I have learned so much from your blog. Thank you for starting this blog and sharing your knowledge with us. I am 29 years old and still fighting with acne. As my age is getting older I have started to worry about anti aging skin issues too. How can I a set up a regimen both for ‘acne and anti aging’ at the same time? In your last post you set up a skincare routine, can you also do it for acne+anti aging? With your own recommended products?  Is Retin-a one of the elements that should be used in this regimen?  Or would it be benzoyl peroxide with some other ingredients, or would glycolic acid be enough? I will be very glad if you enlighten me Which path should be followed?

Thank you thank you thank you very very much in advance.

I hope you never give up this blog, it’s a real treasure for skin care problems.

Best regards,

Ayse S

Hello Ayse,

My favorite anti-aging and acne treatment combination skin care regimen is based on glycolic acid.  This combination of skin care needs is exactly why I made my Glycolic Acid Kits.  These kits are designed to fit the different skin types and become the key active ingredient to address both skin problems.

Click here to see my Glycolic Acid Facial Skin Care Kits

You then build on top of this regimen to meet your other skin care needs such as 1.  Sun protection (a key anti-aging step), 2.  Additional collagen building products, 3.  Skin hydration as needed.

For sun protection, my SunSavvy Daily Wear Kit has a great oil free products.  There’s Citrix for every day use and Solbar Zinc for those wet and sweaty outdoor activities.

Click here for my SunSavvy Daily Wear Sun Protection Kit

Glycolic acid is a great anti-aging ingredient that helps skin build collagen if you use only products that are strong, professional strength products – like mine!  I’ve written an article explaining the science of how glycolic acid can benefit skin health for anti-aging, wrinkle fighting skin care.  Click here to read it. 

For additional anti-aging, collagen building, anti-wrinkle skin care treatment products (phew!), the best results (in my opinion) come from professional vitamin C products or prescription tretinoin cream (Retin-A).

CRS is the product that I think is the best Vitamin C skin care product made.  It has liposome encapsulated, stable L-ascorbic acid vitamin C in a wonderful base that feels fantastic on the skin.  I usually have patients use it during the day under their sunscreen.  They then use their glycolic acid product at night.

Click here to see CRS

To read about how I combine glycolic acid and tretinoin skin care regimens read my post How Do You Combine Retin A and Glycolic Acid for Anti-Aging Skin Care? In that post you will also find a link to my very specific method for using tretinoin; there are some really helpful tricks for successfully combining this tricky combination.

Whether you chose CRS or tretinoin as your additional collagen boosting skin care ingredient, I recommend adding Replenix CF Cream (or Replenix Power of Three) to your regimen too.  In my dermatology practice,  I have my patients use this ultra-high concentration green tea antioxidant product twice a day after washing their skin, and before applying their other skin care products.  I’ve found that it helps quite any irritation that may develop from either of these combination regimens.  It also has anti-oxidant benefit and the key ingredients in this product (caffeine and green tea antioxidants) have also been shown to reduce skin cancer formation in the lab, which is a fantastic benefit that I love to incorporate.

Click here for Replenix CF Cream

The easiest way to get all the benefits of this skin care regimen is to combine one of my Glycolic Acid Facial Kits and my Antioxidant Kit.  You’ll also get Replenix Scrub this way which is a wonderful exfoliating scrub for that ‘instant gratification’ glow you get from exfoliating twice a week.

Click here for my Anti-Aging Antioxidant Skin Care Kit

If you still need additional skin hydration, chose one of the Glycolix Face Creams to ‘dial in’ the right skin hydration for those drier areas of your facial skin.

Click here to see the Glycolix Face Creams

So there you have it!  Combining the right Glycolic Anti Aging Kit for your skin type with my Antioxidant Kit gives you ‘state of the art’ anti-aging skin care for both your acne and anti-aging skin care needs.

BTW, thank you for your lovely comment about my blog.  Writing it has become a passion for me and, god willing, I’ll do it as long as I’m able.

Cheers,

Cynthia Bailey MD, Dermatologist

If you have questions about skin care or skin health please send them to me using the Contact Dr. Bailey button at the top of the page.

Disclaimer: Please realize that availing yourself of the opportunity to submit and receive answers to your questions from Dr. Bailey does not confer a doctor/patient relationship with Dr. Bailey. The information provided by Dr. Bailey is general health information inspired by your question. It should not be a substitute for obtaining medical advice from your physician and is not intended to diagnose or treat any specific medical problem (and is not an extension of the care Dr. Bailey has provided in her office for existing patients of her practice). Never ignore your own doctor’s advice because of something you read here; this information is for general informational purpose only.

