So, you’re in your 20’s – a young grasshopper, you have so much to learn. By this time,you would have learned to cook for yourself, and to be a happy, well-adjusted individual.
That’s not all you’ll make a lot of mistakes during this decade too, but the lessons learned will outweigh the growing pains. In the interest of making your journey a little bit easier, especially about your skin care, we’re sharing seven good reasons of why you need a dermatologist in your 20’s.
How Your Skin Looks In Your 20’s
Skin is a living organ and undergoes notable changes during a person’s lifetime. When you’re in your early twenties, the skin is like those of your teenage years.
The hormonal changes bring dramatic effects on your skin, particularly on the face, shoulders, chest, and back. Disturbances in the corneocyte shedding and increased sebum production can lead to your skin becoming oily and acne prone. This problem disappears in your late twenties. Although for some women acne can go on into middle age and beyond.
From around the age of 25, your first signs of aging may usually appear in the form of fine lines. Your genetics, lifestyle, and environment will determine the stage at which your epidermis and dermis start to thin out. When your skin starts to thin its natural protection against UV and barrier function starts to reduce gradually. Your collagen mass and flexibility also reduce at the rate of 1% per year.
Importance of Seeing a Dermatologist
Seeing a dermatologist can be beneficial for many reasons. Your dermatologist can help you understand how your skin is aging.She directs you to the perfect ingredients, products, and procedures to keep your skin looking and feeling its healthiest for years to come.
If you have a history of skin problems or other chronic conditions that affect your skin health, then it becomes important to see your dermatologist regularly. If you have risk factors for skin cancer, such as a high degree of sun exposure, a visit to a dermatologist is essential.
A dermatologist performs screenings and tests that can diagnose any problems and recommend treatment that maximizes your skin health.
Reasons To See Your Dermatologist
Build Smart Skincare Routine. Your dermatologist is the best possible person to determine your skin type. Your skin type may be dry, oily, combination, sensitive or normal. Knowing your skin nature is the cornerstone to building a successful skincare routine.
If you have a normal or combination skin your dermatologist may advise you to try a gentle soap or cleanser. If you have dry skin, you will becounseled to go in for agentle cleanser that doesn’t have alcohol or fragrance. Using an oil-free foaming cleanser will be your doctor’s advice if you have oily skin. For sensitive skin, you may be advised to look for calming ingredients like aloe, green teapolyphenols, chamomile and oats to name a few.
You may think you are too young to moisturize or your skin is oily, but all skin needs moisture says, top dermatologists. If you have acne or oily skin, find a moisturizer that is lightweight and oil free. If you apply moisturizer before you sleep, you wake up with more hydrated and plump skin, which means fine lines are less noticeable the next day.
Apart from these simple tips, your dermatologist can advise you about some expert stuff such as“double cleansing,” “Vampire facials” and “cool sculpting” to name a few.
Stop Acne Breakouts. Do you know that there are different types of acne? Dr. Cynthia Bailey, a board-certified dermatologist, says there are different kinds of acne and they all have different “right” products. If you pick the right products, your acne gets better using the wrong ones will make it worse.
Her advice for skin care routine is:
- Cleanse
- Correct
- Hydrate
- Protect
Harsh acne products lead to the use ofoilymoisturizers to soothe skin irritation which worsens your acne. You need to avoid pore-clogging ingredients like oils in all the beauty brands that you apply to your acne prone skin, including makeup and sunscreens.
Your dermatologist is the right person to prescribe regularstrengthcreams or even stronger versions of the medications as you’ve gotten used to them.
The dermatologist can give you an emergency cortisone shot to shrink your particularly bad zits. Or she can advise you a gel-like Aczone which acts as a medicated mattifying skin primer. Depending upon your acne condition, your doctor suggests pore purifying series of laser treatments like Isolaz.
Sketch Out Your Anti-Aging Game Plan. Because your skin is unique, it can be relatively hard to scrutinize its exact condition. Your first lines or wrinkles appear when you’re in your late 20’s and early 30’s. You know that you’re showing signs of aging and you want a trusted source to translate it to you. Your dermatologist could advise about some pre-emptive measures like collagen boosting, or resurface Fraxel treatments.
She could tailor a long-term game plan such as microdermabrasion, regular peels, and retinoids. Depending upon the degree of signs of aging on your skin your dermatologist may advise treatments such as Cellifique where the injectable collagen fills your fine lines in a natural looking way.
If you want to lighten spots your doctor may advise you about tattoo-removing lasers to reduce your hyperpigmentation. If you want to abolish eye bags, your dermatologist may use a molecule called XAF5 traditionally used in glaucoma drugs.
When you apply it as an ointment XAF5 binds to your fat cells under your skin and slowly makes them release fatty acids. This action makes the fat cells deflate like balloonslosing air. To shrink your eye bags, you must use it for three months every night. These are some of the latest treatments for anti-aging.
Your dermatologist may advise these treatments or just brief you up about simple antiaging tips. “There’s a fine line between anti-aging and looking older than your age; I actually talk a lot of girls out of doing stuff early,” says New York dermatologist Dendy Engelman to Vogue “Just because you see everyone else doing it, doesn’t mean you need it. I’ll back them up and say, ‘Let’s talk about products; let’s talk about eye cream.’ ”
Boosting Your Hair Growth. As you age, your overall hair density changes and individual hair strands become finer. Just because thinning is natural, doesn’t mean you must accept it. Your dermatologist may advise you to enhance your diet with protein, iron, zinc and vitamin B12. Include lean meats, leafy greens, beans, nuts, and fish.
Your doctor may advise you to massage your hair, reduce the use of hair dryers and irons, and use Minoxidil an FDA approved ingredient where it enhances the size of your follicles so that it produces bigger strands of hair.
