Sunday, March 11, 2012
Curcumin and its amazing antioxidant properties
Curcumin aka tumeric is an amazing compound. It has been used for centuries in India and has just recently come into the forefront of the medical community. Oncologist are using this to treat many cancers and rheumatologists are using it for joint diseases. It is safe all natural and there are more and more emerging studies showing its effectiveness as a natural organic super anti-oxidant. Anti-oxidants are extremely beneficial to the skin scavenging free radicals that cause aging of the skin and boosting the cellular quality of your skin, thereby reducing the signs of skin aging.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Growing Old Gracefully and Botox
Lately I have noticed there are more and more celebrities and others who are getting botox in their 20s for those deeper frown lines. I wanted to add my thoughts.
These are actually lines of expression and I'm not sure it adds to a person's beauty to take them away. Having a smooth mask-like face that is somewhat expressionless gives soeme people the look of a statue and not a living feeling person.
I personally think that yes we should fight aging! Yes we should do everything we can to care for our skin and our bodies to look youthfull. This includes anti aging creams which diminish fine lines and also includes protection from further signs of photo-aging.
I realize this may be a bit controversial but I think that facial lines of expression add to a person's beauty.
Rachel Sullivan MD
These are actually lines of expression and I'm not sure it adds to a person's beauty to take them away. Having a smooth mask-like face that is somewhat expressionless gives soeme people the look of a statue and not a living feeling person.
I personally think that yes we should fight aging! Yes we should do everything we can to care for our skin and our bodies to look youthfull. This includes anti aging creams which diminish fine lines and also includes protection from further signs of photo-aging.
I realize this may be a bit controversial but I think that facial lines of expression add to a person's beauty.
Rachel Sullivan MD
Friday, April 23, 2010
Will a skin cream really work to make me look younger?
Can a skin cream really make me look younger?
So... If I spend all this money on skin creams, does it make a difference?
The answer is yes and no.. I have found that the people that respond amazingly well to my anti aging products are those who have let their skin be at the mercy of the environment. Those who worship the sun, who smoke, who haven't used a moisturizer in years... These people respond dramatically to my anti aging creams and a difference is noticable in a matter of days to weeks. For the skin care junkie who uses sunscreen daily, doesn't smoke, gets plenty of sleep, uses a good moisturizer daily, results are more subtle although present.
Skin looks old and wrinkled because of environmental stress, such as sun, oxidants and pollutants, dehydration and just breakdown of collagen over time. What is most likely to respond to a skin cream are the fine lines at the corners of your eyes, the lack of lustre of the skin, age spots, puffiness, dehydration, and lack of overall "youthfull glow". The deeper lines drawn by age such as the ones around the edges of our mouths (frown lines) or deeper lines in our forehead will not respond to a cream, since these are due to collagen breakdown at a deeper level. These do respond best to botox, but beware, since botox will often give an artificial look with lack of expression. Injectable fillers can also help these.
If your skin is dry, dehydrated, lacklustre, with crinkly fine lines you will see a dramatic difference immediately with a good skin cream. Over several weeks a significant long term effect will be present as all the antioxidants and peptides kick in. If you already take great care of your skin in make take several weeks but you will notice a change, since the peptides and anti aging ingredients work over several weeks to renew collagen and improve the skin.
So... If I spend all this money on skin creams, does it make a difference?
The answer is yes and no.. I have found that the people that respond amazingly well to my anti aging products are those who have let their skin be at the mercy of the environment. Those who worship the sun, who smoke, who haven't used a moisturizer in years... These people respond dramatically to my anti aging creams and a difference is noticable in a matter of days to weeks. For the skin care junkie who uses sunscreen daily, doesn't smoke, gets plenty of sleep, uses a good moisturizer daily, results are more subtle although present.
Skin looks old and wrinkled because of environmental stress, such as sun, oxidants and pollutants, dehydration and just breakdown of collagen over time. What is most likely to respond to a skin cream are the fine lines at the corners of your eyes, the lack of lustre of the skin, age spots, puffiness, dehydration, and lack of overall "youthfull glow". The deeper lines drawn by age such as the ones around the edges of our mouths (frown lines) or deeper lines in our forehead will not respond to a cream, since these are due to collagen breakdown at a deeper level. These do respond best to botox, but beware, since botox will often give an artificial look with lack of expression. Injectable fillers can also help these.
