An Exfoliation Quick Tip for a Quick Pick-Me-Up

Exfoliating prior to a special occasion will have a twofold benefit for your skin.

• First, it will remove dead cells, making the surface smoother and helping your makeup go on better.
• It will also stimulate circulation, making your skin look luminous.

Don’t hesitate—exfoliate!

For a few more tips, see:

• Pick-Me-Ups for Glowing Skin
• Blemish Help Quick Tip

Retin-A—some basic info

What is Retin-A? 

Tretinoin is a synthetic derivative of vitamin A, related to a class of chemicals called retinoids. Most people are acquainted with the brand names Retin-A® and Renova®, so I will use these more familiar names when talking about tretinoin.

Retin-A helps dissolve the bonds connecting your skin cells together. This increases cell turnover and can help to unplug the pores. Because of this dissolving action, Retin-A will help make the skin feel smoother as well as counteract the formation of blemishes. In contrast, in many people it also causes mild to severe irritation that leads to peeling or flaking skin. Your skin may feel smooth, but it may also look red and scaly. Retin-A is basically an irritant, and your skin responds as such.

Many studies have been performed on the attributes and possible side effects of Retin-A, several touting its ability to stimulate collagen production. It is also said to encourage the development of new blood vessels. It is the blood that feeds and nourishes the skin, so if indeed Retin-A increases the amount of vessels feeding the skin, this would be a big plus. It is my experience, however, that Retin-A causes a weakening of capillaries (tiny blood vessels) in most skin that can then cause couperose. This is one of Retin-A’s biggest negatives.

Retin-A can help to even out pigmentation irregularities and may alter how melanin (the dark pigment in your skin) is distributed. Paradoxically, Retin-A makes your skin much more sensitive to the sun (photosensitive). In fact, when using Retin-A, you need to be very careful about receiving direct sunlight. Retin-A makes your skin very susceptible even to limited sun exposure.

If you ask me, all the negatives far outweigh any positives Retin-A may offer. I have seen enough adverse reactions in my clients’ skin that I cannot be enticed to endorse this anti-aging miracle. Some of my clients see appreciable results; others negligible results, if any. In the skin of clients who love their results, usually I see deep redness and an odd texture to the skin. Because this product causes so many reactions in the majority of its users, I am amazed it is still used to fight wrinkles. Once again, the results are not long-term unless usage is continuous.

I believe Retin-A can quite often be effective for what it was originally  intended to treat—acne. I am not, however, a big believer in Retin-A for helping your wrinkles disappear. Since it was developed to treat younger, acne-prone skin, most older, mature skins find it very irritating. Renova was invented to address this very problem. It is essentially Retin-A in a more emollient cream form. Supposedly Renova is more soothing and less irritating. It tends to have a lower percentage of retinoids as well.

Retin-A and Renova are dispensed by prescription only, although you can easily find over-the-counter products that contain retinol in varying strengths. Retin-A, in my opinion, is in the same boat with other miracles cures. Unless you have acne, I would stay away from Retin-A. And if you do have acne, Retin-A may or may not be the answer to your skin care problems. I always encourage my clients to give things a try—you never know. But if this or any other treatment causes more harm than good—just stop using it!

For more information on trends and fads in skin care, see:

• What are glycolic peels?
• Microdermabrasion—What’s all the fuss about?
• Trends & fads in skin care

Alcohol in Products: The good and the bad

Ethanol is not a “good” alcohol

Why is alcohol [in products] bad for my skin?

Alcohol, the bad kind, basically dries everything on the surface of your skin. In theory, this may sound appropriate, especially if you have an oilier skin type. But in practice, stripping away all the oil from your skin can cause your oil glands to produce more oil to compensate for the loss. Add to that the moisture (water) evaporation alcohol causes, and you could be causing the very things you are trying to avoid. Namely, oily skin that feels dry and looks flaky, which is actually dehydration.

Some of my skin care products contain alcohol, mostly cetyl and cetearyl alcohol. Does this mean I can’t use them?

I hear from people who are worried that alcohol is an ingredient in a product they are using. There are many alcohols that are OK as ingredients, as well as many that are not good. I had a woman call me who had read my book and was worried because she saw that Cetaphil® cleanser contained alcohol. This particular product has cetyl alcohol (an emulsifier) and stearyl alcohol (a waxy filler); these are both acceptable kinds of alcohol.

