderm-Plus is a micro skin-polishing treatment topped off with either LED light therapy to reduce redness or pressurized oxygen to restore moisture. A combo chemical peel, with it’s customized blend of AHA’s (like glycolic acid and a high-potency retinol) can exfoliate, reduce brown spots and minimize wrinkles – leading to a much shinier visage. Sure, sure there can be some minor redness and peeling involved for a few days – but that seems a small price to pay to dry all those dreary tearies. If your doctor’s into heavy-hitting sci-fi lasers, he or she might even recommend a dual Fraxel treatment. This is where Darth Vader’s light-saber… I mean your doctor’s Fraxel laser delivers two wavelengths—one to stimulate collagen and the other to help activate skin-cell growth producing a brighter and more even facial zone.
So dry those tears and pick yourself up off that fainting couch—you don’t have to take a dull dermis lying down. And neither do I.
This aging thing is no joke and honestly I’m getting fed up with it. There was a time not long ago, when I didn’t have to rely on a full shellac of make-up to put on my party face. I could slap on some lipstick and mascara and head out the door. So imagine my surprise when I tried that trick the other night and saw visual, photographic evidence of what I’d been fearing for a while now. My dermis has grown dull. DULL! (*cue the torrential tears.)
After reeling through the four of the five stages grief, and then doggedly drawing the line at acceptance, I decided to fight back, first with a little research in changes I can make to my own at-home skin care routine to brighten my literal outlook again, and also some hard-hitting in-office procedures – ‘cause let’s face it, this might be one of those times when a professional touch might be in order. (*more tears.)
This dulling of the dermis probably started way back in my 20’s when stress, late nights and waking up with last night’s makeup smeared down my face all took their toll on my skin. What I didn’t know back then was the damage I was causing. That stupid stress hormone triggers inflammation and acne, while not getting enough zzz’s causes sensitivity and dryness. Top it off with letting my skin stew the night away in old make-up and it’s no wonder my once flawless skin looks like as dreary as it does right now.
And while those days are far behind me (most of the time), and my skincare routine has become something more akin to a religious ritual, time is still a’tickin’ and now the daily damage is being done not by my errant ways, but by the mere fact that cell turnover rates slow down as we age. You know what that means? A less-than-lustrous facial zone. (*sob.)
Slathering on an A.M. and P.M. cream with Vitamin C can help with it’s skin brightening abilities and a weekly peel with a 25% blend of AHA’s can help too… but this situation calls for something more serious.
Doctors are more and more using combination treatments to treat the dreaded deep-seated dullness of which I speak (*and cry and cry and cry.) Microderm-Plus is a micro skin-polishing treatment topped off with either LED light therapy to reduce redness or pressurized oxygen to restore moisture. A combo chemical peel, with it’s customized blend of AHA’s (like glycolic acid and a high-potency retinol) can exfoliate, reduce brown spots and minimize wrinkles – leading to a much shinier visage. Sure, sure there can be some minor redness and peeling involved for a few days – but that seems a small price to pay to dry all those dreary tearies. If your doctor’s into heavy-hitting sci-fi lasers, he or she might even recommend a dual Fraxel treatment. This is where Darth Vader’s light-saber… I mean your doctor’s Fraxel laser delivers two wavelengths—one to stimulate collagen and the other to help activate skin-cell growth producing a brighter and more even facial zone.
So dry those tears and pick yourself up off that fainting couch—you don’t have to take a dull dermis lying down. And neither do I.