The Skincare Doctor Blog

Talking about skin care, ?facial skin care? seems to top the chart. There are loads of facial skin care products available in the market. The most common facial skin care products are the ones that are used as part of daily routine. These include things like cleansers and moisturizers. Toners and exfoliation ones are well known too but not many people use them as such.

The general classification of facial skin care products is based on the following:

* Gender (so there are facial skin care products for men and there are facial skin care products for women)
* Skin type (facial skin products for oily skin, facial skin care products for dry skin, facial skin care products for normal skin and facial skin care products for sensitive skin)
* Age (facial skin care products for old and facial skin care products for young)
* Skin disorder (i.e. facial skin care products for treatment of various skin orders like eczema, acne etc)

So that is your starting point for choosing a facial skin care product that suits you. A good way to start is by determining your skin type first. Also note that the skin type changes with age, so the facial skin product that suits you today, might not suit you forever and hence you need to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of your facial skin care product.

The facial skin care products are available in various forms i.e. creams, lotions, gels, masks etc, and a lot of people try to pit one against the other in their discussion on which form is best. However, one can?t really rate one form as better than another form. What suits you (and whatever you are comfortable with) is the best form of facial skin care product for you, really.

However, it?s important to note that these products work differently for different people. So the best thing is to try the facial skin care product on a small patch of skin (e.g. ear lobes) before actually going ahead and using it.

Another important consideration is the state of your skin. If you are suffering from a skin disorder of any kind, it is best to seek the advice of a dermatologist before you actually make your selection and start using a facial skin care product.

Once you have selected the facial skin care product for yourself, you also need to ensure that you use the facial skin care product in the right way i.e. follow correct procedures for application, use the correct quantity and make the facial product a part of your skin care routine.

We all know the importance of ?personal skin care?. The opinion on how-to (for personal skin care) differs from person to person. Some people believe that going to beauty parlours every other day is personal skin care. Others believe that personal skin care is just a matter of applying some cream or lotion on your skin, every now and then. Then there are people who think that personal skin care is an event that happens once a month or once a year. Still others busy themselves with ?personal skin care? all the time. However, personal skin care is not that complicated and neither is it that expensive (considering how beneficial it is). Personal skin care is following a routine or a procedure for attending to the needs of your skin.

Even before you start with a routine, you need to determine your skin-type (oily, dry, sensitive, normal etc) and select the personal skin care products suitable for it (you might have to experiment with a few personal skin care products). Here is a routine that should work for most people with normal skin.

The first thing on personal skin care routine is ?Cleansing?. The three main ingredients of a cleanser are oil, water and surfactants (wetting agents). Oil and surfactants extract dirt and oil from your skin and water then flushes it out, thus making your skin clean. You might have to try a couple of cleansers before you find the one that suits you the best. However, you should always use soap-free cleansers. Also, you should use Luke warm water for cleansing (hot and cold water, both, cause damage to your skin). Take care that you don?t over-cleanse your skin and end up damaging your skin in the process.

The second thing on the personal skin care routine is exfoliation. Skin follows a natural maintenance process wherein it removes the dead cells and replaces them with new skin cells. Exfoliation is just a way to facilitate the skin in this process. Dead skin cells are not capable of responding to personal skin care products but still consume these products, hence preventing them from reaching the new skin cells. Thus removing dead skin cells is important in order to increase the effectiveness of all personal skin care products. Generally, exfoliation takes it place just after cleansing. As with any personal skin care procedure, it?s important that you understand how much exfoliation you need. Exfoliate 4-5 times per week for oily/normal skin and 1-2 times per week for dry/sensitive skin. Exfoliate a couple of times more in hot and humid weather.

Next thing on personal skin care routine is moisturizers. This is one of the most important things in personal skin care. Even people with oily skin need moisturisers. Moisturisers not only seal the moisture in your skin cells, but also attract moisture (from air) whenever needed. Use of too much moisturiser can however clog skin pores and end up harming your skin. The amount of moisturiser needed by your skin will become apparent to you within one week of you using the moisturiser. Also, applying the moisturiser is best when your skin is still damp.

