Dermatologist Responds To Skin Care Questions & Myths

SELF Magazine

The world of skin care and how to properly look after our skin can often be daunting and confusing. Today, dermatologist Angelo Landriscina, MD joins SELF to answer skin care questions and debunk some myths along the way.

Transcript

00:00Sunspots, dark spots, fine lines, wrinkles.

00:04If you want to stay snatched,

00:07you need to be doing something

00:08about your sun protective measures.

00:11♪♪

00:14Hello. I'm Dr. Angelo Landrocena,

00:17and I'm a board-certified dermatologist.

00:20Looking for medical information online

00:22could be unreliable or anxiety-provoking,

00:26so today I'm going to be answering

00:29some of the questions that might be

00:31getting under your skin.

00:32Can retinol be used on the body?

00:35The answer is absolutely.

00:37They could be used for some of the same concerns

00:39that you would use retinol on the face for.

00:41Some of the signs that go along with photoaging

00:44think discoloration, maybe rough, bumpy skin.

00:48In addition to that, there are prescription retinoids

00:51that are specifically indicated for use on the body.

00:54Usually those will be used for acne.

00:56The difference between a face retinol

00:58and a body retinol product

01:00is generally the concentration of retinol used.

01:03It's likely to be lower in a body retinol product

01:07just because you're covering a larger surface area.

01:10Also, the vehicle in which the retinol is dispersed

01:13is likely to be different.

01:15Our body skin tends to be quite thick and robust

01:20compared to facial skin,

01:21so it's going to need a different type of vehicle

01:23to have the best result.

01:25Can eating dairy products make you break out?

01:29The answer is kind of a big maybe.

01:31I think a lot of the interest in this topic

01:34has come from some of that standard classic advice

01:39that a lot of us got as teenagers.

01:41Oh, if you eat better, if you drink more water,

01:44if you do this or that, your skin will clear up.

01:46And I would like to say that in most cases,

01:49those people were wrong.

01:51A lot of this comes from an idea

01:53specifically about acne in general,

01:56that it is a personal failing

01:59that needs to be blamed on the person suffering with it

02:02when really it's a chronic inflammatory skin condition.

02:06It's a medical condition,

02:07and it should be taken seriously.

02:10Not only because it could cause physical scars,

02:13but also because we know that people with acne

02:17suffer higher rates of mental health disorders

02:21and even things like suicidal thoughts.

02:23There has been quite a bit of interest

02:26about the correlation between diet and acne

02:29within the dermatology community too.

02:31And there have been a lot of studies about it.

02:34There have been correlations

02:36between eating high amounts of dairy products,

02:39eating certain dairy products, and more severe acne.

02:43However, there's been a lot of variation

02:46and a lot of gaps in the data.

02:49So a lot of these studies can only be generalized

02:53to certain age groups or certain parts of the world,

02:57certain diets.

02:59Breaking it down in a nutshell,

03:01I do think that for some people,

03:03certain dairy products could cause a worsening of acne.

03:07However, I think it's a very unlikely

03:10that for most people that dairy products

03:13or other features of their diet

03:15could be giving them acne.

03:18I always say it's never too late to start,

03:20you know, start being consistent

03:22and really paying attention to what your skin needs.

03:24For most people, your skin's not gonna need that much.

03:27A basic skincare routine should consist of a cleanser,

03:31a moisturizer, and a sunscreen.

03:35Each of those is gonna play an important role

03:38in keeping the skin healthy.

03:39The cleanser, that's going to prep your skin,

03:42remove any debris from the day, remove makeup.

03:47If you're a makeup wearer,

03:49really just set you up with a clean canvas.

03:52The moisturizer to really aid your skin's barrier.

03:56One of the primary functions of our skin

03:59is to keep what's inside in and to keep what's outside out.

04:02And one of those substances

04:04that it's trying to keep in is water.

04:06So using a good moisturizer

04:08is going to help keep your skin hydrated,

04:10healthy, glowing,

04:12and then perhaps most importantly, sunscreen.

04:16UV exposure is the primary modifiable risk factor

04:21when it comes to skin cancer for most people.

04:25Using sun protective methods that include sunscreen,

04:29protective clothing, seeking shade,

04:32all of those things is gonna be really important

04:34for keeping your skin healthy.

04:36In addition to that, you know,

04:37I am in the business of appealing to people's vanity too.

04:41So it will keep you looking younger for longer.

04:43It's gonna prevent or help to treat

04:45some of those sunspots, dark spots, fine lines, wrinkles.

04:50It's also implicated in like the loss

04:53of firmness in the skin.

04:55So, you know, if you wanna stay snatched,

04:59you need to be doing something

05:00about your sun protective measures.