If your skin is dry, dehydrated, lacklustre, with crinkly fine lines you will see a dramatic difference immediately with a good skin cream. Over several weeks a significant long term effect will be present as all the antioxidants and peptides kick in. If you already take great care of your skin in make take several weeks but you will notice a change, since the peptides and anti aging ingredients work over several weeks to renew collagen and improve the skin.
Will getting enough sleep make me look younger?
How does sleep affect the skin?
What can I do to look less tired?
As an emergency physician working night shifts and crazy hours sleep is often a rare commodity. How to keep looking good? Here are some tips I have learned over the years:
Sleep when you can: Every moment makes a difference, whether its a 5 minute nap or 20 minutes here or there, it can make a huge difference!
Avoid salty foods: Believe it or not that puffy eyed look is not from lack of sleep but from excess salt in processed foods, it causes free water to accumulate where you want it least. Drink lots of water and snack healthily on fruits and yes carbohydrates.
Exercise!: Just ten minutes a day of getting your heart rate elevated will do amazing things to your body. So even when your feet are dragging and your eyes are heavy lidded, take the stairs instead of the elevator or go for that quick jog. Exercise is also a HUGE stress reliever.
Undereye Concealer: When all else fails this is my lifesaver. I can come off a night shift, sleep 3 hours and throw a bit of concealer on and complain "Oh I am so tired" and have people comment, "but you don't look tired!" My personal favorite is Cle de Peau in the winter or Laura Mercier secret camaflouge.
How does sleep effect the skin? It has a tremendous effect on skin, skin can look fatigued, saggy and puffy without enough sleep in the long run. It truly is beauty sleep..
What can I do to look less tired?
As an emergency physician working night shifts and crazy hours sleep is often a rare commodity. How to keep looking good? Here are some tips I have learned over the years:
Sleep when you can: Every moment makes a difference, whether its a 5 minute nap or 20 minutes here or there, it can make a huge difference!
Avoid salty foods: Believe it or not that puffy eyed look is not from lack of sleep but from excess salt in processed foods, it causes free water to accumulate where you want it least. Drink lots of water and snack healthily on fruits and yes carbohydrates.
Exercise!: Just ten minutes a day of getting your heart rate elevated will do amazing things to your body. So even when your feet are dragging and your eyes are heavy lidded, take the stairs instead of the elevator or go for that quick jog. Exercise is also a HUGE stress reliever.
Undereye Concealer: When all else fails this is my lifesaver. I can come off a night shift, sleep 3 hours and throw a bit of concealer on and complain "Oh I am so tired" and have people comment, "but you don't look tired!" My personal favorite is Cle de Peau in the winter or Laura Mercier secret camaflouge.
How does sleep effect the skin? It has a tremendous effect on skin, skin can look fatigued, saggy and puffy without enough sleep in the long run. It truly is beauty sleep..
What is Rosacea and how do I treat it?
Just what is Rosacea? How is it treated? Is there anything non-prescription that helps?
Rosacea effects many people and is a lifelong chronic problem, causing inflammation and redness in the facial skin. There are several prescription treatments approved by the FDA and other promising treatments that are over the counter. Prescription treatments are sodium sulfacetamide, metronidazole and azelaic acid. Oral isotretinoin (retin-A) is a last resort. Dr Rachel is developing a safe herbal topical cream to treat Rosacea. Some of the ingredients shown to be helpfull are Chrysanthellum indicum, green tea, Niacinamide or vitamin B3, and licorice.
Rosacea effects many people and is a lifelong chronic problem, causing inflammation and redness in the facial skin. There are several prescription treatments approved by the FDA and other promising treatments that are over the counter. Prescription treatments are sodium sulfacetamide, metronidazole and azelaic acid. Oral isotretinoin (retin-A) is a last resort. Dr Rachel is developing a safe herbal topical cream to treat Rosacea. Some of the ingredients shown to be helpfull are Chrysanthellum indicum, green tea, Niacinamide or vitamin B3, and licorice.
What are "Sun Spots" or Solar lentigo?
Sun exposure not only causes wrinkles but also causes those brown spots on the face and hands. Usually these are seen in older individuals but can be seen in the fairskinned as early as childhood. These are light brown smooth spots.
They can be treated by liquid nitrogen cryotherapy or lasers that target melanin such as the Q-switch ruby laser or intense pulsed broadband light. This is usually available in a dermatologists office. Topical treatments such as Retin A and other lightning agents can be helpfull.
