Waging War On Wrinkles
Simple skin care regimen with proven results for a more youthful appearance.
By Celeste Hilling
There are no miracles when it comes to helping skin look smoother and reducing the appearance of lines. The classic treatment for sun damage, one with fairly impressive, well-researched and substantiated results, also provides the essential elements to help maintain healthy, younger looking skin. Here are the basics:
A GENTLE CLEANSER CONTAINING AHA ACID.
Used twice a day won't change wrinkles, but keeping your skin clean, irritant-free, and pH balanced to help ready the skin for deep absorption of treatment and production products.
AHA EXFOLIATOR.
Pick an AHA-based product to exfoliate the top layer of the skin. For AHA, I recommend glycolic with a concentration of 8% to 10%. For BHA, which exfoliates the skin’s surface and inside the pores, I recommend salicylic acid, the only effective form of BHA, in a concentration of 0.5% to 2%. Both AHA and BHA require a pH of 3 to 4 to be effective to exfoliate the top layer of skin.
VITAMIN A.
Repair abnormal cell production and accelerate healthy cell turnover and collagen production back to some level of normalcy.
A SOOTHING, LIGHTWEIGHT MOISTURIZER.
Use over dry areas. Moisturizers help make skin look smoother, especially if it's dry, but use only the lightest texture and consistency that absorbs into skin. Newer generation hydrators can include advanced peptide technology to help improve cell turnover and response.
A GREAT, RELIABLE SUNSCREEN.
The only way to determine the quality of a sunscreen is to check the SPF number on the label (it must be SPF 15 or greater), and the active ingredient label to make sure it has UVA-blocking ingredients of either titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and/or avobenzone (also called Parsol 1789 or butylmethoxydibenzone), and, outside of the U.S., Mexoryl SX. This must be used every day for the rest of your life.
A SKIN-LIGHTENING PRODUCT.
For uneven complexion, dark or age spots, and acne scarring include at least 1% to 2% Hydroquinone (over the counter) or 4% or greater (available from physicians). Hydroquinone improves the appearance of brown discolorations by inhibiting melanin production. Look for glycolic or salycylic in the formulation, also beneficial to encourage cell turnover. Many plant extracts are hyped as effective for blocking melanin production; however, the research for these extracts has not been done on human skin but rather in vitro (a test tube or Petri dish), and that doesn't necessarily translate to effectiveness when used by humans.
Other so-called miracle anti-wrinkle products and ingredients are bogus, misleading, and completely without substantiation or proof for their claims. It's not that there aren't great skin-care products out there, there certainly are, but they won't permanently change wrinkles.
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