Tuesday, 30 April 2019
5 Nighttime Skin-Care Mistakes That Are Sabotaging Your Beauty Goals
Avoid making these common beauty missteps, and you’ll be on your way to maximizing the benefits of beauty sleep.
For all the assaults your skin takes during the day — from the sun, pollution, and makeup — the chance for your complexion to restore and renew while you sleep is important for maintaining youthful skin as the years go by. It pays off: Sleeping well has been associated with less skin aging compared with poor sleepers, and those who lacked shut-eye were more likely to have a compromised skin barrier (which keeps irritants out) and say they were less satisfied with their appearance, per a study published in January 2015 in the journal Clinical and Experimental Dermatology.
All that to say, beauty sleep is a real phenomenon, and you can help make the most of it by practicing good skin-care habits at night. “Your skin is in repair mode every night. Unlike the day, you’re not sweating off what’s on your skin, so products can be nicely absorbed,” says Deirdre Hooper, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at Audubon Dermatology in New Orleans and an associate clinical professor in the department of dermatology at Louisiana State University and Tulane University.
RELATED: 10 Things Your Skin Is Trying to Tell You — and How to Respond
But
don’t get in your own way by skipping critical anti-aging ingredients,
slathering on products meant for the daytime, or increasing your risk of
irritation. Here are the nighttime mistakes experts say could be
contributing to skin problems:
1. You’re Not Washing Your Face Before You Hit the Sheets
It’s been a long day, you’re dog-tired, and all you want to do is face-plant into your pillow. Please wash your face first. “I don’t think you need to wash your face in the morning, especially if your skin is sensitive or dry, but it’s an absolute must at night,” says Dr. Hooper. Washing removes the dirt and pollution that’s accumulated on skin throughout the day, something that can contribute to acne and accelerate the aging process, Hooper says. If washing at the sink is too big of an ask, then — at the bare minimum — keep micellar facial wipes on your bedside table and do a quick wipe-down in bed.2. You Gave Up on Your Retinoid Regimen to Fight Signs of Aging
If you go to the dermatologist in hopes of starting a routine to delay signs of aging, the doc will most likely advise using a retinoid or retinol. The vitamin A derivative revs collagen production to fight fine lines and wrinkles, according to according to Harvard Health Publishing. Thing is, retinoids also boost skin cell turnover, and they can leave you with irritation, past research has noted. That irritation may convince you that your complexion can’t tolerate them, causing you to stop completely. Not so fast!If you’re seeing a bit of peeling, redness, or your face stings when you wash it, back off for a night or two, advises Charisse Dolitsky, MD, a dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology Group practicing on Long Island, New York, and clinical assistant professor of dermatology at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York. Once your complexion calms, resume use. Always apply a small (pea-sized) amount.
While prescription retinoids are more powerful compared with those in over-the-counter anti-aging products, Dr. Dolitsky steers patients toward over-the-counter formulas to reduce the chance of irritation. Follow up with a moisturizer on top to improve hydration.
RELATED: The 10 Best Anti-Aging Ingredients for Younger-Looking Skin
3. You Forget to Apply Your Retinoid on a Regular Basis
Speaking of retinoids, it can be tough to use it consistently when you’re not using it every day. And just like exercise, consistency is key to results, Hooper says. In fact, Harvard points out that you’ll see the best anti-aging results after 12 months of using a retinoid.Hooper recommends applying your retinoid daily to the bridge of your nose and forehead, two places where most people can tolerate regular application. Over time, begin to apply on your cheeks and chin (avoid the area close to your eyes or mouth) twice a week. By reaching for a retinoid nightly, you’re less likely to forget.
4. You’re Relying on the Wrong Antioxidant at Night
Some antioxidants are best saved for the morning, most notably vitamin C, Hooper says. “These neutralize free radicals that assault skin all day,” she says. Free radicals are substances that attack and damage healthy cells, contributing to disease throughout the body, according to a review published in the journal Pharmacognosy Review.A good vitamin C serum can be pricey, so don’t waste your money by using it at night where your skin won’t get the most out of it. But if you’re going for a nighttime antioxidant, apply a serum containing resveratrol. (One to try: SkinCeuticals Resveratrol B E, available at DermStore.com.)
Resveratrol is inactivated by the sun and doesn’t do well in the morning, Hooper says. “If you have time [and the budget], applying multiple antioxidants is a good idea, as a variety offers more well-rounded protection. It’s like eating a variety of vegetables for a diverse array of nutrients,” she says.