05:03When it comes to the basics between age groups,

05:06say 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, beyond,

05:10there's not really gonna be much of a difference

05:12in the product profile that you're gonna need

05:15in your basic skincare routine.

05:17However, there might be slight tweaks.

05:19For instance, as we get older,

05:23we do have differences in how dry our skin is.

05:26Skin tends to get drier as we age.

05:29So you may wanna go for a thicker moisturizer

05:32or a gentler cleanser than you would when you were younger.

05:36Once you have the basics of a skincare routine down,

05:40you could definitely look at adding more products

05:43based on what your specific concerns are.

05:47I'm a big proponent of what I call intentional skincare.

05:52So I always tell people, including my patients,

05:55don't just buy a new flashy product

05:58because it looks nice,

06:00or your friend told you it was great,

06:02or the marketing got you.

06:05Really look at your skin, take an inventory

06:08and see what about it you wanna address,

06:10whether it be something like dark spots,

06:13acne, fine lines.

06:15You're gonna wanna look for the product

06:17that will address your specific concerns.

06:21Oh, I love this question.

06:24Is there a difference between a sunscreen

06:28and a moisturizer with SPF?

06:30Not really.

06:31To me, most of it is marketing.

06:33A lot of the ingredient profile

06:35in the sunscreens that are out on the market

06:38and moisturizers are really similar.

06:41The only thing that I would caution people about

06:44is the fact that that SPF rating

06:47is based on using a certain amount of the product.

06:52So if you're using a pea size of that moisturizer with SPF,

06:56that's not enough.

06:56You're not going to be getting the SPF listed on the label.

07:00I know for most people,

07:02it's gonna be hard to have an exact science

07:04for knowing how much of each product to apply.

07:08So what I tell people for facial sunscreen

07:12is you could follow the,

07:13what we call the three finger rule,

07:15doing a line of sunscreen down each of your three fingers

07:21and that's how much you should apply

07:22for the face, neck and ears.

07:23If you wanna keep it simple,

07:25just use more than you think.

07:27It's really a lot more than people would think.

07:30And I really feel like most of the population

07:33is under applying sunscreen.

07:35Do collagen supplements actually work?

07:38You may see a whole slew of collagen pills,

07:41powders, shakes, et cetera, out there on the market.

07:45And a lot of experts would say

07:47that these aren't gonna do anything.

07:49Just based on logic, collagen is a protein,

07:54which means it is a long strand of different compounds.

08:00When we take protein into our gut,

08:02it gets digested by the acid in our stomach and by enzymes.

08:06So you would think that ingesting collagen

08:09wouldn't do anything, but there is some data out there

08:13showing that it actually may make a difference for skin.

08:16First, there are animal studies that do show

08:19that collagen induced orally does make it

08:23to the skin as collagen.

08:27We're not really sure if that happens in humans,

08:30but it does give us a little bit of hope.

08:34In addition to that, there have been some studies

08:36showing improvements in things like skin hydration

08:41for people who are on collagen supplements.

08:43Is it a gold standard treatment for anything?

08:48No, I definitely think we need more data

08:51before we could be really prescriptive

08:52with collagen supplements.

08:54But at the same time, it doesn't seem like it'll hurt.

08:58So when should you start Botox

09:00if it's something that you wanna pursue?

09:03I think it's hard to put an exact age on when to start.

09:07What Botox is is a neuromodulator.

09:11And what that means is that it cuts off

09:14some of the crosstalk between nerve and muscle

09:17and causes a temporary paresis in facial muscles.

09:22The reason you wanna do that

09:24is to prevent or treat expression lines.

09:27Those are lines that come up on the face

09:29from repetitive facial movements.

09:33Things like raising our eyebrows,

09:35grimacing, smiling with our eyes.

09:39For most people, I think it's okay to start Botox

09:43when you're starting to see those lines come up.

09:46If you're in your 20s and you have those lines already,

09:49you could be a good candidate

09:51if it's something that you want.

09:52If you're in your 60s and you don't have those lines,

09:56it may not be something that you need.

09:58There's been a lot of interest recently

10:01in preventative Botox.

10:03So using smaller doses in people who don't have lines yet

10:08in order to prevent them from coming up.

10:10When it comes to whether or not that's a valid approach,

10:15by logic, it would make sense that it would work.

10:19However, we have no scientific data

10:21showing that preventative Botox actually does anything.

10:25I hope this has been helpful.

10:28However, keep in mind, everybody's different.

10:30So make sure to check with your own doctor,

10:34who knows you, before making any changes.

10:37You can find me on all social media at Dermangelo.

10:42♪♪

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