What’s The Best Anti-Aging and Acne Skin Care Product Regimen? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

Right about now that New Year’s Resolution enthusiasm might start falling off.  I’m noticing, for example, that it’s getting easier to find a parking spot at my gym.  My own resolution (to use my power exam tables to always move a patient into a good position for my back before I begin a procedure) didn’t get done 100% of the time yesterday. My nurse gave me a gentle reminder and it helped.  We know what’s good for us, let’s stick it out.  We need to support each other, and I’m hoping this post helps to support you.  I care, and if improving your diet was your 2012 New Years Resolution, hang in there, your skin will reward you.

‘You are what you eat’ and now, more than ever, there’s mounting medical evidence that this is true for your skin.  You probably have at least one skin problem that you’d love to fix – include diet in your treatment plan.  Really???  YES!

We know:

• Acne improves on a fruit & veggie rich diet low on junk, sugars, meats & dairy,
• Psoriasis in now linked to the same diet risk factors as heart disease and diabetes,
• Beauty is rated more highly when a person has beta carotene rich skin (which comes from eating orange and green leafy veggies),
• UV skin damage is lessened when skin is loaded w/ dietary antioxidants,
• Non-melanoma skin cancers thrive when you eat a high fat diet,
  

Dermatologist’s Diet Advice For Healthy Skin

Eat organic and fresh because nutrients start breaking down the minute food is harvested.  Organically grown foods have more to begin with (they ‘are what they eat’ too).  Click here to read Diet Recommendations for Healthy Skin

Eat lots of beta carotene foods because they make you beautiful (and healthy).  My absolute favorite nutritional ingredient for beauty is beta carotene because it functions like a self-tanner, giving your skin a beautiful golden glow.  I always eat a healthy dose of carrots, winter squash or dark green veggies to keep my pale skin naturally ‘bronzed’. Believe it or not it works!  Click here to read Skip The Tan And Eat Your Veggies For Beautiful Skin Color

Eat lots of omega 3 rich foods because they rock for fighting inflammation.  Inflammation is the instigator of all sorts of mischief from psoriasis and acne to heart disease and strokes.  The modern western diet is low in omega 3 and high in it’s evil counterpart Omega 6.  Tip the balance in your body and see how different you look and feel.  Click here to read Age Beautifully, Fight Cancer and Prevent Heart Disease By Adding Flax Seeds To Your Diet

Eat your vitamin D.  Don’t damage your skin with sun exposure in pursuit of this important vitamin.  This is the one vitamin I actually take in capsule form.  Click here to read Are You really Getting Vitamin D From The Sun Or Just Nuking Your DNA?

Eat a diet that has more veggies than anything else to reduce inflammation (including skin inflammation like rosacea, acne, eczema, psoriasis).  We diet geeks believe that a plant based diet loads your body with vital, bioavailable nutrients in exactly the form that your human body is designed to use.  No multivitamin pill can compare!  Click here to read The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet, A Magic Wand For Overall Health And Beauty

Eat naturally fermented, probiotic rich foods every day to keep your digestive track healthy.  I suspect that this little secret is one of the biggest under-appreciated necessities for physical health.  Your digestive track helps you absorb the right nutrients and excrete any harmful toxins in your food (like mercury).  My favorite probiotic food is naturally fermented kefir because it’s loaded with beneficial probiotics. Click here to read Kefir, The Best Probiotic For Healthy Skin.

Eat less refined carbs, dairy and junk food to prevent acne. Yes, we dermatologists finally have diet advice for you if you suffer from acne.  Click here for 4 Diet Changes That Can Help You Improve Your Acne, Dermatologist’s Advice

Eat foods rich in natural spices! Yes, I’ve never posted on the subject of spices and health, but the scientific evidence is mounting. Spices are starting to join the ranks of healthy diet super heroes.  Some of the best are turmeric and cinnamon.  I try to cook with turmeric every week and I add cinnamon to my morning cup of green tea matcha.  I promise to post on spices later this year.

So, let’s stick it out with our New Year’s Resolutions.  We know what’s good for us.  I’ll use my power tables and demonstrate excellent ‘self care’ at work.  If diet was your resolution, hang in there.  You’ll like the results on your skin, I promise you!