RELATED: The Skin-Care Glossary Every Woman Needs to Have
5. You’re Scrubbing Your Skin Too Hard and Too Often
Just like you don’t want to be too hands-off with your nighttime habits, you don’t want to get too enthusiastic, either. Resist the urge to scrub or exfoliate routinely, especially if you’re already using a retinoid, says Dolitsky. For one, it’s redundant — a retinoid is already doing the work stimulating cell turnover. Combining a retinoid and scrub also increases the risk of an irritation flare-up. Once a week is likely safe for your skin, she says; any more often is overdoing it. All that’s left to do is wake up more beautiful tomorrow.Sunday, 28 April 2019
Skin Types & Skin colours
Fast facts
- Skin colour is primarily determined by genetic inheritance but exposure to sunlight also alters skin colour.
- There are six skin types, fair skin that always burn, dark skin that never burns and everything in between.
- Melanin is the pigment that determines skin colour as well as hair and eye colour.
- Melanin is produced by skin cells when they are exposed to the sun. The more sun exposure, the more melanin is produced.
- There are two types of melanin, eumelanin which gives skin a brown colour (tan) and pheomelanin which gives skin a red colour (burn).
- Regular sun exposure (e.g. every day) is associated with tanning. It increases eumelanin levels which gives skin a brownish tan and provides protection against the sun’s rays. This reduces the risk of burning and skin cancer with future sun exposure.
- Irregular sun exposure (e.g. only during holidays or weekends) is associated with burning. It increases pheomelanin levels and increases cancer risk.
- Exposure to artificial ultra-violet radiation from tanning beds has the same effect on skin colour and cancer risk as exposure to the sun’s ultra violet rays.
Skin Colour
Human skin comes in a wide variety of colours, ranging from shades of dark
brown to almost white. Although an individual’s skin colour is influenced by
numerous factors, the most significant is its content of a pigment called
melanin. Melanin is also the pigment responsible for determining hair and eye
colour.
Levels of melanin are primarily determined by genetics;
individuals born to fair skinned parents will inherit their parent’s fair skin,
as individuals born to dark skinned parents will inherit dark skin. The level
of inherited skin pigmentation is referred to as constitutive pigmentation. A
number of other factors determined at birth, for example the way a person’s
body produces hormones and the way these hormones signal the cells which
produce melanin, also influence skin colour. These factors inherited at birth,
which cannot be changed, are referred to as intrinsic factors.
Extrinsic factors, things outside the body, also influence skin colour and
provide acquired pigmentation. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the
sun is the most important extrinsic factor. The sun emits UVA and UVB rays and
the different types of UV rays have different effects on skin pigmentation.
Exposure to UVA rays produces immediate pigmentation by influencing melanin
which has already been produced and is waiting in the skin’s upper layers.
Pigmentation which occurs several days after sun exposure is a result of new
melanin being produced in response to UVB exposure. Other extrinsic factors
which influence skin pigmentation and colour include DNA damage (often induced
by UVB exposure) and age, as the way the body produces melanin changes as a
person ages.
Skin type
Skin type
is a classification based on the skin’s reaction to exposure to the sun’s UV
radiation, after a period of non-exposure (e.g. sun exposure at the beginning
of summer, when the skin has not been exposed during winter). The skin’s
reaction is measured in terms of burning and tanning.
The
Fitzpatrick system of classifying skin type is most commonly used in the
assessment of skin cancer risk. The Fitzpatrick skin types are:
 Melanin
Melanin is a pigment found in skin cells. There are two types of melanin
which have visibly different effects on skin pigmentation. Eumelanin produces
dark brown pigmentation and is the primary melanin type in individuals with
darkly pigmented skin. Because eumelanin is insoluble, its skin-darkening
(tanning) effects last a relatively long time, compared to the temporary skin-reddening
effect of pheomelanin which is soluble. Pheomelanin is a red-yellow coloured
pigment and the primary type of melanin in fair skinned individuals who are
prone to sunburn. Eumelanin offers better protection from the sun’s UV rays
compared to pheomelanin.
The melanin content of an individual’s skin is primarily determined by
genetics meaning that babies inherit their skin colour from their parents. In
particular a gene called plays a major role in determining an individual’s skin
pigmentation.
Melanin levels are also determined by behaviours which
influence exposure to the sun, because the body produces more melanin when it
is exposed to the sun. An individual who works outside in the sun everyday will
develop more darkly pigmented or tanned skin over time than they would if they
worked indoors all day.
Melanin plays a vital role in protecting the body from UV radiation because
it filters sunlight before it can damage skin cells. Sun exposure stimulates
the body to produce more melanin to protect its skin cells. Thus there is a
close association between skin colour and an individual’s place of origin (or
their ancestor’s place of origin). Individuals with darker skin originate from
areas with high levels of ultraviolet radiation, close to the equator.
Melanogenesis
Melanogenesis is the process through which cells called melanocytes produce
melanin. These cells develop in the neural tube of the foetus, then migrate to
the underlying layer of the skin (the basal layer) before birth. Melanocytes
also migrate to hair follicles and determine an individual’s hair colour. The
process of melanin production is influenced by hormones, immune and
inflammatory factors and brain signals.
