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

Hot off the press!

The answer is….

NOT ENTIRELY,

and the reason applies 365 days a year!

Just reported in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, UVA1 is more cancer causing than we thought.  UVA1 is the hardest part of the sun’s UV rays to block with sunscreen.  It’s different from the sunburn ray UVB, and even different from UVA2 (which falls between UVA1 and UVB).

You’ve heard that the sun causes skin cancers.  You also occasionally hear that before 10 or after 3pm, and during the non-summer months,  the sun is less dangerous.  You’ve probably noticed that the sun feels less intense during these times and you might let your guard down.  Well, the sunburn ray UVB is softer then, but UVA is out with the same intensity as always.  In fact, all day, all year UVA is equally intense; sun-up to sun-down, equatorial location or north pole, summer or winter it doesn’t change.

This new study gives you more reason to want UVA rays off of your skin. The investigators found mutated DNA (thymine dimers)  in the deepest parts of the top epidermal layer of the skin after UVA1 exposure.  Those mutations are how skin cancers start.

We already knew that UVA exposure causes free radical damage to skin leading to wrinkles, skin thinning, and generally accelerated skin aging. UVA exposure has also been correlated with an increased risk of developing the type of skin cancer called melanoma, but the full story between UVA exposure and skin cancer has had some gaps.  This new study is part of filling in those gaps.

What you probably don’t know is that sunscreens aren’t all that great at protecting your skin from this UVA1. It’s why sunscreens are controversial.  They keep the UVB off pretty well, slowing your development of a sunburn, which allows you to stay in the sun longer…….getting more UVA1.  In the US the only sunscreens that we have which I think block UVA1 well are the micronized zinc oxide sunscreens.  Even with the micronized zinc products though there is huge product variability in my experience.  That’s why I only recommend Solbar Zinc, Citrix and Glycolix Elite Sunscreens (see below).  I’ve watched these protect my patients for years and trust them.

What it means for you?

1. Your really do need to keep the sun off your skin year round.
2. Sunscreens alone aren’t good enough.  When you’re planning to be out in that sun for a long period of time you need clothing, broad brimmed hats and shade for sun protection too.

This new study shows that the DNA damage that we associate with skin cancer formation is evident deep in the skin from UVA exposure too – the sun may not feel very harmful when you’re getting mostly UVA rays, but it is!  This is big news and most definitely should dissuade you from letting your guard down just because the sun feels softer during non-peak UVB hours.  Remember, UVA comes through clouds and most windows too.

The Bottom Line:

Don’t put your zinc oxide sunscreen away after summer or just because you don’t feel the sun burning your skin.  The sun is still causing damage – if wrinkles aren’t enough motivation, how about skin cancer surgery?

Remember to use clothing, full brim hats and shade to keep the UVA off of your skin too.

Don’t be fooled by windows or clouds, UVA gets through these!

I’ve watched UVA damage play out on my patient’s skin for years and I’ve built the right tools to help keep them as safe as possible.  Frankly, we all need UVA protection year round and I’ve worked hard to figure out the best tricks:

Dermatologist’s ‘turnkey’ and patient proven sun protection solutions

Click here for my SunSavvy Ultimate Sun Protection Kit

Click here for everyday full brim sun hats

Got most of what you need and just need an individual product to fill in the gap?

Click here to see my individual sun protection products.

Reference: UVA1 Induces Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers but Not 6-4 Photoproducts in Human Skin In Vivo, Angela Tewari, Robert P Sarkany and Antony R Young,  Journal of Investigative Dermatology , (6 October 2011) | doi:10.1038/jid.2011.283

Photo: Thanks and Gratitude to Patrick Hoesley

Does Sunscreen Prevent Skin Cancer? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

You know that you should protect your skin from the summer sun, but what about the rest of the year?

And what about the morning and late afternoon, do you know if that sun will cause wrinkles, age spots and skin cancer?

You’ve noticed that the sun feels weaker in the non-summer months and in the morning and afternoon, can it still damage your skin if you don’t sun protect?

I  see a lot of patients in my dermatology practice with tanned and wrinkled skin who tell me that because they walk or swim in the morning or during the non-summer months that they don’t need sunscreen or sun protective clothing.  They think that because the sun feels weaker they’re safe. Yes, the sunburn ray called UVB is less intense then, but the sun still damages your skin and the tan and wrinkles are the evidence.