Photo: Thanks and Gratitude to TheBittenWord

The Best Diet for Healthy Skin In 2012 is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

I’m a dermatologist so I know the secrets that make spa beauty treatments work – and believe me, I do them myself at home for a fraction of the cost.

I’m personally in the mood for some spa TLC right now, and am going to run a little series to share with you my favorite home spa treatments.  I make it my business to try spa treatments when I’m on vacation.  My DIY treatments are adaptations from the treatment menus of some really great resort spas.  They’re dermatologically therapeutic for our skin, hair and nails and we can do them at home anytime we need a little ‘SPA-brain’.

With my favorite DIY home spa treatments, you can get expensive spa results at home because you know what the key steps are.  You probably even have some of what you need already in your bathroom cabinet or kitchen.  Add a few more things, create a relaxing ambiance,  and you’re ready to make these simple DIY health and wellness spa treatments a part of your regular skin care routine, no expensive spa bill needed.  Combine them all for one of those giant spa packages that you always dream about doing but don’t want to spring for!

Treatment #1,  DIY Exfoliating and Deeply Hydrating Body Treatment

Step 1:  ‘Taking the Waters’

Turn your home bathtub into a therapeutic soaking tub just like at a spa.  Make it both luxuriously relaxing and deeply hydrating.

First, prepare your ambiance by lighting a candle and turning off the electric lighting.  Put on soothing music and tell the rest of the household not to disturb you.

Then begin filling your tub.  Use warm water and a handful of Epsom salts for your soak.  Add a few drops of lavender essence for de-stressing aroma therapy, it works and these two additions are the most important elements of most spa soaking tubs.  You can add a tablespoon of oil too to hydrate your skin while you soak.  We do this all the time for dermatologic skin therapy.  Use your favorite body oil, mineral oil or even one of the oils you cook with and that are undoubtedly in your kitchen.  Yes, canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil all show up in natural skin care products and they’re good for your skin.

Soak for at least 5 minutes and preferably 15 minutes or more in your therapeutic waters and breath in the rising lavender steam.  (Remember, if you add oil to the tub it will be slippery, so be careful!)

Step 2:  DIY Total Body Exfoliating Scrub Treatment

Exfoliating makes your skin soft. When you have an exfoliating scrub treatment at a spa all they’re doing is massaging your skin with a rough scrub and a luffa sponge or rough shower mitts.  You can do this in the tub and get the same results (yes it’s nicer to have the spa technician do this for you, but you’ll still get a great exfoliation this way too).

Exfoliate your body and feet after you’ve soaked for at least 5 minutes.  Your skin will be soft and ready for exfoliation.  You’ll have velvety, spa-soft skin that lasts for days or even longer after your treatment.

Exfoliate your feet using a pumice or foot file to remove rough skin.  Massage your body skin with a luffa sponge, exfoliating shower mitts or shower sponge and a little of your favorite body cleanser for slip and glide over your skin.  Or use an exfoliating body scrub. Spend a little extra time on your elbows, knees and ankles where dead skin really builds up.  I personally use my Salux Cloth with Glytone Body Wash, both of which come in my Anti-Aging Body Kit.

Step 3:  Holding On To All That Spa Goodness

When you feel ready step out of the tub, pat your skin dry and trap all that goodness into your skin with your favorite skin moisturizer or body oil.  Add a drop of lavender essence to your oil or moisturizer to continue the soothing aroma therapy benefits of lavender.  Deeply hydrating oil or moisturizer options include jojoba oil, extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil (you may want to warm this first since it may be solid at room temp).  I personally use either jojoba oil or the Glytone Body Lotion that’s in my Anti-Aging Body Kit for all the anti-aging benefits of glycolic acid.

This is a hydrating, restorative spa treatment that will unwind your nerves and leave your skin looking and feeling like you spent a small fortune at a spa!  It incorporates the essential steps of key body treatment services that are on treatments menus from some really great resort spas.  You’ll have the polished and hydrated skin of the ‘rich and famous’ 24/7/365 if you do this treatment once a week at home.

Check back for the rest of my DIY home spa treatments:

Next I’ll give you step by step instructions for how to add:

1. A mini-facial
2. Deeply hydrating hand therapy
3. Deeply hydrating scalp and hair therapy

Add them all to your tub treatment for that big spa package you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t quite justify financially!