This is important: Not all alcohol is bad. To clarify the difference, here is a list of many of the alcohols, good and bad, that are used in skin care products. Some of them are seldom used, but many are very common. Bad alcohols are marked with a “B” before their names; if they are good or acceptable types of alcohol, they are marked with a  “G.” This list was compiled from Ruth Winter’s A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, What’s in Your Cosmetics? by Aubrey Hampton, and Milady’s Skin Care and Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary by Natalia Michalun. Used with permission.

• G/B—abietyl alcohol; abietic acid; sylvic acid. A texturizer for soaps derived from pine rosin. May cause allergic reactions.
• G—acetylated lanolin alcohol. An emulsifier, emollient, and skin softening agent.
• B—alcohol; ethyl alcohol; ethanol. Although this alcohol has antiseptic and degreasing abilities, don’t use it! It is drying, absorbing the water on the surface of your skin.
• G—batyl alcohol. A stabilizer that is derived from glycerin.
• G—behenyl alcohol. A thickener, emulsifier, and stabilizer; increases viscosity.
• B—benzyl alcohol. Derived from pure alcohol.
• B—butyl alcohol. Sometimes listed as n-butyl alcohol. This is in the same league as other bad alcohols like ethyl and isopropyl.
• G—caprylic alcohol. Occurs naturally in many essential oils (lavender, lemon, lime). A surfactant, or wetting agent.
• G—cetearyl alcohol. A mixture of cetyl and stearyl alcohols, it is an emollient, thickener, and emulsifying wax.
• G—cetyl alcohol. An emollient, emulsifier, and thickener. This is in a lot of skin care products.
• B—cinnamic alcohol. A common allergen used as a fragrance ingredient.

• G—coconut alcohol. Sometimes called coconut fatty alcohol; an emollient and lathering agent.
• G—decyl alcohol. Derived from coconut oil or synthetically; it is an emollient, emulsifier, and antifoam agent.
• B—denatured alcohol. See methanol.
• B—ethanol or ethyl alcohol. Known as rubbing alcohol, it is a topical antiseptic, astringent, anti-bacterial. Avoid this alcohol!
• B—isopropyl alcohol. Another rubbing alcohol. Made from propylene, which is a petroleum derivative. It is antibacterial, but is the bad kind of alcohol.
• G—lanolin alcohol. An emulsifier and emollient.
• G—lauryl alcohol. Used primarily in perfumes, this coconut oil derivative is used as a stabilizer, a skin conditioner, and for its sudsing abilities. May contribute to clogging the pores (comedogenic).
• B—methanol; methyl alcohol; wood alcohol. This is basically denatured alcohol—the bad kind. It is flammable and toxic.
• G—myristyl alcohol; myristyl betaine; myristyloctadecanol. An emollient, emulsifier, and foaming agent.
• G/B—oleyl alcohol. An emollient and antifoam agent; it may be irritating to the skin.
• B—propyl alcohol. Comes from crude oil; has a drying effect on skin.
• B—rubbing alcohol. This is just another name for isopropyl alcohol and ethanol, which are the bad kinds of alcohol. Irritating and poisonous if ingested.
• G—stearyl alcohol. Derived from sperm whale oil or synthetically produced from stearic acid; a lubricant.
• B—wood alcohol (see methanol).

Know your product alcohols

To reiterate, the most commonly used “bad” alcohols are ethyl, isopropyl, and SD alcohol. These are used quite frequently in products for problem or oily skin. No matter where they are used, you want to a void these three plus any of the other alcohols listed above as “bad.” It’s important to know the good and the bad concerning alcohol(s) in your skin care products.

For more information, see:

• Clinique’s 1-2-3—Just Say NO!
• Determining a good product: Natural vs. synthetic
• Essential Oils: a primer

Will my puffy eyes ever go away? Help!

What causes puffy eyes? Basically it is edema (fluid retention) in the fat tissue above the bones encircling your eyes that causes puffy eyes. Those pockets fill up with fluid causing puffiness, probably due to inflammation. Inflammation comes from many different things: food allergies, alcohol consumption, smoking, sugar, among others.

How can I treat my puffy eyes? Prevention or avoiding the causes of puffiness are the first steps to alleviating puffy eyes. But since we live in the real world, I’ll give you a few things you can do to treat the puffiness you may be experiencing.