The reason the sun is harmful is that UVA rays are out in full intensity; they’re out all day, all year, and at the same intensity as mid-day in the summer!  This means that from sunup to sundown, January or July you’re getting the same hit of UVA. Plus, UVA penetrates your skin more deeply than UVB causing significant and irreversible damage to the deeper parts, and this causes wrinkles.  As if that’s not enough, your sunscreen SPF value tells you nothing about how well your product blocks UVA.  In fact many products don’t do a good job blocking the UVA rays, which is one of the big criticisms of sunscreens.

I’m writing this post in September and I hope that it will help you plan great sun protection for your skin as we move into fall and winter.  Don’t slack off on your sun protection just because the sunburn ray is less intense and the sun feels less damaging. You need to take UVA seriously, which means you need really good protection from UVA.

UVA is bad news! It penetrates skin more deeply than the sunburn ray UVB and the havoc it wreaks on your skin is caused by free radicals.  These free radicals cause a damage that leads to skin thinning (atrophy), which is what causes most of the wrinkles and skin fragility that we erroneously associate with aging (extrinsic aging of the skin as opposed in intrinsic aging).  Thin, fragile skin tears and bruises easily as you get older and we can’t reverse it.  UVA is also linked to the development of skin cancers, including melanoma.  To reiterate, UVA damage is not reversible which means prevention is really important.

What’s my advice for the best year round UVA sun protection for your skin?

1.  Keep the sun off your skin with sun protective clothing and a full brim hat

Try to cover as much of your skin as possible and when it’s not really hot outside this is easy to do.  Remember, when you depend on sunscreen alone you need a ‘thick and sticky coat’ every 2 hours, and that’s hard to keep up with.  Plus, a sunscreen’s protection isn’t perfect and neither is your application of it.  My preference is that you wear sun protective clothing for the best sun protection.  Ideally you want to wear clothes that protects your full arms and chest too.  These are areas where people get a lot of unfortunate skin thinning from sun damage because they wear short sleeved v-neck shirts.  During hot weather or outdoor athletic activities wear functional garments like swim shirts and tights, ventilated sun protective shirts etc.  Don’t skimp on yourself, create a wardrobe that really protects your skin.  My favorite resources include:

Clothing:

Coolibar for the high tech, high performance fabric and innovative designs that fit a broad range of activities.

Sun Guard laundry treatment that let’s you turn your tee shirts and other light weight fabric clothes into sun protective garments.  I use Sun Guard when I want sun protection from an outfit that has a unique styling but that I know isn’t good enough to protect my skin.  I sell Sun Guard because I love it so much.

Click here to buy Sun Guard.

To see me wearing a Sun Guard treated shirt in unbearably hot weather click here.

To see me making a sun protective garment on vacation using Sun Guard (yes I’m just a little nutty) click here.

Hats:

Be sure to wear a full brim hat year round.  For more info on hats see my post on The Perfect Sun Hats.

To buy great sun hats from my web store click here.

Other great resources include

Coolibar’s Hats

ETSIS Hats, which have built-in, chic side panels to protect the sides of your face!

2.  Wear broad spectrum sunscreen everyday on all the skin that’s left uncovered

This includes your face, neck, ears and the back of your hands.  Make sure your sunscreen product blocks UVA well.  In my opinion, this means using a product with 5% or more micronized zinc oxide. Sunscreen formulation is still tricky though which is why I stick with a small group of products that I’ve seen work over and over for my patients and my family.  Sunscreen product failure is all too common with other sunscreens, you need a product that you can trust especially with UVA because the UV ray doesn’t cause a quick sunburn and it may take weeks to figure out that your product is letting UVA through.  I also don’t recommend that you rely on a facial moisturizer for UVA protection because most don’t do a good job at that.  Remember the SPF tells you only about UVB protection, not about UVA protection.  Be deliberate about your daily application of sunscreen, use only a broad spectrum product so that you have the UVA protection you need to keep your skin healthy and strong.