Ahhhhh

Photo:  Thanks and Gratitude to Dennis Wong and Luz A Villa

DIY Spa Skin Treatments You Can Do At Home is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

How do they get so beautiful?

What are their tricks?

When you look in the mirror after you’ve done your hair and makeup, why don’t you look like them? Do you feel a little pang of disappointment and inadequacy?

You look different than the models and celebrities who are constantly photographed flaunting their otherworldly beauty? Does a brief excuse run through your mind?  Is it because you’re getting older, they have access to all the best tricks, you always had skin problems, weight problems or a facial shape that just wasn’t perfect.  Is that why you can’t ever seem to look like them?

But wait, do you wonder where these gorgeous people are?  Why isn’t there at least one in your town from time to time?   They have to grow up somewhere.  Don’t the ones in pictures go to the grocery store, yoga class, drive cars?  How many have you personally seen in the last 10 years?

Here’s the secret. This really beautiful woman is on billboards.  She’s one of the modern icons of beauty that we all measure ourselves against.  In this brief video she shows you how she does it. Watch it and learn how you too can be a flawless, model-gorgeous beauty for the camera.

How To Look Like a Model is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

I am 42 with quite good skin and not a big problem yet with wrinkles.  I do suffer from tight feeling skin and lumpy skin with blackheads.  My skin mainly looks very dull and uneven.  My skin is quite tolerant.

I’m confused what products would be best.

I am ordering some of your body care products but would love to know what skincare products would be suited for me to order.

Many thanks for your help.

Kind regards
Helen W

Hello Helen,

One of my favorite places to start with skin care that brightens skin and decreases blackheads is glycolic acid.  It also helps to even skin color and reduce wrinkles, which are otherwise part of everyone’s future as our skin ages.

The simplest way to add glycolic acid to your skin care is to use one of my Glycolic Acid Anti-Aging Kits such as this one for ‘normal’ skin.   I have different kits based on skin type (normal and combination, oily or dry).  These kits come with the Buf Puf Facial Sponge that gives an instantly brighter exfoliated look to skin.  Patients love this product combo.

Glycolic Acid Anti-Aging Kit For Normal Skin

Remember, it’s also important to use a mineral sunscreen every day to help prevent darkening of uneven hyperpigmentation and worsening of wrinkles.  My favorite mineral zinc oxide sunscreen is Citrix, which I’ve personally worn every day for years.

The product sequence of this regimen is:
Morning:

1. Cleanse with Glytone Mild Gel Wash and the Buf Puf Facial Sponge
2. Apply Citrix Sunscreen

Evening:

1. Cleanse with Glytone Mild Gel Wash with or without the Buf Puf
2. Apply the Glycolix Elite 15% Face Cream with glycolic acid

Eventually, as skin adjusts to the glycolic acid, it’s often possible to apply the Glycolix 15% Face Cream under the Citrix Sunscreen during the day too.  It takes at least few weeks for skin to adjust and be ready for twice daily glycolic acid so I typically start patients once a day.

For the ultimate state-of-the-art skin care regimen though it’s possible to use the Glycolic Acid Anti Aging Kit and an Antioxidant Kit. This gives all the benefits of antioxidant skin care (reduces inflammation and potential free radical skin damage, reduces wrinkles by acting on at the cellular level in your skin and further evens skin color), includes the Citrix Sunscreen mineral sun protection, plus you’re getting the skin brightening and blackhead reduction that comes from the glycolic acid products.

For example, a person with normal skin would use the Glycolic Acid Kit for Normal Skin that I mentioned above, and an Anti-Aging Antioxidant Kit

Anti-Aging Antioxidant Kit

The product sequence of this regimen is:
Morning:

1. Cleanse with Glytone Mild Gel Wash and the Buf Puf Sponge.  Twice a week use the Replenix Scrub in place of the Glytone Gel Wash
2. Apply Replenix CF Cream
3. Apply CRS
4. Apply Citrix Sunscreen

Evening:

1. Wash with Glytone Mild Gel Wash without the Buf Puf sponge
2. Apply Replenix CF Cream
3. Apply Glycolix Elite 15% Facial Cream with glycolic acid

With this regimen, the Glycolix is not added during the day because the CRS is applied instead.

The final option to this regimen is to add a moisturizer during the day if you find that there are parts of your skin need even a little more ‘thirst quenching’.  For blackhead prone skin I like Glycolix Elite Face Cream (not to be confused with the one that has glycolic acid!).

