What's The Best Over 40 Skin Care To Brighten Dull Skin?

Dear Dr Bailey 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.

Adding a glycolic acid cream is the single fastest way to brighten dull skin in your 40s.

The simplest way to add glycolic acid to your skin care is to add a medical-grade glycolic acid cream, such as Glycolic Acid Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream. to your existing skin care routine. Use this as a night treatment or a daytime treatment.

For over 35 years, glycolic acid has proven itself to be the best AHA for skin transformation. I've used it personally and in my practice for this entire time and see the results daily. Formulated in a cream at over 10% in an acid pH, glycolic acid will

• brighten the dull dead cell layer,
• increase the skin's production of hydrating hyaluronic acid (for dewy youthful skin tone), and
• stimulate collagen renewal to fight fine lines and wrinkles.

It also helps to even out hyperpigmentation and keep pores from becoming clogged. I've used glycolic acid since my 30s and am a huge personal fan of what it does for my complexion. I've created probably over 10,000 skin care routines for patients using glycolic acid and the results are dependable, quick and impressive.

The easiest way to add medical-grade glycolic acid is with my Glycolic Acid Face Cream used once a day in place of your facial moisturizer.  

Physical exfoliation followed by a really good hyaluronic acid serum will instantly brighten skin for glowing results.

A gritty exfoliating scrub followed by multiple molecular size hyaluronic acid instantly plumps and brightens any complexion. This can be done every morning or on days where you really want your complexion to radiate glowing vitality. Apply a good moisturizer on top to lock in the benefits of hyaluronic acid and support a healthy skin.

I created my Glowing Skin Perfect Pairing to combine the benefit of physical exfoliation in a glycolic acid scrub coupled with the best hyaluronic acid serum for an instant glow.  Add these simple two steps to your ski care routine and it's like a DIY facial at home, and it's fast! 

This combination treatment transforms skin and gives you control over your complexion - bright, even skin pigment and tone, dewy and glowing, really!

Don't forget a really good daily sunscreen to keep skin bright and glowing in your 40s.

Remember, it's also important to use a mineral zinc oxide sunscreen every day to help prevent darkening of uneven hyperpigmentation and worsening of wrinkles. Technology has advanced such that zinc oxide can now be applied in an entirely invisible formulation. My Sheer Strength Pure Physical SPF 30+ Sunscreen Line offers this. My personal top choice is my Matte Tinted Sunscreen. I wear the Spray SPF 50 on all non-facial exposed skin daily. It is a Water-Resistant Sunscreen and perfect for swimming since it has titanium dioxide that is not entirely invisible. My patients and I have worn zinc oxide facial sunscreen for years and they take you off the skin aging cycle! 

Antioxidants and retinol have their place in over 40s skin care too.

Another great ingredient to add for age-fighting benefit is retinol. I combine medical-grade glycolic acid and retinol with antioxidants and a physical exfoliating scrub into one extremely powerful age-fighting Complete Skin Care Routine in Ageless Rejuvenation Facial Skin Care Kit. This is the skin care routine you would expect from a dermatologist - like a trip to my office without the trip! 

 

Add the Glow Skin Perfect Pairing and you have all the skin care tools for the ultimate state-of-the-art skin care regimen to brighten dull skin and fight skin aging. The skin care routine is as appropriate in your 40s as it is in your 70s.

How do you combine these two kits?

Wash with the Triple Action in the morning, apply the Instantly Luminous Serum under the Ageless Rejuvenation Kit's Green Tea, Daily Face Cream (contains ceramides and squalane to prevent dryness) and the broad spectrum mineral SPF. At night, follow the directions on the Ageless Rejuvenation Kit Page.

The best antioxidant skin care to fight skin aging

Antioxidant skin care is important and the Ageless Rejuvenation kit gives you the best antioxidants to prevent free radical skin care damage; green tea polyphenol antioxidants in a pharmaceutical formulation equivalent to over 500 cups of brewed green tea's antioxidants per ounce of cream. Green tea has proven skin care benefits for your skin's health. Super load your skin with them in the Green Tea Cream and the Retinol included in the kit! Antioxidant skin care helps to reduce inflammation and fight free radical skin damage. This in turn helps reduce the development of wrinkles by acting at the cellular level in your skin. 

The best skin care for collagen renewal and to maintain even skin pigment and youthful skin tone in your 40s and beyond.

Combine pharmaceutical formulations of medical-grade skin care products into a skin care routine that includes:

• hyaluronic acid,
• antioxidants,
• glycolic acid,
• retinol,
• ceramides and squalane containing moisturizer,
• zinc oxide sunscreen and,
• a physical exfoliation facial scrub.

This combination yields fast and enduring results against these skin problems. Plus, you're getting the skin brightening and blackhead reduction that comes from the glycolic acid and retinol products. The routine also helps to keep your pores clean and gives you instantly improved skin appearance. 

If you don't already have these ingredients in your skin care routine, I've done the work for you with my Ageless Rejuvenation Skin Care Kit routine plus the Glowing Skin Perfect Pairing routine added in the morning. 

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.