To see the sunscreens that I trust click here

3.  Add high concentration antioxidant skin care products to your facial skin care routine and apply them everyday

Scientific studies have shown that applying highly concentrated antioxidants to your skin really does reduce UV damage.  The best are the green tea polyphenols, vitamin C and E.  There is no regulation on these products though meaning any skin cream or serum can make grand claims about containing antioxidants yet include only a minute ‘fairy dusting’ concentration that doesn’t do anything.  A recent study of sunscreen products with added antioxidants  showed that the incidental amounts added to those products did not provide free radical protection and had no antioxidant power when tested in the laboratory.  With the right products though I’ve seen my patients get real results (fewer precancerous lesions for me to treat during their checkups).  These products are the two Replenix Creams and the C/R/S vitamin C serum that I sell from my web store.  These are the products I trust.  Click here for:

Replenix Power of Three Cream

Replenix CF Cream

C/R/S Cell Rejuvenation Serum

4.  Don’t forget to seek the shade to sun protect your skin

As the weather gets colder it’s so tempting to want to sit in the direct sun, but only do that with sun protective clothing and sunscreen on.  Keep your skin out of the sun as much as possible.  Remember that UV rays bounce off pavement, sand, rocks, buildings etc.  If you’re getting a tan you’re exposed.

5.  Don’t listen to people who tell you to get non-summer, morning or afternoon sun to prevent vitamin D deficiency

Remember, UVA doesn’t make vitamin D in your skin so resist that false advice to get year round sun exposure for your vitamin D production.  Most places in the world only have enough UVB rays during the summer to make meaningful vitamin D in your skin.  Even then, I don’t recommend using your skin as a vitamin D factory because it gives doctors like me job security.  Vitamin D is pretty complex and I always recommending talking to your personal doctor for advice.  To read more about my opinion on vitamin D and the sun click here to read my article Are You Really Getting Vitamin D From The Sun Or Just Nuking Your DNA?

For More Of My Resources For The Best Year Round Sun Protection Click On The Blue Lettered Links:

Sunscreens that I trust

My Antioxidant Kit with my favorite daily sunscreen

My favorite two products for sun damaged skin: SunSavvy Daily Wear Sun Protection Kit plus Replenix Power Of Three Cream

Reference: Ex vivo evaluation of radical sun protection factor in popular sunscreens with antioxidants, Steven Q. Wang, MD et. al., Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2011;65:525-30

Photo: Thanks and Gratitude to JOPHIELsmiles

Do You Need Sunscreen in Winter, Or In The Morning and After 4pm? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

If you’re not out in the sun at all during the day then it may give you adequate sun protection.  If, however, you plan to be outside for more than a quick run to your car, then that daily moisturizer with SPF 15 is probably giving you a false sense of your sun protection security and your skin’s getting some new sun damage!

The problem:

Sun protection from sunscreen depends on putting enough product on your skin and reapplying every 2 hours.  You’re not going to do this with your SPF 15 facial moisturizer yet this is a critical sun protection step for when the sun is shining on your skin for a sustained period of time….. and that includes reflected light bouncing off buildings, pavement and sand, and coming through windows!

When you’re using a product with chemical (also called ‘organic’) actives (which means anything other than zinc oxide or titanium dioxide), this 2 hour reapplication is really important.  That’s because UV rays break down ‘organic’ actives when they hit them. Most daily moisturizers with SPF rely on ‘organic’ actives, and have only the tiny amount sufficient to create an SPF 15 to begin with.  This means your sun protection runs out during the day and you’re unprotected!

Add to that the fact that when people use a daily moisturizer that doubles as a sunscreen they don’t usually do the first two important aspects of sun protection: put enough on and reapply every 2 hours. Of course, on the average day it’s unlikely that you’re going to reapply your sunscreen every 2 hours which means you have to be cleaver about that one morning application in the first place.

Bottom line: that daily moisturizer with SPF 15 is most probably giving you a false sense of sun protection security.  I can help you figure out how to get better protection for your skin.

The solution:

What I tell my patients is that for their average work or school day, to use the moisturizer that their skin ‘wants’ and then on top of that apply a real sunscreen.

Your moisturizer serves that step in your skin care regimen where you dial in that perfect amount of hydration that makes your skin look and feel moist and plump. What I mean by a ‘real’ sunscreen is one with an SPF between 30 and 50.  I also believe that the best protection comes from products that contain the mineral active micro zinc oxide at 5% or more concentration. It should also be made by a highly reputable lab because sun screen ingredients inactivate each other as they sit in the bottle and so you need a product that’s stood up to years of successful use under the highest scrutiny.

The zinc oxide (also called a physical or ‘inorganic’ sunscreen ingredient) is a physical block because it sits on the outer layers of your skin and bounces light off into the stratosphere, like tennis balls off a racket. The micro/nano zinc products will go on completely transparent if you keep rubbing the product into your skin until you can’t see it anymore.  That’s when you’ve created a fine invisible protective layer of particles covering your skin and the UV bouncing is ready to begin!