The last thing on personal skin care routine is sunscreen. A lot of moisturizers (day-time creams/moisturisers) come with UV protection ? so you can get double benefits from them. Such moisturisers are recommended for all days (irrespective of whether it is sunny or cloudy).

Again, experiment with various personal skin care products and also with the amount you need to apply. What gives you best results is the best personal skin care recipe for you. However, if you have some kind of skin dilemma, it is best to consult your dermatologist before you actually start using any personal skin care products.

?Facial skin care? is more a matter of discipline than anything else. A facial skin care routine is what you need (and you need to follow the facial skin care routine with complete seriousness). So let?s check what comprises an effective facial skin care routine. Well, very simply, a facial skin care routine can follow the following 4 steps:
* Cleansing
* Toning
* Exfoliating
* Moisturising

Cleansing is the first thing in facial skin care routine. Cleansing helps in removing dust, pollutants, grease and extra oil from your skin, thereby preventing damage to your skin. Just spot your face and neck with a good cleansing lotion or cream and gently massage it into your skin using upward strokes. Use a soft face tissue or cotton wool to wipe your face in a gentle patting fashion (do not rub). Cleansing should be done at least twice a day i.e. morning (as part of complete facial skin care routine) and evening (on a standalone basis). Water soluble cleansers are the best for inclusion in your facial skin care routine.

Toning is the next in a facial skin care routine. However, this is the optional part of the facial skin care routine. Mostly, proper cleansing can compensate for toning. Toning helps remove all traces of dirt, grease and excess cleanser. Instead of making it part of your daily facial skin care routine, you can using toning occasionally i.e. when you have been exposed to particularly harsh environment/pollution.

Exfoliation is again, kind of, optional step in everyday routine for facial skin care. However, exfoliation is necessary at least once a week (or twice, depending on the skin type and the environmental conditions). Exfoliation finds its place in facial skin care routine because of the natural tendency of skin to replenish the skin cells every 3 or 4 weeks. As a facial skin care technique, exfoliation helps in removing the dead skin cells that block the pores, thus assisting the skin in the natural process. However, excessive or harsh exfoliation can cause damage to your skin; so you need to balance it out.

The next thing in facial skin care is moisturising. In fact, moisturising is the most important part of facial skin care routine. Moisturisers prevent your skin from getting dry. Dry skin is really undesirable since it cause the upper layer skin to break, leading to dead skin cells. Again, use light upward strokes to make the moisturiser more effective. Moisturisers work the best when applied on warm and damp skin. So do not try to remove all the moisture in the previous steps of facial skin care routine.

Besides the normal facial skin care routine, you should also exercise the following for facial skin care:

* Use proper make-up remover instead of just washing it away
* Pay heed to your skin type and the environment, when choosing facial skin care products.
* Before you start using a new facial skin care product, test it by applying it on a short patch of skin e.g. ear lobes.
* Never rub your skin too hard.
* Use sunscreen lotions for protection against sun.

There is this so-called stage in our life when we experience the numerous changes in us be it physically or other aspects. It is named as puberty. Then, it is followed by that crucial stage called adolescence. There are a lot of physical changes that occur during these stages. One of the most common physical changes and even a physical problem for young people who experience such problem is acne.

Well, it is a myth that only teenagers, or let us call them adolescents who only experience having acne, but to make it clear, acne is possible for all ages and whoever the person is. But, the stages mentioned make the younger ones prone to acne for they experience this physical change involving some parts of their system. These physical changes are of course brought about by internal processes or even changes as well.

What then causes acne?

Acne is caused by bacteria. It happens when our pores get clogged up with too much sebum produced be our skin glands.

As we are all aware of, young people are not that very particular with being hygienic and the care for face is one that is neglected. With this, acne occurrence is faster and more possible. Teens experience a lot of hormonal changes; one of these many changes is that teens produce more sebum from their face and when not properly cared, skin disorders may happen. ACNE is one of the possible cases.