Melanocytes interact with other skin cells called keratinocytes which are responsible
for storing melanin in cells called melanosomes. Each melanocyte interacts with
30-40 keratinocytes to which it transfers melanin for storage in the skin’s
layers until it is required for photo-protection (protecting the skin from UV
radiation).
In dark skinned individuals melanin is distributed throughout all the skin’s
layers. It is stored for longer periods of time. In lighter skinned individuals
melanin degradation occurs more quickly. The melanin which is produced is
stored mainly in the upper layer of skin (the squamous cells) with very little
melanin stored in the under layer of skin (the basal layer).
In determining skin colour, the number melanocytes of is not as important as
the type of melanin the cells produce. The number of melanin producing cells is
similar between people of different ethnic groups. Hyper-pigmentation (e.g. as
in darkening of the nipples during pregnancy) and hypo-pigmentation (as in
albinism) occur without change in the number of melanocytes.
It is the process of melanin production and the manner in which melanosomes
are transferred to and distributed within keratinocytes which changes skin
colour. The size and quantity of melanosomes, also determines skin colour.
Darkly pigmented skin is associated with larger and more prolific melanosomes.
They are elongated and the melanin they produce is stored in the keratinocytes
for longer than it is stored in the keratinocytes of fair skinned individuals.
In addition to melanin, other pigments including haemoglobin and carotene
also help determine skin colour.
HaemoglobinHaemoglobin is a red pigment running along blood vessels. It results in skin being redder in places where the blood vessels come closer to the surface, for example the lips.Carotene
Carotene is an orange/yellow pigment found in the skin as well as in yellow
and orange vegetables. Eating excessive quantities of vegetables like carrots
over a long period of time can change the skin colour. However it’s a rare
occurrence and won’t happen with normal fruit and vegetable intake. If you
notice your palms, face or the soles of your feet take on a yellow tinge, it’s
far more likely to be a result of liver problems than it is eating too many
carrots.
Excess amounts of carotene can result in accumulation in the skin,
concentrated in tissues containing fat, for example the skin yellowing
associated with jaundice from liver dysfunction.
Other skin pigment changesThe skin may also show abnormal colours such as:
Sun exposure and skin changes
Exposure to the ultraviolet radiation from the sun causes changes to the
skin colour. In the short term too much sun can result in what doctors called
erythema and most people refer to as sunburn. Artificial exposure to UV
radiation, for example from a tanning bed has a similar effect. In the longer
term UV exposure stimulates melanin production causing skin reddening to change
to darker, tanned skin within a few days. Other UV induced skin changes include
thickening of the outer layer of skin, freckles and moles and premature skin
ageing, characterised by reduced elasticity, increased dryness and wrinkles.
Immediate skin changes (immediate pigmentation), seen within 5-10 minutes of
sun exposure and lasting for minutes to several days, are induced by UVA
radiation. They occur not because of increased melanin production but due to
redistribution of melanin stored in keratinocytes in the upper layers of the
skin. Delayed pigmentation which occurs several days after exposure to sunlight
and has a longer duration (several weeks) is induced mainly by UVB radiation.
These changes occur due to increasing production of melanin, particularly
eumelanin.
Over long periods of time, chronic sun exposure increases melanin levels and
increased levels of eumelanin offer additional protection from the sun’s UV
radiation.
Sun exposure and cancer risk
Exposure to UV radiation from the sun and artificial sources like tanning
beds is a major risk factor for all types of skin cancer (melanoma, the rarest
but most deadly type, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma). The
duration and intensity of sun exposure influences the type of skin cancer.
Chronic sun exposure, for example being exposed to the sun everyday due to outdoor
work, influences the melanin content of the skin; over time skin darkens.
Chronic sun exposure does not appear to increase, and may offer protection from
melanoma.
Intermittent, acute sun exposure is the major risk factor for melanoma,
because over-exposure to sunlight causes cancerous DNA changes. Acute sun
exposure refers to exposure for short periods of time in an individual whose
skin is not usually exposed to the sun and is more likely to result in sunburn.
This type of sun exposure occurs in office workers who spend a weekend or
holiday at the beach.
Skin type influences the risk of cancer. Darker skin with more melanin is
less likely to burn and skin cancer is rarely seen in darkly pigmented
individuals, except on the non-pigmented skin of their bodies like the soles of
their feet and palms of their hands. Fair skinned patients are more susceptible
to the acute effects of sun exposure and have a relatively high risk of skin
cancer.
As skin cancer risk increases with cumulative lifetime exposure to UV
radiation, age is also a risk factor. Skin cancer is not however limited to the
adult population; 6% of all cancers in children are melanoma, which is the
second most common form of cancer in 15-29 year olds.
References
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