Makeup goes on top of sunscreen and it ideally should be a mineral makeup which gives you even more physical sun protection by this same bouncing mechanism. Then, if you’re really out in the sun, you need a great hat and to try to aim for staying in the shade as much as possible.  (Of course, for extreme and sustained outdoor sun exposure, like a day at the beach,  you just have to reapply sun screen every 2 hours.)

It takes some effort and planning but your skin will reward you by looking younger than you expect, and for years! As you’ve probably already heard, most of the undesirable skin changes we see with age like wrinkles, age spots and skin thinning are actually due to sun damage.  Who needs it!   And remember, you need sun protection all year round because even those winter UVA rays cause skin aging and skin cancer.

I have a lot of information on practical sun protection on my blog because it’s the single most important step a person can do for anti aging skin care and skin health.  I invite you to scroll through the Sun Protection Advice listed on the right of this post or visit my sun protection product pages for products the highly scrutinized products that I use in my practice.  They are made by expert chemists, I personally use them every day and I’ve witnessed them protect thousands of my patients from our California sun.

Photo:  Thanks and Gratitude to Nanagyei

Does using a daily moisturizer with SPF 15 give you enough sun protection? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

I found this moving video on Suture For A Living, the blog of plastic surgeon Dr. Romona Bates of Little Rock Arkansas.  It’s what I love about the web and social media -  the way they connect us and our world gets smaller.  Watching Michael and his crew free the whale on their video that I found on Dr. Bates’ blog brought me back to my own exhilarating memory of freeing a hawk that was trapped in bird netting.

The hawk’s two legs and talons were wrapped and twisted in many layers of fine mesh netting.  It had frantically been winding itself like a bobbin in it’s futile attempt to break free.  Like the whale, this intimidating raptor was exhausted and had no chance of success.  With the bird’s sharp beak within reach of my un-gloved hands I got into that zone of ‘single focus’ that Michael and his crew were in.  I worked using a pair of magnifying loops, like the ones that I use at my office, so that I could see the fine mesh strands.  I held the talons in one hand and with a pair of tiny fingernail scissors I snipped strand by strand in surgical fashion crouched on the ground with the bird. Two of my friends blocked the hawk’s view of me with a broom while they distracted the bird.  The tension gave way to exhilaration when the now free raptor flew off.

We were exhilarated, but I can’t imagine how amazing it would be to have a humpback give you a one hour ‘thank you dance’, close up and personal!  ‘High five’ and ‘right on’ to Michael and his crew and thanks for sharing your experience with a video. Thanks to Dr. Bates too for putting it where I could find it, wow, the web is fantastic!

I’ve never been to the Sea Of Cortez for whale watching but I’m so inspired to sign up after seeing this video.  The dermatologist in me can’t help but think about the sun exposure on a trip like this. One of the women on Michael’s crew gave us all a great example of the functional sun protection clothing we’d need to bring – another ‘high five’ from the dermatologist!  The more we see sun protection going main stream, the more it will be something everyone thinks about!  I’m sending Michael’s crew my SunSavvy Ultimate Protection Kit as a ‘thank you’ for their great work and for sharing their experience ‘Saving Valentina’ on the web. I’ll bet they go through sunscreen by the gallons.  In a situation like this it needs to be water resistant and that little box of SunGuard in my Sun Savvy Ultimate Protection Kit can make some nice sun protective clothing that will be handy too.

Michael Fishbach is a founder of The Great Whale Conservancy.

A Close and Intimate Encounter With A Whale is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

Recently a reader sent me this question as a comment to one of my blog posts.  It’s such a great question, and one patients often ask me, so I decided to make an Ask Dr. Bailey post out.

You may think that you don’t need to worry about sun damage when you’re indoors, but that’s not true if you’re sitting in front of a window…..

John asked:

Hi Dr. Bailey,

I work in a “trendy” office with floor to ceiling windows on all the outside walls. I know many commercial buildings now have UV window film that appears untinted to the human eye but block almost all UV radiation. Is there any way to tell if the window next to me has this type of filtering in place? It would save me from reapplying sunscreen at my desk every 3-4 hours!

Best Regards and love the blog!

