http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-things-you-should-never-do-to-your-skin.html
10 Things You Should Never Do to Your Skin
By Dr. Herbert P. Goodheart, Intent.com
Your skin is your protector that meets and greets your external world. As your body’s largest organ, the skin serves as a waterproof covering that helps keep out foreign invaders and protects against temperature changes and sunlight. Your skin is tough and it can take a lot of punishment, but some things can make it look bad and weaken it. The following are ten actions that are harmful to your skin.
1. Picking, Popping, or Squeezing
REMEMBER: Popping zits doesn’t make things better; in fact, it often makes things worse. I realize that it’s tempting to think that squeezing them will help them heal more quickly — especially the swollen, red goobers filled with stuff! But scrunching these guys only pushes the inflamed gunk deeper and wider into the skin and that’s what most often results in scars. So, lay off the lumps! Having said all that, I realize that it’s hard to resist a squeeze or two here and there, but only do so when dealing with blackheads and whiteheads.
TIP: If you’re a do-it-yourselfer or plan to become a dermatologist or a cosmetologist, you can buy your own comedo extractor at a medical supply company. Better yet, see a dermatologist or go for a facial to have your blackheads and whiteheads extracted professionally.
2. Pre-tanning at a Salon
Pre-tanning at a tanning salon to get ready for the intense sun at the beach isn’t the great idea that it’s been cut out to be. In fact, whether you acquire a tan quickly or slowly, you still damage your skin. Just like the sun, artificial tanning equipment beds and sun lamps emit UV rays that can cause burns, premature aging, and skin cancers, especially if you’re a higher risk, fair-skinned person who produces less melanin.
3. Smoking
You’ve heard about the risks of smoking (like lung cancer, heart disease, and emphysema). But have you ever noticed that the skin of elderly smokers tends to have a yellowish coloration? Next to sun exposure, smoking is the highest factor in wrinkling. In other words, smoking makes you look older!
TECHNICAL STUFF: The nicotine in cigarette smoke also causes small blood vessels and capillaries of the skin to contract. This diminishing circulation deprives the skin of much essential oxygen it needs to create and maintain healthy skin cells.
There’s no controversy about this one — don’t smoke!
4. Taking Too Much Vitamin A
You may have heard that vitamin A helps cure acne. What you may not know is that if you take too much of it, vitamin A can accumulate in your liver to dangerous levels and cause serious health problems. It’s best to get your vitamin A in moderation, from whole foods. Good sources include leafy greens (like spinach and watercress) and orange veggies (like sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and carrots).
There are safer derivatives of vitamin A to treat your acne — topical retinoids and oral Accutane — that your healthcare provider can prescribe.
5. Traveling the Perilous Peel and Dermabrasion Route
If your complexion is dark, you may run the risk of having streaking, uneven pigmentation after chemical peel or dermabrasion procedures. Moreover, if you scar easily or tend to form keloids, you should probably consider these procedures as being potentially too risky.
TIP: Get a second or third opinion from practitioners experienced in these procedures on patients with your type of skin before embarking on something you might regret.
6. Treating Rosacea with Over-the-Counter Medications
Don’t try to combat your rosacea alone. You should discuss your rosacea skin-care with a dermatologist. People with rosacea tend to have red, inflamed, sensitive skin.
TIP: Consult with a dermatologist before experimenting with products.
7. Applying Topical Steroids to Your Face
Okay, if you have a mild rash or itch, you can go to your local store and buy the over-the-counter, low-strength cortisone cream or ointment to treat the symptoms for a few days or so. However, don’t make it a regular habit! Topical steroids can cause acne and potentially thin your skin after continuous use.
WARNING: You definitely should not use a potent prescription-strength topical steroid on your face unless instructed by your doctor or dermatologist. Steroid-induced rosacea and skin thinning are much more likely to occur with the high potency creams.
8. Shaving with Four-In-One Razor Blades
If you have acne, shaving bumps, or sensitive skin, four-in-one razors–those that guarantee the closest shave– aren’t for you. Ignore the ongoing battle between razor companies to see who can stick the most blades on a single disposable razor head. Besides costing an arm and a leg, incredibly sharp blades will wind up shaving closer than what is necessary and really irritate your skin!
TIP: Easy does it. Let your hairs grow a little and when you do shave use a single blade safety razor such as the Aveeno PFB Bump Fighter Razor.
9. Using Mystery Products
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.
Exercise caution — some of these drugs may have fraudulent claims, and others may even hurt you. Herbs can be as toxic and dangerous as prescription drugs. Look out for and avoid:
- “Secret” formulas (real scientists share what they know)
- Amazing breakthroughs or miracle cures (real breakthroughs don’t happen every day, and when they do, real scientists don’t call them “amazing” or “miracles”)
- Guaranteed cures
Let your healthcare provider or dermatologist know about any of these products you may be taking or are considering taking.
