In the current COVID-19 situation, people might think that there is no need to pay attention to stay at home skin care, since staying home is the safest environment for the skin. Whilst it’s true that the home environment is generally a lot more conducive than the outdoor environment for skin, such as avoiding onslaughts from the sun’s ultraviolet, there may be some lesser-known “dangers” to your skin while staying home. In this article, we seek to explore these lesser known stay at home skin care “dangers” and some tips to keep them at bay.
Stay At Home Skin Care “Dangers”
First of all, when indoors and leaving the air conditioning turned on all the time, you may not be paying attention to the ambient humidity. The combination of a dry environment caused by the air conditioner as well as the fact that it is a lot cooler than our usual climate, can increase a phenomenon known as transepidermal water loss. This essentially refers to evaporation of our skin’s innate moisture levels to the environment and this can cause a bit of dry skin in individuals who otherwise have normal skin. For people who are prone to dry sensitive skin, this constant indoor air condition environment may be severe enough to trigger an attack or flare up of eczema.
The other thing in the entire context of us staying home all the time, would be there is definitely less physical activity than if we went about our daily activities. This is especially so for people who are dependant on domestic help, for example, then they may be extremely sedentary during this stay home period and lack of exercise is not good for the skin as it is for the human body as a whole. The skin, like any organ, relies on perfusion or circulation and blood flow to deliver nutrients to it, and even more so, being the largest organ in the human body.
Furthermore, if you are gaining a lot of weight without exercise, that is detrimental to your skin in the long run because fats cells secrete testosterone. Testosterone is the male hormone that causes people to be more prone to acne and greasy skin. Finally, if you are always looking to snacking when you are at home, do bear in mind that if you are eating a lot of deep fried snacks like potato chips or sweets like chocolates and dairy, all these can increase your risk of inflammatory skin conditions, in particular conditions such as adult acne.
Stay At Home Skin Care Tips
The situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and us having to spend a lot of time at home, is a good opportunity for us to pay attention to what is first of all essential, efficient and sustainable, rather than “oh you know I got more time now I’m just going to add on a million and one things to my stay at home skin care regime”. It could be very opportunistic for beauty brands to advise anything otherwise. Therefore, from a dermatologist’s perspective, my advise doesn’t change whether it is in the time of a pandemic or in an ordinary day.
The basic principles are if you are suffering from a skin condition, please get it treated by an accredited dermatologist, rather than going around trying all sorts of different products or googling to see on beauty forums what people use or DIY methods. This is because none of these will work if you truly have a persistent skin problem, that is, anything lasting more than 2-3 weeks and is recurrent or chronic.
If you don’t get that out of the way, no matter how wonderful your skincare regime is, you’re not going to see results. In fact, it would be a blind process trying to encourage somebody to do a stay at home skin care regime, just because they are spending more time at home.
If you have healthy skin or say you are experiencing a little bit of ageing and want to optimise what you do for your skin, it is a good time for people to realise that facials, medispas and even what we consider therapeutic treatments such as cosmetic lasers or HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) technology for aesthetic purposes, are not essential services. In a time such as now, these aesthetic services will not be available and are therefore not sustainable.
On the note of sustainability, it is important to see that whatever is science based and is a topical will fare better as stay at home skin care. If you are able to apply the topical yourself, the good news is that you are in full control of it and you do not need anyone else to apply it for you. Nonetheless, it is important to be a voice of discernment in this case so we hopefully can help people on this topic of science-based topicals, or cosmeceuticals.
Cosmeceuticals are cosmetics infused with pharmaceutically bioactive ingredients. There is currently limited regulatory control on cosmeceuticals, so it is important to do your brand and ingredient list research. As a general rule of thumb, we would recommend including plant antioxidants, so look out for an ingredient such as centella or portulaca oleracea which is something that we have included in all of our antioxidant skincare formulations.