John

Hello John,

This is a really important issue for anyone sitting in direct sunlight that comes through a window. Normal glass blocks all of UVB but allows UVA to come through. Both of these rays are harmful.  Remember:

UVB

• UVB is considered the main sunburn ray
• It causes skin cancer and sun damage
• The SPF in a sunscreen tells you how well the product protects you from UVB

UVA

• Is the UV ray in tanning beds
• It penetrates the skin more deeply than UVB playing a big role in sun damage including wrinkles
• It can cause skin cancer
• The SPF on sunscreens tells you nothing about whether the product protects you from UVA.  Look for sunscreens labeled ‘broad spectrum’, but even then full UVA protection is more complex.  Bottom line, I recommend mineral sunscreens for the best, most reliable UVA protection (click here to read more) or Mexoryl SX if you really don’t like mineral sunscreens.

As you point out, some modern windows block most all of the UV rays including UVA. Finding out which windows were used in the construction of your building might help answer that question. It’s possible to block up to 99.9% of UV waves with today’s modern technology. The Skin Cancer Foundation has information on window UV film, click here to see it. In general, you can add sheets of UV blocking film to windows, or purchase glass that includes technology to block UV rays.

The Skin Cancer Foundation also has a list of window films that they have investigated and whose reliability they approve of.  Click here to read more. They also have a a glass manufacture that’s passed their muster too, click here see it. Beyond that, the only way to accurately test how much UV passes through your windows would be to finding someone with a radiometer that measures the UV transmittance.

For my patients who sit in direct sunlight coming in through window glass, I recommend wearing a mineral sunscreen and clothing that blocks UV rays (click here to read about sun protective clothing). If their windows claim to block UV rays I point out that a very tiny amount of UV still gets through.  As I mentioned above, it’s possible to block 99.9% of UV rays, but even if their windows are that good, the 0.1% can add up at 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.  Wrinkles, age spots and skin cancer just ain’t worth it!

For exposure through windows that don’t claim to block UV rays I definitely tell my patients to reapplying mineral sunscreen every 2 hours if they can’t move out of the direct sunlight.  It’s also time to get creative about trying to create shade too. That would be pretty tough in a ‘trendy’ office building with floor to ceiling windows, which is what makes this question such a challenge.

You’ve asked an excellent and important question. Best of luck.

Warm Regards,

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.

Do UV Sun Rays Go Through Windows? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

When you’re out in the sun for hours, sweating swimming or working hard, you need low maintenance sun protection that you can rely on.   I created my SunSavvy Active-Sport Sun Protection Kit to take care of your skin when you’re too busy to worry about it.  It’s what I use to protect myself, my family and my dermatology patients.

My SunSavvy Kit for Active/Sport Sun Protection gives you long lasting, reliable sun protection with micro zinc oxide mineral sunscreen products, this is the longest lasting type of sun protection available.

• The water resistant sunscreen gives you 80 minutes of protection when you’re wet.
• You get broad spectrum lip protection too with LipCotz.
• There’s a Detecto Ring to test the sun protection of your clothing.
• And while supplies last we throw in a handy mesh drawstring bag to store your products so you can grab ‘em and go!

When you combine my SunSavvy Active/Sport Kit with a sun protection hat, sunglasses and sun protective clothing you’ve got the most reliable, dermatologist recommended sun protection available today.  I want your skin protected so use coupon code BLOG and I give you 10% off the cost of these reasonably priced, trustworthy sunscreens too.

Remember, we’re learning that you can’t just put on some SPF 15+ sunscreen and expect to prevent sun damage to your skin!  Real sun protection takes a combination of shading your skin with hats, clothing and sun glasses plus correctly applying the right sunscreen. And, not all sunscreens qualify as the ‘right’ sunscreen.

Dermatologist’s Advice For the Best Sun Protection When Your Active Outdoors

The ‘right sunscreen’ is a water resistant product with 5% or more transparent, micro sized (aka nanoparticle) zinc oxide.

Why? Because you need to block both UVB and all the UVA rays to really sun protect your skin.  Your sunscreen also needs to stay active, both in the tube and on your skin and many ‘chemical’ sunscreens don’t.  I see what works for my patients and what doesn’t.  My opinion as a dermatologist who specializes in skin cancer and the treatment of sun damaged skin is that transparent micro sized ( nano  ) zinc oxide gives you the best sun protection available from sunscreen.  As a second choice, for people who really don’t want to use a mineral sunscreen, I recommend Mexoryl SX, available in Europe.

‘Correctly’ applying your sunscreen means that you need to put enough on and you need to reapply it.