Glycolix Elite Face Cream Ultra Lite

This moisturizer goes on just before the Citrix during the day.  At night the Glycolix with glycolic acid doubles as your moisturizer.

These are the building blocks of complete skin care; the products each play a role in improving your skin problems by fighting the signs of aging, protecting your skin, keeping your pores clean and giving you instantly improved skin appearance.   Equally importantly, all the products and ingredients are compatible so you’re not wasting your money on products that counteract each other.  Building skin care regimens like this is what I, as an MD skin care professional, do all day – and I love it!

Thanks for a great question.

Cheers,

Cynthia Bailey MD, Dermatologist

If you have questions about skin care or skin health please send them to me using the Contact Dr. Bailey button at the top of the page.

Disclaimer: Please realize that availing yourself of the opportunity to submit and receive answers to your questions from Dr. Bailey does not confer a doctor/patient relationship with Dr. Bailey. The information provided by Dr. Bailey is general health information inspired by your question. It should not be a substitute for obtaining medical advice from your physician and is not intended to diagnose or treat any specific medical problem (and is not an extension of the care Dr. Bailey has provided in her office for existing patients of her practice). Never ignore your own doctor’s advice because of something you read here; this information is for general informational purpose only.

What’s The Best Over 40 Skin Care To Brighten Dull Skin? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

Just a few simple daily changes to your skin care regimen can really bump up the health of your skin in 2012.

Take good care of your skin this year – it’ll show!

• Your complexion is the face you meet and greet the world with.
• Your skin is what covers the hand you shake with when you meet new friends, the feet you show to the world when you wear sandals, the décolleté you reveal in that little black dress, the forearms that don’t get covered by your summer clothing.

Healthy skin matters to you, not just because living inside healthy skin feels better, but because you can’t always hide your skin problems, and frankly, who wants to.

Follow through with these few simple skin care resolutions and have healthy skin that you’ll be proud of.  Let’s make 2012 the year!  I’ll help you.

3 Simple Health Skin New Year’s Resolutions

1.  Wear mineral zinc oxide sunscreen on all your exposed skin – every day, all year, don’t ever miss

Put wearing sunscreen right up there with brushing your teeth or combing your hair.  Don’t try to guess if you’ll be in the sun today, just apply your sunscreen.

It makes a huge impact on how your skin looks now and over time.  Every skin type and skin color suffers wear and tear from the sun. It finally adds up to sun damage (not to mention skin cancer) with irregular pigmentation, wrinkles, age spots and skin thinning.  Just say no.  Your skin will start looking younger by mid summer, really.

Why do I specify a zinc oxide sunscreen?  Because I think it gives you the best, most broad spectrum and most trustworthy protection, and that makes it totally worth the effort.  Science has made zinc oxide particles so transparent on your skin that a high quality zinc oxide sunscreen won’t leave a weird white coating once you rub it on in a fine layer.  I’ve worn Citrix Sunscreen everyday for years and it’s always invisible.  I hear it everyday too from patients who are taking good care of their skin and thrilled with how easy it is to depend on Citrix Sunscreen for anti-aging sun protection.

The Citrix Sunscreen is a dream come true!  I can apply it all around my eyes and it never burns, it never feels heavy and my foundation goes on over it fabulously.  Now there’s no excuse to not wear sunscreen everyday! Hannah D Sonoma Co

My recommendation,

• wear Citrix Sunscreen every day on the exposed skin of your face, ears, neck, decollete etc
• use a more water resistant product (Solbar Zinc) on areas like your hands that will be in and out of water all day.

My Sun Savvy Daily Wear Sunscreen Kit has both these well-priced, trustworthy mineral sunscreens.  They’re the sunscreens that I, a dermatologist, have relied on everyday for years and I’m thankful for how well they’ve taken care of my skin.

Sun Savvy Daily Wear Kit

2.  Moisturize after every bath or shower

Even if you think you don’t need it!  Almost everyone’s arms and legs are too dry. Dry skin is itchy, flaky, rough and could look so much better with this simple little skin care step.

Moisturizing traps shower and bath water IN your skin that would otherwise evaporate.  Moisturized skin looks better and is healthier. Keep a moisturizing body cream, lotion or oil handy so you’ll use it every day right after you towel dry.  See my Complete Guide To Dry Skin Care for the whys, wherefores and step by step how-to’s about moisturizing.