In addition, we recommend as basics for stay at home skin care, the use of a stabilised vitamin C serum and a ceramide-based moisturiser. Stabilised vitamin C, such as sodium ascorbyl phosphate, is effective in conferring would healing benefits to skin even at concentrations of 5% or less. This is whilst avoiding the pitfall of skin irritation as with raw un-stabilised ascorbic acid, which is often formulated in higher concentrations at >10% to counter the ease of degradation in atmospheric oxygen. Ceramides, on the other hand, are like to the skin, the cement used to stick brick walls together, and help maintain healthy skin barrier function to regulate water loss which any good moisturiser should.
There is no point in using just serums blindly in a stay at home skin care routine, because at some point in time you do need a cream. This is so even if your skin is very greasy and the key thing is to avoid occlusive creams like paraffin and vaseline. Instead, go for a moisturising cream well formulated with ceramides, which will be helpful even if you have greasy skin. In fact, to treat the greasiness on skin, moisturisers play an important role to target the underlying seborrhea, often a form of reactive seborrhea whereby the skin produces even more oil because of stripping away of its natural oils.
Conversely, with a good moisturiser that hydrates the skin, the skin would gradually learn to produce less oil and become less greasy. For intense hydration and oil control on greasy skin, a well formulated Hyaluronic Acid serum in the range of 1% concentration is essential and would prove essential in stay at home skin care. Do note most commercial brands have concentrations of hyaluronic acid much lower.
A good cleanser also plays an important part in any stay at home skin care routine. If you are wearing makeup, makeup removal is done either with a micellar formulation or an oil based emulsion which essentially both function to dissolve pigments, and the same with mascara, eye makeup and lipstick. However, when staying at home and not really putting on makeup, the second layer in cleansing the skin is probably more important and it may be worth looking closely into the function of your cleanser’s ingredients.
In our practice, we recommend a Honey Cleanser. Honey is naturally anti-bacterial and the cleanser further contains an Arnica Montana flower extract that soothes and calms the skin. The cleanser is also gentle on the skin, and avoids the use of skin-drying surfactants such as sodium laureth sulphate which strips away the skin’s natural oils.
We can’t emphasise enough the importance of using a good cleanser and cleansing regularly. Even if you’re not outdoors, don’t get exposed to pollutants or don’t sweat, know that your body naturally produces some oil. This is the case even if you think your skin is very dry, and excess oil on the skin surface contacts and oxidises with particulates in your house environment, which is how clogged pores are formed.
There could also be lots of indoor pollutants and the indoor environment may not actually be necessarily much better than the outdoors.Very limited studies have been done with indoor pollutants like benzenes, volatile agents, formaldehyde emitted from your furniture, paintwork etc and how these affect the skin. Nonetheless, it is postulated that these will generate some form of free radical formation on the surface of your skin, which contributes to skin ageing. Keeping your skin clean and moisturised is no doubt an important part of cosmeceuticals in a stay at home skin care routine.
Acne occurs when the oil glands under the skin, scientifically known as sebaceous glands, become clogged with sebum, an oily substance. This process is known as inflammation, and it is often genetically determined. Hence, if you have a family history of acne, you are at high risk.
A normal amount of sebum usually keeps the skin healthy. Your oil glands become active once you reach adolescence due to hormones and this is when acne usually starts. When clogged, bacteria grows in the glands. This leads to swelling, bumps and visible blackheads and whiteheads on the skin’s surface.
Acne can still affect adults. In fact, many adult females suffer from acne breakouts around the chin, especially during certain times of their menstrual cycle. This should be differentiated from other conditions such as perioral dermatitis, which may look similar but is treated differently.
Under proper dermatologist care, acne can be fully treated with the correct medications, creams and light treatments. For patients who prefer not to be on oral medications, some forms of laser therapies are safe and effective acne treatment methods too. Blue light, a type of light therapy is designed to treat acne when it is active by killing Propionebacterium Acnes on the skin, which causes acne inflammation. Non ablative and ablative resurfacing lasers can treat subsequent acne scarring after it subsides.
In addition to treatment, prevention against future acne breakouts are also crucial. Diet and proper skincare are also important factors in contributing to one’s acne condition. Therefore, holistic counselling with specific advice about how to manage your condition is important.