Why? Because sunscreens are tested under strict conditions and if you apply less, you’re not really protected.  The average sized adult needs to apply 1oz (a shot glass) if they are in a bathing suit and then reapply it every 2 hours, or after swimming, or after rubbing their skin.  That’s ¼ of a 4 oz tube every 2 hours! It’s a ‘thick and sticky’ coating to all exposed skin.  To be honest, it’s not that simple though because sunscreen thickness affects how much you really need to apply, as does the ingredient combination in a product.  Plus, people come in different sizes, as do swim suits.  That’s why I recommend zinc oxide products and covering as much of your skin as possible with appropriate clothing.  Plus, applying your ‘thick and sticky’ coat of mineral sunscreen will give you better protection than any other type of sunscreen, and frankly, the less exposed skin for reapplication, the better!  So cover up what you can AND correctly apply to what’s left exposed.

Create shade even if there isn’t any!

Why? Because every UV ray that doesn’t hit your sunscreen means that your sunscreen will last longer, and frankly you’ll be cooler too.

• This means wearing a hat that covers the top of your head and hangs over all the sides with at least a full 3 inch brim.  Baseball hats and visors are no-nos.
• It means shading your skin with sun protective clothing.  Most ‘summer weight’ fabrics are not sufficient to block UV rays. You can buy swim shirts, swim tights, sun protective clothing or wash Sun Guard into the light weight clothes you already own.

Remember, the sun is most intense between 10 am and 2pm.  You really need to have your sun protection act in gear if you’re out during those peak hours.  Harmful rays are out from dawn to dusk though, so sun protect anytime you’re outdoors during the day, regardless of cloud cover.

To order my SunSavvy Active/Sport Sun Protection Kit, order the 3 products below, add BLOG to the coupon code section of the shopping cart and you get 10% off these products plus the handy mesh bag to keep your products in (while the bags last!).

Solbar Zinc

LipCotz

Detecto Ring

Order a few more of the skin care products you need and get free shipping for orders of $75 or more.  My skin care favorites for people in the sun:

Avene Self Tanner and a Body Buf Puf Sponge for a’ healthy tan’,

Replenix CF Cream for facial antioxidant back-up help to minimize sun and environmental damage while you play outdoors.

Photo: Thanks and gratitude to Alan Cleaver

What’s The Best Sun Protection for Swimming, Hiking, Gardening, Outdoor Sports, and for People Who Work Outside? is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

Your skin deserves the best sun protection which means:

1. Covering up, sunscreen alone isn’t enough, and remember the fabric that most summer clothes are made from doesn’t give you very good protection. For intense sun exposure, buy sun protective clothing or use SunGuard to make sun protective clothing from what’s already in your closet.
2. Create shade with hats and umbrellas.
3. Use more than one strategy to keep the UV rays out of your skin.
4. Apply only the best sunscreens and do it correctly!

Believe it or not you’ll actually be cooler than if you expose your bare skin to the sun.  Enjoy the outdoors – safely!

Photos: Thanks and gratitude to Annie Mole, Recoverling, Mike Baird

The Best Sun Protection For Your Skin is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

• Are you proud of how great your skin looks in summer clothes?
• Do you have a sure-fire strategy to protect it from sun damage?

Skin care is seasonal and in summer that’s especially true!  There are a few simple tricks for the best summer skin care  so that you can show off great skin and take good care of it at the same time.

What’s your wish list for summer skin care?

• Smooth, moist skin that’s velvety soft and has even skin color.  The perfect skin to peak out from  shorts, sundresses  and short sleeved shirts.
• Skin with a warm, healthy golden glow that didn’t cost you DNA damage.
• Acne-free back and chest skin without embarrassing zits.
• Knowing how to get a smooth shave during summer’s ‘shaving season’ instead of getting red shaving bumps and shaving pimples when you shave.
• Healthy soft feet that look great in sandals; finally finding a treatment to fix rough, cracked heels.
• Getting rid of skin tags or crusty age spots so that the skin that shows looks healthy and smooth.
• Figuring out an easy, practical sun protection strategy that gives you the best sun protection and prevents wrinkles and DNA damage while you spend time outdoors.

Hang on to your hat, here we go……..