Around the world, this has been a common skin problem. There are remedies; there are herbal solutions down to chemical solutions. ACNE should not be taken so hard, when one tries options for remedy, it would surely be cured. Seeking the help of an expert would of course be a great help.

For teenagers, it is also good to ask your parent or guardian to help you out in knowing what is best for you and your skin problem.

There are also angles that connect the possibility of having acne to parents who had their own acne experiences too.

Whatever the roots may be, see to it that you, as a teenager take good care of your skin by giving the right amount treatment and not just let your skin problem get even worse.

Acne is a menace. However, it?s not something that cannot be tackled. There are loads of acne skin care products around. We can classify acne skin care products into 3 broad categories ?
* Preventive or general acne skin care products
* Over-the-counter, specialised acne skin care products
* On-prescription acne skin care products.

The general acne skin care products are the ones that are used as acne-prevention measure. These include cleansers, make-up removers and similar products that help prevent acne. In the real sense, these acne skin care products are just those that should anyway be part of your daily routine. However, some of these are more oriented to act like an acne skin care product. These acne skin care products act against the causes of acne e.g. limiting the production of sebum/oil and preventing clogging of skin pores. Basically, these acne skin care products prevent the oil from getting trapped in pores and hence hamper the growth of bacteria that lead to acne. The general acne skin care products also include exfoliation products like skin peels. These work towards removing dead skin cells, hence reducing the possibility of pore-clogging and bacteria development.

Then there are specialised acne skin care products that are available over-the-counter i.e. without the need of a prescription. These include products like vanishing creams which extract the extra oil from the skin. Most of these acne skin care products are based on benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, both of which are the enemies of bacteria (and hence acne). You should start with a product that has lower concentration of benzoyl peroxide (e.g. 5%) and see how your skin responds to it. Alpha-hydroxy-acid based moisturizers are also popular as acne skin care products. You might have to try a few, before you zero-in on the acne skin care product that is effective for you. If nothing seems to work, you should contact a dermatologist.

On-prescription acne skin care products are the ones that are prescribed by a dermatologist. This can include ointments that can be applied on the affected area or oral antibiotics or just any topical treatment. Dermatologist could also suggest a minor surgical procedure to remove the contents of pustules. However, never try to squeeze or do this by yourself, it can lead to permanent damage of your skin. Your doctor could also prescribe a hormone-based treatment (since hormonal changes are also known to cause acne). Such acne skin care products are known to be very effective in some cases.
So, with all those acne skin care products, tackling acne is not that difficult.

Acne is a common skin problem not only in the USA but in many parts of the world. For many, they resort to the use of medicines in order to get rid or even prevent acne. It has to be taken note of that there are natural and easy ways to get rid of such a skin problem. We would be pleased to share with you tips that would let you be acne-free.

The following are the steps to take in order for you to keep your skin free from skin problems:

Water therapy

You could prevent acne by drinking at least 2 liters of water a day, this would keep you hydrated and let you overcome having too much clogged up pores. When you drink this amount of water, you could shed dead cells properly.

Healthy diet

Eating vegetable and fruits would not only keep you healthy over-all but it would let you have healthy skin specifically.

Natural for beauty

With so many beauty products, you would be tempted to try them with the hope that their promises to make you look great or keep your face smooth and healthy. Without you knowing it, they could harm your skin. They could even lead your skin to some disorders. Instead of using such chemical-based, you could try the natural things or products with natural components. One great example is soaps with tea tree oil.

Stress? Out!

As shown by studies, there is a greater chance of having ACNE especially after puberty. This is a stage when hormonal changes are at their peak. The more you get stressed, the more your body would react to it. Relax, when you control stress, your body could produce more cortisol, which is helpful against acne or its agents.

Not much coffee

Caffeine is identified to cause more stress by producing stress hormones in the body. This is not healthy for your skin, stress would aggravate acne.