For mild to moderate acne, you may consider over the counter dermatologist formulated cosmeceuticals such as the Anti-Acne Bundle here.
2. Use hair regrowth products
Originally prescribed only in my dermatologist practice, the Copper Peptide Hair Regrowth Serum uniquely contains Copper tripeptide, a novel molecule that stimulates hair growth. Clinically proven to have similar efficacy to that of 5% minoxidil, stimulating growth without irritation side effects or toxicity. Studies show collagen production is increased, strengthening existing hair and thickening the hair shaft.
In conjunction with the hair serum, one can consider cosmetic camouflage for a quick fix. I often recommend the Kerabuilt Follicle Hair Fibres, integrated with Biomimetic Hair Technology for natural-looking, instant results. In addition, it is chemical-free and hypoallergenic, recommended even for those with hair loss and sensitive scalps.
In my dermatology practice, almost all patients suffering from hair loss had also done their due research online about possible causes of hair loss before seeing me. The real problem though, medical websites are not written for the layperson and the lists of diagnoses of conditions that lead to hair loss simply leave the hair loss sufferer worried and fearful. Those that do their research on forums and beauty websites are none the wiser, as they suggest many non-evidenced backed methods of hair growth or causes of hair loss which is simply unscientific and wrong information.
There are many different causes of hair loss, which can occur at the same time or individually, and dermatologists are best positioned conduct a thorough history taking, medical evaluation/examination and may recommend blood tests and other tests before diagnosing the cause of hair loss. For some rare causes of hair loss, especially of what is termed scarring alopecia, a scalp biopsy, which is where samples of the scalp are taken for microscopic examination may be required.
3. Consult a dermatologist for scarring on the skin
Treatment of scars on one’s skin can be in the form of chemical peels or lasers, which can be both ablative and non-ablative. Your dermatologist will advise which treatment option is best suited for your skin. In the meantime, a good concealer consists of a colour corrector. Orange is well suited to conceal dark scars and pigmentation whereas green conceals redness. Follow up with a CC cream with cosmeceutical active ingredients to treat and conceal your blemishes at the same time – achieving an overall even complexion.
Have you noticed that some parts of your skin are dry while other parts are oily? This is known as combination skin. Combination skin is characterized by an oily T-zone while the cheeks are either normal or dry. How to tell if you have combination skin? Wash your face with your normal cleanser, then wait an hour. If your T-zone is oily whereas your cheeks are either normal or dry, you have combination skin.
Combination skin is thought to be one of the most common skin types. When it comes to skincare routines, hydrating creams are too hydrating, oil-absorbing masks are too absorbing, balancing lotions never seem to do much balancing… It can be tricky to figure out how to care for your skin properly.
Dr. Teo Wan Lin is an accredited dermatologist and an expert on cosmeceutical skincare research and development. She is the author of “Skincare Bible – Dermatologist’s Tips for Cosmeceutical Skincare” which was published July 2019 by leading bookstores Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor and Apple Books and available in bookstores islandwide from January 2020. She heads up Dr.TWL Dermaceuticals, a specialist cosmeceutical skincare line with evidence-based active ingredients for anti-ageing and skin health. Its subsidiaries, the Pi- Cosmeceutical Custom Makeup Lab and the Conscious Mask Bar are part of the Conscious Concept Pharmacy launched in December featuring environmentally sustainable makeup and skincare materials. In this series “Dermatologist Talks” she shares her top tips on common skincare topics. In this article, she tells us the science behind combination skin – skin that is both dry and oily.
Skin that is both dry and oily boils down to an underlying pathology of the skin which is much more common in acne-prone individuals is known as seborrhea, which is overactivity of the oil gland. It is part of the causes of teenage and adult acne. Even when you have seborrhea, it is possible for you to have a deficiency in the ceramide content of your skin barrier leading to dry skin.
The production of ceramide is genetically determined. You could have inherited both the genes for oily skin as well as dry skin. The commoner scenario we see would be someone with acne and oily skin who started using over the counter medication such as those that contain retinol or benzoyl peroxide and these will break down the skin barrier and it can result in the skin being dry, sensitive and acne-prone.
Individuals with combination skin often have breakouts over the greasy T-zone area. This can be exacerbated, in the case of some women, especially during the time of their monthly menstrual cycles. On the other hand, their cheek areas can be very dry and when they travel, especially when there is a change in climate, these areas can become dry, flaky and sensitive especially if they are using skincare that is slightly harsher on their skin.
The recommended skincare routine for combination skin should address both the oiliness of the T-zone, which can sometimes get quite uncomfortable especially in a humid climate like Singapore, as well as the potential dryness that may occur over the cheek areas. An important thing to note would be a gentle emulsifying cleanser is recommended for combination skin such as the Honey Cleanser.
Honey itself is a natural emulsifier which means it produces foam without the need for strong chemical lathering agents such as the laureth sulfates. At the same time, it is a natural humectant which means that it traps moisture under the skin. As a result, it helps to balance out the production of sebum without over-stripping the skin of its natural oils.
Individuals with combination skin should focus on using hydrating serums such as Hyaluronic Acid Serum, Vitamin C Serum and Elixir-V Serum as these contain cosmeceutical active ingredients which function as treatment over their T-zone to regulate oil production.
Also, use hydrating emulsions rather than creams, the former is an oil in water mixture rather than a pure cream formula. This helps to moisturize the skin without the cream becoming too thick or greasy. Finally, the excess grease over the T-zone can be addressed with the use of blotting papers (such as those infused with active ingredients like cannabis sativa). These blotting papers are infused with cannabis sativa, an extract of the hemp plant which helps to moisturize the skin and regulate oil production, at the same time physically removing excess grease over the T-zone. One should follow with a hydrating mist such as the Mineral Booster which helps to regulate the skin barrier.
WHY YOU SHOULD APPLY YOUR SKINCARE PRODUCTS WITH YOUR RING FINGER
How we apply our skincare is very important. Have you ever wondered why most skincare brands recommend in their product directions to use the ring finger and not any other fingers in applying and gently massaging the product unto your skin especially when it involves the eye area? That is because out of our 5 fingers, our ring finger is said to have the weakest touch. The manner on how you massage your face while cleansing it and how you apply your skincare and makeup products, even just simply scratching it or wiping it can add up to protecting the quality of your skin.
Our skin is very delicate and we want to avoid excessively tugging it whenever we apply our skincare or makeup products because this can cause our skin to show early signs of ageing. Applying with our ring finger gives an equal amount of pressure when applying products. You can easily cause wrinkles with too much pressure, and our ring finger is recommended for the least amount of pressure and pull.
Most especially when it comes to applying eye creams, using our ring finger is the best. The skin around our eyes is the most delicate among the rest, and it is most commonly the first to show the earliest sign of ageing. Mishandling of the skin around our eyes like aggressive removal of eye makeup and heavily dragging eye care products and any other skincare product unto our skin can cause eye wrinkles, crow’s feet, and other skin irritations.
That being said, no matter how the ring finger is said to be the lightest, we still have to be mindful whenever we use it to come into contact with our skin. Same with any other finger. Always work your serums, eye creams, and any other product into your skin using light, tapping motions making sure to avoid rubbing and tugging. No matter how expensive your skincare product is, the manner on how you apply it will tell how to get the most out of it.
HOW TO APPLY YOUR SKINCARE- EYE CREAM
Ever looked in the mirror and thought “My eye wrinkles are becoming more obvious each day”?
The Elixir-V™ Eyes is an eye cream that is meant to prevent dark eye circles, excessive puffiness of the eyes and eye wrinkles. Like the Elixir-V serum, it contains potent oligopeptides used for lifting and repair and our signature Larecea™ extract for regeneration. An additional ingredient is niacinamide, used for brightening. While the Elixir-V serum is meant for the skin, the Elixir-V Eyes is focused on protecting the beauty of your eyes. We believe that your eyes are the most noticeable and beautiful parts of your face. Hence, it is meant to anti-age the sensitive skin around your eyes.