Dermatologist’s quick tricks to whip your skin into shape for summer’s skin-baring fashions:

Pick your goal and click the link for my patient proven skin care tricks:

Soft, Hydrated Skin With Even Skin Color

The best skin care products and treatments to get soft, moisturized skin use an AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) moisturizer and physical exfoliation.  Whether you’re a guy or gal, this trick will brighten, soften and hydrate your skin texture.  AHA’s help treat uneven skin color too.  The best way to do this is with the professional AHA products, sponge and use instructions that I developed for myself (my 40th birthday present from me to me!) and my patients.  I call it my Anti-Aging Body Kit and it’s kept my skin in great shape for the last 13 years.  Click here for it:  Anti-Aging Body Skin Care Kit.

A Healthy Tan

For us fair skinned folks, nothing says summer more than getting a little skin color.  Be smart and get your color without the DNA damage that comes with a suntan.  Use self-tanners (correctly) and eat foods high in beta carotene.  You’re skin will look better than if you got your color from the sun.

There are tricks to having a natural and even application of self tanner (not the orange-streaked alligator look).  Click here to read my post:

Use Self Tanners Like A Pro.

To entice you to give it a try, use coupon code BLOG when you buy my Avene Self Tanning Lotion and a Body Buf Puf Sponge and get 10% off of these products.

Are you shocked that I also recommend eating beta carotene rich foods to color your skin from the inside out?  It works!  See what a scientific study had to say about how great it looks:

Skip The Tan and Eat Your Veggies For Beautiful Skin Color

The Best Treatment To Fix The Rough, Thick Skin on Your Feet

Whip your feet into sandal ready shape with exfoliation designed specifically for feet.  You need strong AHA products and exfoliation that gets rid of all that rough dead skin.  You may even have a little athletes foot that needs treating and you can use non-prescription creams for that.  My two feet renovation posts are:

Dermatologists 3 Simple Steps For Sandal Ready Feet By Spring (ok, yes it’s already summer, but the trick is timeless and it’s never too late)

Dermatologists Simple Tips For Athlete’s Foot Fungus Treatment

The Best Treatment For Back and Chest Acne To Get Your Skin Acne-Free ASAP

Summer’s actually a great time to treat acne. Chest and back acne are real spoilers.  Sweating often makes this type of acne worse.  Be sure to shower off a soon as possible after sweating and use my Back Acne Kit to get the medicated ingredients that work best for this type of acne.

If you have acne on your face, back and chest read:

Dermatologist’s Summer Skin Care Advice For Acne

(If you just need to clear up the acne on your face, try one of my OTB Skin Acne Treatment Kits.  They contain the strongest amount of the best medicated acne treatment ingredients you can use without a doctor’s prescription.)

The Best Way To Get A Smooth Shave Without Red Shaving Bumps and Pimples

Summer is ‘shaving season’ so it’s also ‘shaving bump season’.  To get a smooth shave you need to know the most common causes of shaving bumps:

1. A dull razor
2. Germs that aren’t yours but that get into your hair follicles.  Yep!  Don’t ever share your razor because shaving causes tiny cuts in your skin and we all have different skin germ.  Don’t share your razor with family or even your best friend because you’re putting yourself at risk for getting their skin germs in your hair follicles, and this is one of the big causes of shaving bumps.
3. Germs from your shower that got into your razor and then got into your hair follicles when you shaved.  Know how to properly care for your razor to prevent this.  Read:

Tips To Prevent Skin Infection From Your Shower Sponge and Razor.

The Best Treatments For Skin Tags and Crusty Age Spots

Finally ready to get rid of those embarrassing skin tags around your neck and arm pits?  They are so easily removed by a dermatologist.  Learn more about these common and unfortunately ‘decorative’ skin growths in my post:

What Is The Best Way To Remove Skin Tags?

For anyone over about 40 it may just be an accumulation of age spots that’s making your skin look crusty and rough.  Learn more about treating these in my post:

Dermatologist’s Skin Care Tricks To Get Rid Of Thick And Crusty Age Spots On Your Skin

Finding The Best Sun Protection For Your Skin

I covered my advice for sun protection and antioxidant skin care back-up protection in my first post of this series:

The Best SunSavvy Summer Skin Care For Summer

……. and there you have it, dermatologist’s tricks for great summer skin.  Tune it up and show it off safely!

Photo: Thanks and Gratitude to Shandilee

The Best SunSavvy Summer Skin Care is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog

1. Preventing summer sun damage
2. Getting your skin in great shape to show it off in summer’s fashions

There are simple tricks for the best seasonal skin care and summer’s no exception!