Take these as reminders; you would surely be acne-free!

To start the discussion on oily skin care, it?s imperative to first understand the cause behind oily skin. Put simply, oily skin is a result of excessive production of sebum (an oily substance that is naturally produced by skin). As is known to everyone, excess of everything is bad; so excessive sebum is bad too. It leads to clogging of skin pores, resulting in accumulation of dead cells and hence formation of pimples/acne. Moreover, oily skin spoils your looks too. So, ?oily skin care? is as important as the ?skin care? for other types of skin.

The basic aim of ?oily skin care? is the removal of excessive sebum or oil from the skin. However, oily skin care procedures should not lead to complete removal of oil. ?Oily skin care? starts with the use of a cleanser. However, not all cleansers will work. You need a cleanser which contains salicylic acid i.e. a beta-hydroxy acid that retards the rate of sebum production. Cleansing should be done twice a day (and even more in hot and humid conditions).

Most of the oily skin care products are oil-free; however, it is always good to check the ingredients of the product, before you actually buy it. This is especially important if a product is marked as ?suitable for all skin types?, instead of ?oily skin care product?. ?Oily skin care? is also dependent on the degree of oiliness, if you aren?t too oily, so some of these ?suitable for all?- type of products might be work for you too. For extremely oily skin, only oily skin care products are suitable. Your oily skin care routine can include an alcohol based toner (for an extremely oily skin). This can be the second step in your oily skin care routine i.e. just after cleansing. However, excessive toning can harm your skin.

The next step in your oily skin care routine can be a mild moisturiser. Again, the degree of oiliness of your skin will determine whether you need to include this in your oily skin care routine. If you do decide to include a moisturiser, be sure to use one that is oil-free, wax-free and lipid-free.
You could also use a clay mask (say once a week) as an oily skin care measure.

As far as the oily skin care products go, you might need to try out a few before you arrive at the one that is really suitable for your skin.

In case these measures don?t give you the desired result, consult a good dermatologist for advice. He could prescribe stronger oily skin care products like vitamin A creams, retinoids, sulphur creams etc , which can help counter the problems of oily skin.

When those reddish things on your face start to show up, you may think that it may have been caused by this or that. You may even blame it to the most unreasonable reason. Well the best thing for you to do is to stop these misunderstandings. When you stick with them, it would not help you find the right treatment for your acne.

These are the common things we think of when it comes to the cause of acne:

The most misconception is that it is fine to have acne especially when you are a teenager. Common people would connect it to puberty or to adolescence. This is not a fact. Well, there may be some reasons such as the changes in hormones as one is in that stage. But there is falsity when people say that acne is for teenagers only. As we could see or read on some researches, there are also adults who experience the same acne problems as adults do. Age does not matter when it comes to having acne as long as you keep your face clean, you would not be prone to have it.

Another thing that has been believed to be the cause of acne is daily stress. Most people, young and old, believe in this wrong thought. There is no direct connection between stress and having acne for it the stress caused by your daily life and all other stressful activities you may think of. There has nothing to do with whatever root of stress in your work or studies. There has something to do with the way you treat your skin. When you do not keep your regimen to keep your skin healthy, you would probably have that acne that you are scared to have.

When most people think that acne is just a physical problem, it is but you should also know that it is also an emotional burden. There are a lot of emotional impacts that could be caused by having acne. On of the top most effect is having low self-esteem. As you live in a superficial world like ours, you would really feel insecure whenever you feel like having those eyes staring at your face. People with acne are so timid for they may just be tagged as ?ugly? by others. There is a need for you to take care of your skin and face.

The most common misconception about acne is that it could be acquired from eating oily food. Desserts, chocolates and all those oily food must not be blamed for eating such food but for not taking good care of your skin. Well, you must se to it that you maintain that right way of keeping your face clean and healthy.

You have to know the real causes of acne; just do not resort to the wrong conceptions. They could just harm you instead of helping you out in getting rid of acne. And, you know what could be the effects of those red tiny humps on your face.