Sometimes a supplement like Viviscal is all that you need to boost your hair growth. Your doctor may decide the laser treatments that reduce the inflammation in your follicles that inhibits them from regenerating.
Some women may be genetically predisposed to female pattern hair loss and birth control pills may suppress the overproduction of male hormones. If your dermatologistsrecommend hormone therapy, it may reduce hair loss. If you suffer from inflammatory scalp disease, your doctor may inject cortisone directly into your scalp.
The cortisone blocks the hormonal activity that induces hair thinning. Hair loss may also be a symptom of something else that’s going on with your body. If your hair loss is sudden or excessive talk with your doctor about other possibilities such as hormone and thyroid irregularities, lupus and anemia.
Develop a Sunscreen Strategy. From a dermatologist’s point of view, sunscreen is non-negotiable because UV rays present in the sunlight is the most common environmental carcinogen.Sunscreen protects you from skin cancer. According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, people who wear sunscreen have 24 percent reduced signs of aging than those who don’t.
A dermatologist will underscore the importance of using a good daily sunscreen SPF 30 plus with broad spectrum protection. Regular visits pave the way to scan for any existing sun damage such as skin cancers which can surface as early as twenty years.
Ellen Marmur, a dermatologist in New York City and apre-melanomasurvivor, says to Vogue “I do a lot of skin-cancer surgeries on the topof the eyebrows, between the eyes, and around the nostrils, so I’m careful to cover those spots,”
A skin doctor may advise you to use mineral sunscreens which are gentler than the chemicalonesif you have sensitive skin or rosacea. For lasting protection,you can use Colorescience Loose Mineral Foundation SPF 20 Powder Brush for touch-ups over makeup. This product contains iron oxide, and according to a recent study on sunscreens with iron oxides prevent melasma better than formulas without them.
Top dermatologists advise you to use atinted formula such as Chanel Vitalumière Moisture-Rich Radiance Sunscreen Fluid Makeup Broad Spectrum SPF 15 every morning and to reapply it over your makeup before going outside throughout the day.
Another top advice from skin care experts is that you layer sunscreen over an antioxidant serum or cream. It’s the key for neutralizing free radicals from pollution, sunlight, and even heat can slip through sunscreen, damageyour collagen and start pigment production in your skin.
You Have Red Skin Freak-Outs. The inflammation causes the redness in your skin. Your blood vessels become temporarily enlarged and send fluid to the area of irritation. Skin redness is so broad because there are many sources of inflammation, including heat, injury, emotion, allergies, spicy food, exercise, reaction and the immune system. Your red skin freak-out may be due to
- Rosacea- It looks like sunburn that refuses to heal
- Acne rosacea- the prominent trait of this condition is diffused redness with small red pimples clustered at the center of your face.
- Psoriasis- you’ll see defined areas of flaky skin with underlying redness on your knees, elbows, and scalp.
- Eczema- it’s a chronic rash condition where your skin does not have clear, defined borders andlooks like raised red skin that itches, blisters, and bleeds.
- Contact dermatitis- it occurs when your skin is in contact with the allergen.
- Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation- your skin develops pink or red spots of flat discoloration.
- Sun allergy- After your time in the sun you develop a red bumpy rash
If you suffer from red irritated and inflamed skin,you may try to stop any products that may be the source of your irritation, such as those with glycolic acid and retinol. If your skin is still red, try a non-foaming cleanser and tepid water to wash your skin.
The Hollywood derma,Dr. Harold Lancerin his interview to ENewsadvises layering your skin with organic olive oil or grapeseed oil with your usual moisturizer until your skin is rebalanced. If treating your skin with hydration and gentle cleansers don’t ease the irritation, then it’s time to turn to a derm. He or she may diagnose allergies or fungal infection as the root of the problem.
If you suffer from dry, flaky skin exfoliation is the best way of treating it.Go in for an exfoliator made with evenly-sized fine grains. These are less likely to create tiny tears in the upper layers of your skin.
The week-long rule still applies here too. If after a week you experience dry, flaky skin, book an appointment with your MD. Your flaky skin may be indicative of a dietary deficiency that must be addressed both internally and externally. Your doctor may do a blood test that can give a full view of nutritional ranges and help find the cause of flaking skin.
Stretch Marks. You may suffer from stretch marks in your twenties because of pregnancy, obesity and short-term weight gain from body building and other physical activities. You may get stretch marks when the dermis the middle layer of your skin, is stretched more than it can tolerate. The connective fibers in your skin eventually break disrupting collagen production and causing scarring.
For removing your stretch marks your dermatologist may advise you about the Laser Stretch Mark Removal procedure. The high-energy ultraviolet laser disrupts the molecular bonds in your skin tissue, which causes the tissue to disintegrate. Once the process is over,the treated area will heal quickly, and new layers of healthy skin will form.
If you want permanent and complete stretch mark removal, your doctor may advise you to remove your stretch marks surgically. If you’re concerned, there are a variety of non-surgical options such as chemical peels, microdermabrasion, and Blue light therapy.
Conclusion
Do your research and find the right dermatologist for you. Take some photos of your skin before your visit to the derma. Avoid putting makeup before your visit. Ask for some trial sizes of samples of moisturizers or other skin creams before getting full sizes.
If you’ve tried a treatment and it doesn’t work tell your dermatologist all about it. Beopen, be honest and don’t get talked into a treatment option that you’re not down with. Don’t have unrealistic expectations. Chances are you might have to wait upto a month to see if the treatment is working for you. But your patience will be rewarded in the form of soft, smooth and glowing silk-like skin.
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