First, if you wake up in the morning with puffy eyes, before jolting out of bed, take it slow. Sit up in bed supported by your pillows with your back straight. Just sit there for a few minutes and give your body a chance to adjust to this more vertical position. If you get up quickly, the fluids that have settled around your eyes don’t have a chance to drain from this area, or at least not as efficiently as they would if you sit up and let them drain first. 

Using something cool on the eyes will help to reduce some of the puffiness. Do not use ice or anything extremely cold—you can damage the capillaries. But ice with a heavy cloth over it or some of the gel packs available for the eyes would be OK. You just don’t want to use anything ice cold directly on your skin; cool is acceptable.

There are eye creams on the market that address puffy eyes. They contain specific ingredients meant to help with the drainage around the eye area. Rosemary, for instance, has a constricting action, which can help to ease puffiness that results from fluid retention. (See the Phyto Contour link below for an article about using this product from Yonka-Paris in a morning puffy-eye routine that might help with mild or even severe puffiness.) Be aware that no matter what a product claims to do, it’s doubtful anything is going to “cure” or totally eliminate the puffiness around your eyes—especially if it is genetic.

Cosmetic surgery is the only way to truly get rid of the fat pockets underneath your eyes. If you are through having to deal with excessive puffy eyes, you may want to consult with a few plastic surgeons and see what your options are. If you contend with puffiness every day and you are eating foods that are inflammation-inducing, I highly recommend starting with your diet before you consider going under the knife. It is the harder road, but truly it is the one that your body will benefit most from in the long run.

Keep in mind, foods that are causing puffy eyes are creating an inflammatory response in more than just your eye area. Sugar, among others, causes inflammation—not just in the form of puffy eyes, but body-wide. Always look to your diet (what you are consuming) as probable causes of inflammation and therefore puffiness. (Tomatoes, shrimp, and drinking alcohol are other known causes of puffy eyes in many people.)

Preparation H®. I’m sure you’ve heard about the use of hemmoroid cream, specifically Preparation H, around the eye area to help decrease puffiness. If not, it really is a thing! It is one of the many shall I say interesting uses for this cream meant for something far, far away from your eyes. To read about my experience with this product on my own puffy eyes and how it worked for me (or not), see Hemorrhoid cream for puffy eyes, listed below. That information used to be part of this puffy eyes article, but I thought it got lost here so I made a separate piece for better exposure.

At the end of the day, there are many ways to help puffiness, some better than others. No matter what you choose to use or what you find works best for you, please be careful with the undereye area: it is very thin skin, delicate, and susceptible to aging more so than other places on your face.

For more information, see:

• An effective treatment for puffy eyes using Yonka’s Phyto Contour
• Hemorrhoid cream for puffy eyes: Does it really work? One experience—MINE!
• Puffy Eyes? Turn a negative into a positive! 
• Ice & Skin?—Don’t do it!

Accutane and Depression

When you take anything orally, the substance enters the bloodstream and is introduced to all the cells it comes in contact with. Whether it is a medication or vitamin pill, it affects your body chemistry. And this includes brain chemistry. Depression, which occurs due to altered chemicals in the brain, is one of the side effects that can be caused by taking Accutane. If you choose to take Accutane, I caution you to pay close attention to your emotional life. If you think you may be experiencing medication-induced depression (depression brought on by the use of this oral medication), call your doctor!

The following are the symptoms listed on the Informed Consent/Patient Agreement form that must be filled out by every patient about to undergo Accutane treatments. It instructs you to immediately tell your doctor if:

• you start to feel sad or have crying spells
• lose interest in your usual activities
• have changes in your normal activities
• become more irritable
• lose your appetite
• become unusually tired
• have trouble concentrating
• withdraw socially
• start having suicidal thoughts

This is an instance where you are trying to fix a problem (acne), and you may accidentally create another, more undesirable problem (depression).

Obviously Accutane does not cause depression in every patient. But without knowing the possibility of it occurring, you may not be watching out for the signs of depression. I recommend talking with your doctor about this aspect of Accutane specifically so you can be clear about what to watch out for and what to do should you start feeling emotional changes. I realize you want clear skin, but don’t make your body (and mind) pay the price. Knowledge is power; know what all the roadblocks are and keep your eyes open. Be sure to read other articles under Accutane on this blog.

For more information, see:

• Accutane: What is it and what does it do?
• Accutane—side effects
• Accutane: Jennifer’s story