I’ve helped my patients seasonally tweak their skin care for years to keep their skin consistently healthy and looking great.  We start by knowing our goals relative to the season.  In summer, most people need to minimize sun damage while they spend more time outdoors in intense summer sun.  They also don’t want to be embarrassed by their skin when they wear skimpier summer clothing.

The Summer Sun and Your Skin

First and foremost, you need the best smart sun protection strategy with back up reinforcement from today’s best antioxidant skin care products.

The Best Sunscreens

Use only the best sunscreens!  Your sunscreen has to have an SPF 30 or higher and COMPLETE UVA protection too. That’s why I recommend mineral zinc oxide as an active ingredient because it blocks the entire UVA spectrum of waves.  It provides stable and trustworthy protection you can count on.

The best sunscreen all around is Solbar Zinc Sunscreen. It’s very water resistant so it protects you when you’re swimming or sweaty.  For a more matte finish on the face the best everyday sunscreen (which I’ve depended on for years when I’m not swimming or sweating) is Citrix Sunscreen. For facial protection if you have sensitive skin or want 100% pure mineral zinc oxide protection I recommend Glycolix Elite Sunscreen.  they’re all highly rated and sunscreens you can trust.  Click here for:

Solbar Zinc Sunscreen

Citrix Sunscreen

Glycolix Elite Sunscreen

Know how to correctly apply your sunscreen and have the confidence that you’re getting the protection you think you are.

Click here for my post:

How To Apply Sunscreen and Have Healthy, Fabulous Skin Forever

The Best Antioxidant Skin Care For Summer

Back up your facial sun protection with today’s best and most powerful antioxidant skin care products.  It’s now well accepted that antioxidant skin care products really do help protect your skin from damage.  New scientific studies demonstrate this and scientists are starting to better understand just how these antioxidants work to keep your skin healthy.

Antioxidant skin care products are the perfect partner to your sunscreen and good sun protection practices; no matter how good you are with sun protection, it’s inevitable that some UV rays will make it to your skin.  You want a generous amount of antioxidants waiting in your skin to neutralize any free radicals that form from those UV rays.  Eating an antioxidant rich diet is important, but today we can also load the skin with even more antioxidants.  Professional cosmecutical products containing high concentrations of stable antioxidants are your best choice.  The skin care antioxidant products that I think are the best are:

Replenix CF Cream and Replenix Power of Three Cream.  These are the best products with green tea polyphenols that I’ve ever seen.  The Power of Three also has Resveratrol, the antioxidant from grapes.  Readers will know that I’m a big fan of these 2 products.  I’ve used one of these Replenix Green Tea Creams every day for years and have seen them benefit thousands of patients too.

C/R/S Cell Rejuvenation Serum with 15% of the stable L-ascorbic acid form of Vitamin C.  I believe that vitamin C products only work when they have 10% or more of the L-ascorbic acid form and are in a container that’s airtight and blocks light.  Again readers will know that I’m a big fan of C/R/S Serum for my Vitamin C skin care.  Vitamin C works even better in the presence of vitamin E which is why it combines so well with some of my other favorite facial products like Glycolix Face Cream moisturizers and Citrix Sunscreen which contain vitamin E.  C/R/S Serum also contains the powerful growth factor TGF-beta to help fight wrinkles.

Be Smart About The Sun!

The best sunscreen and anti oxidant skin care can only do so much if you don’t also practice smart, skin-saving sun safe behavior.  We dermatologist’s always want you to:

1. Wear clothing that provides sun protection. It doesn’t have to be unfashionably utilitarian.  This is a real ‘shopping opportunity’ and a chance to be creative!  Scarves, wraps, long sleeved open shirts over tank tops, long skirts, there are tons of tricks.  You can also turn your existing wardrobe into sun protective clothing by washing in Sun Guard.  Click here to read more about how clothing can be used for sun protection.
2. Wear a 3 to 5 inch full brim sun hat. Nowadays there are so many great hats available.  I have some easy wearing and well-priced sun hats on my web site and in my office.  I also have a post outlining what makes a sun hat great, click here to read more about sun hats.
3. Seek the shade when you’re outside.  Shade does not entirely protect you but it helps.

Click here for my next post where I give you a few simple tricks to whip your skin into shape for those skin-baring summer cloths.

Photo: Thanks and Gratitude to Shandi-lee

The Best Sun Savvy Skin Care for Summer is a post from: Dr. Bailey's Skin Care Blog