If you’ve got

• really rough and scaly skin,
• brown or crusty age spots,
• or if regular moisturizers never really keep your skin hydrated,

then tackle those skin problems by doing a little exfoliation when you wash your skin in the shower.  When you towel off, apply a moisturizer with glycolic acid.  It’s like magic, really!

My Anti Aging Body Skin Care Kit will whip your skin into shape and keep it dewy, soft and healthy. I put this kit together for my 40th birthday when I found an age spot on my right upper arm.  It got rid of that unwelcome little birthday reminder and it’s kept age barnacles off my skin for the past 13 years.  I love this product combo!

Anti Aging Body Skin Care Kit

3.  Target your specific skin problems

Do you have acne, athlete’s foot, scalp or facial dandruff, rosacea, crusty age spots, chapped hands etc?  Type the term into my search bar on the right side of this page or click on the topic category and see the skin care treatment tricks I recommend to my dermatology patients with your same problem.  I’ve included some links to more common problems on the bottom of this post too.

Many common skin problems are easily treated once you’re using the right treatment products. Helping you find the right treatment for your skin problems is what motivates me to keep writing.  Even with the pleasure I get from my wonderful full time practice, you’re comments, coming in from all over the world, are soul satisfying for me.  Just yesterday a reader named Jill sent in a ‘thank you’ through our website email.

Dr. Bailey -
I was looking on the web for a source for ZNP soap, to no avail.  This product was very drying to my skin, but better than nothing.  I found a link to your website and read about your Calming Zinc ® soap. I placed an order and the product was here in a matter of days.  This soap does EXACTLY what you indicated it would do.  My facial flaking was gone within a couple of days and my skin did not feel tight and drawn, as it did with the ZNP.  Your website it very informative and I appreciate your attention to detail.
Kind regards – Jill

Jill, thank you, it rocks that I could help!  So,

To all my readers,

With a few simple skin care refinements we’re off to a ‘New Year and new skin for you’ adventure in 2012.  I’m excited to put my dermatology ‘know-how’ to the task and help you do it.  I also want to take this opportunity to personally wish you a Happy New Year!

Warm Regards,

Cynthia Bailey MD, Dermatologist

Photo Thanks and Gratitude to Doctordee

Dermatologist’s 3 Simple New Year’s Healthy Skin Resolutions is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

I’ve got just the right product combos to transform skin and solve frustrating skin problems for the people on your gift list.  Be the one to find that unique solution.  My regimens are affordable and make a much more thoughtful and surprising gift than the usual candle, slippers, chocolate or bottle of wine that you were going to fall back on again this year.

It’s not too late either – we can ship your gift UPS 2 day air so that if you place your order by 2pm Pacific Standard Time your package will arrive by the 24th in the continental United States.  In the holiday spirit, I’m giving you 10% off your order through the 24th  by using coupon code GR8SKIN in the shopping cart.

Dr. Cynthia Bailey’s Picks For The Best Professional Skin Care Gifts

Click on the highlighted link to see more!

AHA Facial Skin Care Kits For Frustrating Facial Hyperpigmentation

Got an intimate friend or family member who you know is frustrated with lots of uneven facial skin pigment?  Age spots, melasma, and sun damage leave unyielding pigment that really impact a person’s complexion unless a person uses the right products. Be the one that finds the miracle.  One of my glycolic acid facial kits may be just that and will thrill anyone frustrated with blotchy facial hyperpigmentation. I’d also add a Citrix sunscreen to your gift to help stop the sun from re-darkening all that pigment they lighten with these pretty darn magic products

AHA Facial Kits

Citrix Mineral Zinc Sunscreen to fight pigment darkening

AHA Body Skin Care For Soft Smooth Skin

Soft, sexy skin is fun at any age.  I’ve got the kit that turns the usual dry, rough skin we all tolerate into new wonderful skin we’ll all love.  The kit is called’ Anti-Aging’ but it works for anyone with rough skin (including keratosis pilaris, the rough bumps on the back of the arms of many teens and young adults).  Plus, everyone can use velvety elbows, soft hands and smooth calves.

For those gift recipients that use self-tanner, this is also the ultimate product combo for the perfect self-tanner application.  Add the Avene Self tanner to your gift for folks who would have fun with evenly golden-bronze skin (minus the sun’s aging rays).

