HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU GET EXFOLIATED?
You should do a lighter exfoliation 2-3 times and week then a deeper exfoliation once a week. Exfoliating your skin will help clear away dead and dry skin. Getting rid of this dry/dead skin will also help your product penetrate deeper and become more effective. In addition, making exfoliation a regular habit will help increase your skin’s clarity, radiance and help your skin appear more youthful. You just want to be cautious that you are not exfoliating too much because this can cause chronic skin irritation and potentially dry your skin out.
HOW CAN YOU REDUCE HUGE PORES?
Here at Mercy Grace Medical Aesthetics, we have a couple things that will help reduce your pore size. Our detoxifying pore-be-gone facial is excellent for clearing out your pores. It includes pore treatments along with extractions and corrective serum best suited for your skin. Getting regular facials helps keep your pores unclogged ultimately reducing pore size over time.
For regular at home use our PCA pore refining treatment is great to use in your skin care routine 2-3 times a week. It uses three methods of exfoliation, physical, enzymatic, and cellular. This will help aid in purifying the skin, removing dead skin cells, and absorbing excess oil that’s gets stuck in pores.
WHAT IS A GOOD EYE CREAM FOR PUFFINESS AND FINE LINES?
We got some good stuff her at Mercy Grace 😊
One of our favorites and most popular would be the ELASTIderm eye serum by Obagi! This eye serum utilizes a soothing rollerball to help refresh the skin around the eyes, with caffeine. The combination of the cool rollerball and caffeine will help reduce the appearance of under-eye puffiness. Then to top it all off, with Obagi’s Bi-Mineral Contour Complex this will help support skin elasticity for tighter, more youthful looking skin.
HOW TO GET RID OF WRINKLES?
If you are suffering more from dynamic wrinkles, meaning wrinkles that are visible when you are making certain kinds of facials (surprised, angry, sad), neuromodulators are effective for treating and preventing these kinds of wrinkles. There are serval different kinds of neuromodulators, Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, etc. Here at Mercy Grace, we use Xeomin. The main difference between Xeomin and Botox is that Xeomin uses the “naked” form of the botulinum toxin, whereas Botox uses accessory proteins along with the botulinum toxin. The reason we prefer Xeomin is that this more purified structure helps prevent antibody resistance. Antibody resistance is where the patient has built up antibodies against botulinum toxin. As a result, the patient may experience underwhelming results or short-lived results. How Xeomin works is that it is injected into areas such as the forehead, crow’s feet area and around the mouth and chin. Lines in these areas are formed from the muscle under the skin’s surface and over time as the skin ages these muscle contractions cause wrinkles. Xeomin blocks the chemical reaction that causes these movements, so the lines are softened. It usually takes about two weeks for Xeomin to start working.
You can check out our full blog post on Xeomin here: https://mgppaz.com/2022/06/23/frown-lines-be-gone-xeomin-the-latest-aesthetic-service/
Another treatment that is AMAZING for treating fine lines and wrinkles is our PRX Bio-Revitalization Peel!! This is a topical treatment done once a week for 4-6 weeks. A combination of TCA, hydrogen peroxide and kojic acid is massaged into the skin to stimulate collagen and elastin production. The result: smother, tighter, firmer, and younger looking skin. The best part about PRX and why it is our favorite treatment is there is virtually no downtime, it can be done pretty much anywhere on the body, and it does not make you sensitive to the sun. Also, the result is unlike any other treatment out there. In addition to treating fine lines and wrinkles it also can treat acne, acne scars, pigmentation, sagging skin and stretch marks.
You can check out our full blog post on PRX here: https://mgppaz.com/2022/05/11/prx-t-33-biorevitalisation-peel/
Another important step on treating fine lines and wrinkles is your skin care routine at home. This will vary from person to person depending on what will work best for you. You can schedule a FREE skin consultation with our Aesthetician, Kathryn to get yourself on a skin care regimen that is customized to you. Wrinkles due to photoaging can be treated with topical retinoids which are the gold standard in the treatment of photoaging, chemical peels, temporary fillers usually composed of biodegradable agents, the most common of which is hyaluronic acid; Cosmeceuticals which include active ingredients such as antioxidants, vitamins, and plant extracts may have some activity in the treatment of photoaging and have been shown to be beneficial in preventing photoaging.
Remember, the first line of defense against photoaging is sun protection.
HOW TO DETERMINE THE BEST PRODUCTS FOR YOUR SKIN?
Everyone’s skin and skin needs are so different. The best thing to do is to schedule a consultation with an Aesthetician so they can do a skin analysis and ask you a series of questions to determine what will be best for your skin concerns, lifestyle, and budget.
HOW TO PREVENT MASK-ACNE?
As cute as cloth masks are, they unfortunately are not the best for your skin. The cloth tends to collect bacteria, dirt and oil causing breakouts. Another thing is that fabric softeners and detergents can be irritating to the skin. With cloth masks what tends to happen is that they are not washed after each use which will allow old bacteria, dirt, and oil to be sitting on the skin causing breakouts. Although not as cute the switch to paper masks will help prevent breakout. In addition to that another way to help with mask acne is to make sure you are protecting your skin barrier. Having something constantly sitting on the skin can be very irritating to your skin barrier. Ironically when you start suffering from mask-acne you think you need to be using acne products (that usually dry out the skin) but it may be a weakened skin barrier. The skin barrier is what keeps moisture in the skin. So, using hydrating products that have things like niacinamide, may be beneficial in clearing some of this mask-acne and irritation.
You can check out our full blog post on niacinamide here: https://mgppaz.com/2022/06/15/niacinamide/
WHAT IS THE BEST AGE TO START ANTI-AGING PRODUCTS?
In some ethnicities, the severity of photoaging rapidly increases after the age of 30. In populations with darker skin, wrinkling is not readily apparent until after the age of 50 and the severity is not as marked as in light skinned populations of similar age. Some signs of aging can occur earlier in certain ethnicities than others as well.
It is best to start earlier with preventive measures such as sun protection, good effective skin care regimen, healthy lifestyle, and hydration.
Add products that contain Vitamin C, Niacinamide and retinol into your skin care routine to help prevent aging. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that can help prevent free radical damage.
CAN YOU SKIN GET USED TO PRODUCTS AND THEY STOP WORKING?
If it seems like your skin care products are no longer working, re-assess your skin and evaluate your habits. Do you have different skin needs which your current skin care products are not as effective for? Is It due to weather changes such as Harsh Winter versus Humid summer season? Do you need to implement healthier routines such as making sure you are staying hydrated by drinking water, avoiding environmental pollutants, and using sun protection etc.
Thank you for your amazing questions! We have enjoyed answering them. Please leave us a comment if you have any other questions, we would love to answer them 😊