WARNING: There have been reports of severe toxic reactions, so you should be very cautious before trying anything that is untested.
10) Looking in the Mirror too Much
If you’re undergoing treatment for your acne, you should know that it won’t improve overnight and by examining it continuously, you just magnify any flaws — real or imagined. Finding those flaws can cause stress to both you and your face.
TIP: When you apply makeup, use a “soft focus” with your eyes and don’t take magnified close-up looks at your zits or comedones. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your skin will improve if you ignore it for a few days at a time while your medications have a chance to work!
Herbert P. Goodheart, M.D., of New York, NY, the author of Acne For Dummies, is a practicing dermatologist who also teaches at the Mount Sinai College of Medicine. He is the author of a highly regarded dermatology textbook Goodheart’s Photoguide to Common Skin Disorders: Diagnosis and Management, which is in its third edition.
For more information please visit http://herbertgoodheart.com/
Intent.com provides content and community for who you aspire to be–personally, socially and globally.
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add your comment »My wife and I began a healthier lifestyle to combat the affects of aging. Eating healthier(organic), more exercise and more awareness of what we put on/in our bodies. The chemicals/ingredients in lotions and oils are absorbed directly into your body. We couldn't live like this so we started our own line of all natural skin care products. Our first is E Essential 24 Best Skin Oil. It is a blend of natural & "essential" oils that help repair and nourish dry damaged skin. www.bestskinoil.com
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I have an interesting tid-bit to add here. If you have fair/sensative skin be careful what products you try. I tried an over-the-counter product that wound up giving me ring worm (a rash) on my face!
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as i said before: bundled up for winter sitting with my face to the sun is what i'll be doing come snow and blow. 80% of your body might be the best, but i don't think i'll sit out back with 80% bare much longer! i know that exposing my face will be better than nothing at all. 'they' use ultraviolet lights to sit in front of for lifting depressions, obviously some good will come of 10 minutes a day of sunshine on the face. even if all it does it put a smile on my face... i'll be benefiting.
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I love the last one
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Ireena is totally right about not touching your face. Your hands are the dirtiest parts of your body, and you don't want that junk on your face, especially if you have acne. That being said, in my experience anyway, people tend to be their own worst critics about their appearance. You probably are more bothered by your acne than anyone else.
Also, about the UV "controversy"...The only good reason to soak up any sun rays is for vitamin D production. But 15 minutes a day in the sun is all you need. Any more than that and you're getting sun damaged. Especially if your skin is fair.
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I didn't mean to be anonymous. My name is Randy. You need to read up on the benefits of sunlight and artificial sunlight. Dermatologists have done more damage and created more cases of cancer and other deadly conditions by advising people to stay out of the sun, tanning salons and slather themselves with sunscreen. Exposing your face is NOT enough. At least 80 percent of your body needs to be exposed to UVB and at greater times than is now timidly suggested in the mainstream media. But everything in moderation. Google it and here are some links:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9772.php
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/07/14/vitamin-d-book.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/05/does-too-much-sun-really-cause-melanoma.aspx
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/SkinCancer/7888
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/26/scientists-admit-sun-exposure-benefits-outweigh-risks.aspx
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To the anonymous commenter defending tanning salons: no, #2 is perfectly accurate. There is no benefit to paying to assault your skin with UV radiation - just premature aging and increased cancer risk.
As another commenter has pointed out, the amount of sun exposure necessary to supply the body with an adequate amount of vitamin D is actually fairly short. Anything beyond that is just damaging your skin unnecessarily.
Tanning salons are basically cancer factories, and I really hope we'll one day look back on them with the same degree of horror we now have for all the dubious radiation treatments that were popular as cure-alls in the 1950s but were later found to cause cancer.
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Morocco Method has a truly natural organic vegan cleanser/ scrub that gently exfoliates and doesn't strip natural oils from the skin. It dried up all my black heads after the first use!
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as far as UV and vitamin D go; i remember reading that 10 minutes a day without sunscreen - exposing as much of your body as you can - is sufficient/optimal for the vitamin D requirement.
i'm thinking that even sitting with a winter coat on 'exposing' your face to the sun [in the winter] will do wonders. at least, that's my plan.
does this mean a gentle 'scrub' with ground almonds or oatmeal is a bad thing? i find a homemade 'scrub' made with ground almonds or oatmeal, honey, and lemon feels so incredible once or twice a week.
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Item number 2. is false. UV light, whether from the sun or a safer tanning device, is actually good for the skin. UVB helps us produce vitamin D the way that nature intended using the largest organ, the skin. It helps prevent many types of deadly cancers such as skin, prostate, breast, colon and other diseases such as MS. Care2 needs to get with the program and become educated about the importance of UV light and basic health.
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