Anti-Aging Body Skin Care Kit

Avene Self Tanner

Facial Redness Relief Kits

Know someone who’s really frustrated with their facial redness?  My Redness Relief product combo is bar none the best regimen to soothe facial redness that I’ve found in my 25+ years of dermatology practice.  Thrill someone on your gift list who suffers this tough complexion problem.  Whether it’s rosacea, seborrhea, sun damage or even atopic eczema, these products have helped my patients.  I love their gratitude and you can have that too when you turn someone onto this skin care duo.

Facial Redness Relief Kits

A Gift Certificate For A Heavenly and Therapeutic Professional Facial

Until Jan 1 we’ll give your recipient a certificate for one of our $90 facials for the price of $75; you pay $75 and they get a $90 facial!   We wrap your gift certificate in a pretty little gift box too.  Check out our menu by clicking the link below then call the office at 707 829-5778 to purchase your gift certificates (maybe even one for yourself???!).

Heavenly & Therapeutic Facial Menu

Photo: Thanks and gratitude to Mysza

The 4 Best Professional Skin Care Holiday Gift Ideas is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

Most people call these lines ‘smoker’s lines’ but they aren’t necessarily from smoking.  Everybody will eventually get them as they age, smokers just get them earlier, and so do women.

I want to give you a quick overview of how I treat them in my dermatology practice.  To reduce the  appearance of vertical lines around your mouth consider one or more of the following treatments (click on any of the blue links to see more about the options).

The Best Treatments For ‘Smoker’s Lines’

Using skin care products to brighten the skin.

These will lessening the dark, wrinkled textural appearance of this area and it’s something you can do with your at-home skin care regimen. The best product options include prescription tretinion, retinol (helpful, but not as effective as prescription tretinoin), and AHA products (the best contain glycolic acid with a concentration over 10% and pH around 4). The tretinoin and AHA products may also stimulate a little collagen formation under your skin to actually build up the area to help permanently diminish the wrinkles too.

Doing a series of superficial professional skin treatments that peel, abrade and brighten the skin.

These treatments include microdermabrasion treatments, chemical peels and intense pulsed light treatments (called BBL in my office). They lessen the uneven pigment and brighten the skin around your mouth, thus improving the the rough, textural appearance of your perioral skin (the area around the mouth).  Brighter, lighter, more evenly colored skin looks smoother and less wrinkled because it throws more light.  Done right, these superficial treatments may also stimulate a little new collagen formation in the superficial dermis to help structurally reverse wrinkles too.

Doing cosmetic procedures that treat the deeper layers of the skin.

The perioral lines (wrinkles) are actually due to both collagen thinning and tissue volume loss in the deeper levels of your skin.  To really reverse them, you need treatments that reach these areas.

The easiest, quickest gratification treatment for wrinkles around the mouth is dermal filler injection.  Dermal filler injection replaces some of your tissue volume that’s lost with age.  My absolute favorite filler is Juvederm. You get instant results that last a long time.  Plus, Juvederm is a very soft hyaluronic acid filler and it may even be biostimulatory meaning that your body may naturally build collagen where we place the filler giving you even longer lasting rejuvenation.

Laser resurfacing procedures help you build collagen in the mid to superficial dermis, just above where we place fillers.  When you combine laser resurfacing procedures with fillers you get the best and most comprehensive improvement in this deeper skin layer.  To significantly treat perioral lines the laser procedures need to be pretty deep and you will most definitely down time.  Think of these ablative laser treatments as a ‘controlled injury’ that stimulates collagen as a part of your body’s healing process.  You continue to build collagen for up to 6 months after having a laser treatment.  We usually recommend a series of treatments for optimal collagen stimulation.

The laser resurfacing procedures that I’ve seen give the best results with the fewest risks are the ablative erbium laser treatments. In my office I use the Sciton erbium laser for Tunable Laser Resurfacing, Micro Laser Peel and ProFractional laser treatments. The laser is so flexible and easy for me to use that I can combine treatments in one session for my patients so that we can get a lot done with each treatment.

You could also consider deeper chemical acid peels to create a ‘controlled injury’ sufficient to stimulate collagen formation in the deeper skin layers.  These treatments, like laser resurfacing, will have significant down time and are always done by physicians.

What’s the best treatment for perioral lines, wrinkles?

It’s all of the above!

