Four Anti Ageing Tips
Dr Alek Nikolic Has A Close Look On How to Reverse Skin Aging and Other Common Skin Concerns
A lot of the skin concerns that we encounter as we age such as pigmentation, adult acne, red marks and even wrinkles can all be related back to our skin habits in our youth. This includes spending too much time in the sun or using products that caused irritations and reactions and even cleansing incorrectly; remember those hard granular scrubs and brushes? If any of this sound familiar then see our quick guideline on how to rectify these skin mistakes and help your skin look and feel younger.
In this Article:
Brown Marks, Pigmentation and Other Skin Blemishes
Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Healthy Glowing Skin
Adult Acne and Breakouts
Brown Marks, Pigmentation and Other Skin Blemishes
The starting point for any skin discolouration is to prevent further UV damage and making the marks worse so using a sunscreen with a SPF factor of 30 or higher containing either zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide is a must and should be part of your daily morning skin regime. My firm favourite is Dermaceutic Sun Ceutic.
The next step is to choose ingredients that tackle the pigmentation and red marks specifically such as vitamin C, Niacinamide, acetyl glucosamine, and retinol, and use an AHA or BHA exfoliant daily. For best results consider combining ingredients: my personal choice is combining Vitamin C with Vitamin A (retinol).
It is important to note that skin discolorations take time to respond to topical treatments so my advice would be to give it at least 8 weeks before deciding whether an ingredient is helping or not.
Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Retinol is such an effective ingredient for the skin including seeing visible improvement in fine lines and wrinkles. In a nutshell it has the ability to tell older skin cells (from the age of thirty and up) to become young again – literally. One can expect to see an improvement in the skin’s health and glow, skin will appear and feel softer (say good bye to rough or textured skin), pigmentation will minimise, pores will be reduced in size and number, hydration will improve, and collagen and elastin stimulation will take place.
Dr Alek’s Retinol Tip: I believe that everyone irrespective of age should use retinol on their skins.
If you have never used retinol before it is important to introduce it slowly to your skin care regime as unwanted skin reactions including sensitivity, itchiness, and even flakiness can occur. My advice would be to consider starting with a low dose retinol first applying it every 3rd night for 2 weeks, then every 2nd night for 2 weeks and then apply it every night after cleansing.
See: SKINCEUTICALS RETINOL 0.3 or DERMACEUTIC ACTIV RETINOL 0.5 or DERMACEUTIC ACTIV RETINOL 1.0
Healthy Glowing Skin
An almost immediate healthy glowing skin can be achieved by combining a good chemical exfoliator or exfoliant with an anti-oxidant. My recommendation for a good exfoliator is to use cleansers that contain either Alphahydroxy acids (AHA) or Betahydroxy acids (BHA such as salicylic acid). How these exfoliators work is to remove the dead outer layer of skin cells without stripping the skin of important nutrients, stimulating collagen production, preparing the skin for better penetration of the anti-oxidants and giving one an instant healthy glow. My anti-oxidants of choice are Vitamin C, Resveratrol, Ferulic Acid, and Vitamin E. These antioxidants will not only help fight free radicles (reducing further damage and inflammation in the skin) but they will also help to stimulate more collagen and elastin and contribute to healthier skin cells adding to a more youthful glow.
Antioxidant Fast Fact: Research has also shown that anti-oxidants boost the skins SPF protection
Adult Acne and Breakouts
Unfortunately adult acne is fairly common effecting almost 25% of all adults and can become a major concern. There are numerous causes for adult acne but it is typically related to hormonal changes. Irrespective of the cause by using salicylic acid in your cleanser and spot treatment will help reduce breakouts dramatically and it will keep the bacteria associated with acne under control.
Irrespective of the skin concern or age of the skin by using the above approach and skin care ingredients one will see noticeable and visible results – it will just take a little time.
I hope you found the above article interesting and that it will help guide you in making the right decisions when planning your skin regime.
Kind regards
great article which definitely will help my skin regime decision making