?Antiaging skin care? is a very poplar concept in today?s world. Today everyone wants to hide their age using antiaging skin care procedures (and a number of people are successful too). However antiaging skin care is not achieved by any magic potion. ?Antiaging skin care? is about discipline. It is about being proactive. Antiaging skin care is retarding the ageing process. Here are a few tips for proactive antiaging skin care:

1. Maintain healthy eating habits: A well balanced diet is the key to maintaining a proper body metabolism. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables (raw), they are the best source of fibre and have a very refreshing effect on your body. Avoid oily and fatty food; not only do they lack in essential nutrients but also cause obesity and other diseases which aid the aging process

2. Beat stress: This is probably the most important antiaging skin care measure. Stress disturbs the body metabolism and accelerates the aging process. Sleep, exercise and a relaxing bath, are all good ways of beating stress. Aroma-therapy is also known to bust stress.

3. Drink a lot of water: Antiaging skin care can?t be any simpler than this. Water helps in flushing out the toxins from the body, hence keeping it clean and making it less prone to disease. Around 8 glasses of water (per day) is recommended by all doctors.

4. Regular exercise is a wonderful antiaging skin care procedure. Besides toning your muscles, it also helps in cleaning the skin by flushing out the toxins in the form of sweat. Exercise should be followed by a warm shower in order to completely remove the toxins.

5. Avoid the use of strong, chemical based products on your skin. Natural skin care products are a good option. Use of organic skin care products (home made or commercial) can be a very effective antiaging skin care measure.

6. Do not overuse skin care products. Excessive and harsh application, both are harmful.

7. Do not ignore skin disorders; it can lead to permanent skin damage. Try over the counter medication and if that doesn?t help, immediately visit your dermatologist and seek his/her advice.

8. Vitamin C based skin care products are very popular means of antiaging skin care. However, these seem to oxidise very quickly (which makes them harmful for the skin). So store them properly. If the product turns Yellowish brown, it means that vitamin c has oxidised and the prodct is no longer suitable for use.

9. Protect your skin against UV radiation ; UV rays are known to speed up the aging process. So, a good sunscreen lotion should be a part of your antiaging skin care routine.

There is no dearth of skin care creams and lotions in the market. Name an ailment, and you will find hundreds of skin care creams, lotions and other products for it. As a result of ongoing research and due to ever increasing demand, the number of skin care products seems to be on the increase. Skin care lotions and skin care creams are the most popular forms in which these products are available, and there always seems to be a debate on which form is better?

Well, there is no definitive answer to this. It seems more like a matter of personal choice. However, greasy creams are surely less popular as compared to the non-greasy (or less greasy) ones. Since the application of skin care creams is easier, they seem to be preferred (over lotions) in cases where the skin care product is not to be removed immediately after application. So, skin care creams seem more popular as moisturisers than as cleansers or toners. For toners, lotions seem to be preferred over skin care creams. There are some skin care creams that acts as toners too, but generally the toners are available in liquid form only. For cleansing, lotions and skin care creams are equally popular; however, the tilt seems more towards lotions.

Creams are known to be most effective in keeping skin moist; hence, the most popular form of skin care creams is moisturisers. Due to the same reason, a lot of people tend to associate skin care creams with dry and sensitive skin. Though it is true to a certain extent, skin care creams are not used only for dry skin, they are also used for making products for oily skin e.g. vitamin A creams and sulphur creams that help reduce the rate of sebum production.

Skin care creams are also used for products that cater to skin disorders especially for disorders that require the application of product over a small localised area. This is again due to the fact that skin care creams are easier to apply (without wastage) on the affected area. However, in cases where skin needs to be washed using a medicine/product, lotion is a better choice. Mostly, the manufacturers too realize this fact, making it easier for you to choose between a lotion and a skin care cream

Eye-creams and anti-ageing creams are other examples where skin care cream is preferred over its lotion counterpart.

Whatever your choice be (cream or lotion), knowing how to use it effectively, is more important than anything else.