These are just another reason to use sunscreen! They do indicate signs of major sun damage so if you have these its a good idea to get checked out by a dermatologist yearly to look for anything more serious.
They can be treated by liquid nitrogen cryotherapy or lasers that target melanin such as the Q-switch ruby laser or intense pulsed broadband light. This is usually available in a dermatologists office. Topical treatments such as Retin A and other lightning agents can be helpfull.
These are just another reason to use sunscreen! They do indicate signs of major sun damage so if you have these its a good idea to get checked out by a dermatologist yearly to look for anything more serious.
Monday, March 15, 2010
What to look for in a skin care product
There are so many anti aging skin care products available it is confusing.
Essentially these products target two things.
1. Sun damage: this causes fine lines, crows feet, age spots, thinning of the skin, dullness.
2. Deeper furrows or lines in the skin. This is actually best treated by more invasive things such as botox but there are some very promising wrinkle relax products (synthetic peptides ) that have been shown to make a difference.
Botox is an invasive expensive procedure which can have unexpected outcomes in some. A safer gentler approach is to use botox alternatives such as argireline and other products. These wrinkle relaxers are neuropeptides which work topically to smooth wrinkles and promote youthfull skin. Snap-8 is the most recently engineered peptide thought to be 30% more active than argireline. These peptides typically need to be in concentrations around 10% in order to produce their wrinkle relaxing and botox-like effects. DMAE is another product thought to reduce sagging of the skin and give the skin an actual "lift" without plastic surgery. Dr Rachel anti aging products contain these botox and surgery alternatives.
So firstly, look for a product that has the anti-oxidants needed to fight sun damage. These include reservatrol, idabenone, matrixyl, alpha lipoic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, and the list goes on.
Second look for something containing DMAE which has been shown to give an actual "lift " to the skin.
And lastly look for something that contains the new synthetic peptides such as Argeriline and Snap-8. Please be aware these products tend to be expensive.
Whats in a percentage?
Theres a lot of talk about percentage of certain ingredients and their effectiveness. Particularly Argireline, Matrixyl-3000 and Snap-8. Synthetic peptides that treat skin wrinkles.
Argeriline and Snap-8 are generally reccommended to be at a level of 5-10% and higher percentages do not necessarily work better. Matrixyl is reccommended at 3-5%.
Moisturization is key as well. Look for a product with hyaluronic acid for deep moisture. Anti-oxidant containing moisturizers are also usefull, such as Grapeseed Oil.
Please see my website for more usefull skin care information
Dr Rachel
Essentially these products target two things.
1. Sun damage: this causes fine lines, crows feet, age spots, thinning of the skin, dullness.
2. Deeper furrows or lines in the skin. This is actually best treated by more invasive things such as botox but there are some very promising wrinkle relax products (synthetic peptides ) that have been shown to make a difference.
Botox is an invasive expensive procedure which can have unexpected outcomes in some. A safer gentler approach is to use botox alternatives such as argireline and other products. These wrinkle relaxers are neuropeptides which work topically to smooth wrinkles and promote youthfull skin. Snap-8 is the most recently engineered peptide thought to be 30% more active than argireline. These peptides typically need to be in concentrations around 10% in order to produce their wrinkle relaxing and botox-like effects. DMAE is another product thought to reduce sagging of the skin and give the skin an actual "lift" without plastic surgery. Dr Rachel anti aging products contain these botox and surgery alternatives.
So firstly, look for a product that has the anti-oxidants needed to fight sun damage. These include reservatrol, idabenone, matrixyl, alpha lipoic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, and the list goes on.
Second look for something containing DMAE which has been shown to give an actual "lift " to the skin.
And lastly look for something that contains the new synthetic peptides such as Argeriline and Snap-8. Please be aware these products tend to be expensive.
Whats in a percentage?
Theres a lot of talk about percentage of certain ingredients and their effectiveness. Particularly Argireline, Matrixyl-3000 and Snap-8. Synthetic peptides that treat skin wrinkles.
Argeriline and Snap-8 are generally reccommended to be at a level of 5-10% and higher percentages do not necessarily work better. Matrixyl is reccommended at 3-5%.
Moisturization is key as well. Look for a product with hyaluronic acid for deep moisture. Anti-oxidant containing moisturizers are also usefull, such as Grapeseed Oil.
Please see my website for more usefull skin care information
Dr Rachel
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