For my patients, I build them a skin care regimen that brightens skin, stimulates collagen and slows the aging process.  My ‘go-to’ products include my Anti-aging Facial Rejuvenation Kits that include glycolic acid (and/or I prescribe tretinoin in place of the glycolic acid).

Click here to see why I combine these specific products for the most comprehensive anti-aging skin care regimens.

If a patient can handle the down-time, we do a couple of deeper laser resurfacing treatments spaced about 6 weeks apart and then finish with Juvederm dermal filler injection treatment at about 6 weeks after the last laser treatment.  At that time we also begin a program of regular professional skin care treatments with my aestheticians including facials with either microdermabrasion treatments or light chemical peels.  This approach is transformational, taking years off of a person’s appearance.  Not only are the perioral lines improved, but their entire facial appearance benefits.

Smoker’s perioral lines are some of the toughest facial aging issues to treat.  In my dermatology practice I find that they’re also one of the things that bother people the most about their appearance – they imply a look of wear and tear and none of us like that.  Happily, we now have some great options to help tame the appearance of ‘smoker’s lines’.

Photo: Thanks and Gratitude to Ronsho

Treatments for Vertical Lines Around The Mouth is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

I recently answered a question about splitting, soft fingernails from a reader of one of the popular web sites where I contribute as a skin expert.  The question was so good – and so common – that I wanted to include my answer here.

The reader asked why she might have soft, splitting nails and what she could do to try to improve the health and strength of her nails.

Here’s my answer to her:

There are hereditary nail syndromes, but age, thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis and harsh nail care products can also cause these changes. It’s probably best to see a dermatologist, or at least your primary care doctor to be certain your nail changes are not the ‘tip of the iceberg’ for some other health issue such as a thyroid problem. If there isn’t a health related cause for your nail changes then the most effective, and almost miraculous way to improve nails is with good old fashioned Bag Balm.

The simple, regular application of Bag Balm helps normalize peeling/splitting nails. In my almost 30 years practicing dermatology, I’ve never found a better nail product for this type of nail problem.  For Bag Balm to work it’s magic, it’s always important to apply it to nails that just had a nice soak in water (ie after washing your hands, bathing, doing the dishes, washing the dog or car etc).

People often also ask me for a vitamin recommendation for their nail problems too.  Of course you should always eat a balanced and healthy diet so that you’re fortifying your nails with the vitamins and minerals they need from the inside out. A biotin supplement may also be helpful.  I usually recommend asking the supplement expert in your local health food store for a hair and nail vitamin/mineral formula that contains biotin. Nails grow slowly so you need to give your nails about a year before you decide if the supplement is having an impact on your nail health.

I’ve recommended Bag Balm to so many people with so many different types of nail problems and it’s power to help reform the nail plate continues to impress me.   I’m in the process of making a hand and nail survival kit and Bag Balm will be in it.  The kit will be my ‘go to’ emergency kit for dry hands.  I need a kit name, any cleaver ideas out there?  I’d love to hear from you if you have any suggestions?

Photo: Thanks and gratitude to Fing’rs

What causes weak, splitting nails? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

It’s my dream to be a ‘go to’ place for you to find serious answers directed at your most common skin problems; answers written for the general reader, not doctors, and that are backed up by my dermatologic expertise and the real life experiences of people with similar skin problems to yours.  I’m soul satisfied when I see that it’s working!  I received this ‘high-five’ from Linda and I’m doin’ what this little cartoon guy is doin’ inside.  Thanks Linda!

Hello!

I’m not sure if this is going to Dr. Bailey or someone in her office who was so kind to reply but I’d like Dr. Bailey to know that I have been studying preventative aging skincare since I was 17 years old (started with beauty magazines and now use both magazines and the internet).  I have always spent my money on only dermatologist recommended products. I have never found one source of such intelligent, generous and “spot-on” advise EVER!  I’m so impressed and feel lucky to have found Dr. Bailey.  I live in Southern California but, if your office was within an hour or two, I would be there for a consultation in a second!  I can’t thank you enough for sharing your knowledge.  I have started to buy your recommended products from your site.

Thank you, again!

Sincerely,

Linda M

Wow, Thanks Linda, I really appreciate the feedback and that you took the time to share it with me – it really feels good and makes the work so worth my while!

Cheers,

Cynthia Bailey MD, Dermatologist

Dermatologist’s Anti-Aging Skin Care Information On The Web is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog