My focus this month is on skin health and keeping the skin youthful. I wouldn’t be the professional that I am if I don’t start this off with the Natural Barrier Function. Yes, I hear you…” here she goes again” but there’s a very good reason I talk non-stop about this incredible function of the skin.

So let me start by asking you, why when you jump into a swimming pool does your body not flood with water???

Well, that would be because of the amazing ability of our skin to protect our entire body, our vital organs, bones, muscles, everything inside! Waterproofing is just one of the many, many functions our skin is designed to do. Pretty impressive for something that is just 0.5-1.5mm thick!!

Are those black dots on your nose really blackheads???

The quick answer is probably not.

A couple of nights ago I posted a photo on my Instagram of a client’s sebaceous filaments on her nose before and after extractions and asked whether people knew that these weren’t blackheads. I got an astounding response asking to know why they weren’t blackheads. This is a familiar confusion I get on a regular basis with clients wanting to “get rid of the blackheads” on their nose.

So let me tell you a little something about those ‘blackheads’ on your nose…they are not blackheads, they are in fact sebaceous filaments.

And here’s the difference:

As the weather is starting to change and the leaves falling from the trees, are you noticing changes within your skin too???

The temperature outside is becoming colder and our central heating is being switched on, this can have a big impact on our skin. The low humidity levels within our houses, the cooler temperatures outside and winds can really reduce our skins ability to hold on to the water levels within the skin. 

So over the past couple of months under lockdown, I have had a few people get in touch that are working either on the front line or in a place of work where they need to wear a face mask. The issue a lot of these people are getting is their skin is breaking out. Even if they aren’t prone to spots, some have never had a spot in their life but the constant wearing of these face masks are causing them to get consistent breakouts.

In my previous post, I discussed that the most common reason for dehydration was a compromised barrier function. So initially this is what we want to focus on and restore. Once the barrier has been restored the skin will be able to hold the moisture within the skin and prevent trans epidermal water loss (TEWL).

Most people will go straight to products containing Hyaluronic acid to solve dehydration but this alone will not be enough.

Dehydration is one of the most common conditions I see in my clinic. I would say 95% of new clients that come in to see me display varying degrees of dehydrated skin.

This condition can sometimes be confused with dry skin, but it is very different.

My last couple of blogs I have discussed the impact the sun can have on our skin and how important protecting with sunscreen really is. Today I am going to talk about how we can treat Photodamaged skin.

The treatments that we are looking at when treating this condition are treatments that are going to cause the skin to rejuvenate. So when I talk about rejuvenating treatments, you may be thinking, what are these?

My focus this week has been on the sun, we’ve had the most beautiful weather for a few weeks now, which is extremely out of character for the UK, so I thought it’s the perfect time address this subject. My previous post was on sunscreens and how we can protect our skin from the UV rays we get from the sun. This post is going to be all about one of the most common skin conditions that I see in my clinic and is a direct result of sun exposure, Photodamage or Photoageing.

This is a subject that, when discussed with my clients they always seem surprised and bewildered that I am telling them to wear sunscreen even in the winter months. Sun protection should not be limited to use on our sunshine holidays to solely prevent the short term effects in the form of sunburn. It is the long term exposure that causes gradual damage and accounts for about 90% of the skin’s signs of ageing and leads to a higher risk of skin cancers, including melanoma.