May 2007
Healthy skin
With Amy Newburger, M.D., associate attending physician in clinical dermatology at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, New York
City, and author of “Looking Good at Any Age” (Doubleday, 2000).
Can you define healthy skin?
Healthy skin protects us from the external environment, keeps us watertight, and prevents germs from getting in. At any age, healthy skin feels smooth, is comfortable to wear, doesn’t sting, and has even coloration. One threat to healthy skin is damage to its barrier function. Lipids, or fats, make up about a third of the outer layer of skin. Wash these away with soaps or solvents and you leave the skin flaky, irritated, and less able to withstand environmental insults. People who have chapped or eroded skin are more likely to get secondary infections. Maintain your skin’s barrier function by using a cream at night that contains squalane, cholesterol, lecithin, and/or shea butter.
What can people do to maintain the health of their skin?
The main threat to healthy skin is sunlight. Sun damage causes not only an aged appearance and pigment irregularities--freckles or liver spots--but also cellular mutations that can lead to skin cancer, especially in light-skinned people. Years ago I worked with chronically ill World War II veterans who had dozens of premalignant lesions on their faces when admitted to the nursing home. After three or four years of being indoors all the time, the number of those lesions was dramatically reduced. Now, I’m not telling people to stay indoors. But do wear sunscreen every day. If you want a tan, go to a salon and get sprayed with sunless tanner.
You’re nearly 60 years old but your skin looks much younger. How do you do it?
The things you do to keep your skin healthy also make it look younger. I wear an ultrahigh SPF sunscreen every day. I had my first skin cancer at age 32 in Florida, so I really take this seriously. I wash my face with a mild bar soap. I wear a light-reflecting foundation. I use a night cream that contains a copper peptide, which increases the thickness of the dermal layer. One thing I can’t use is a prescription-strength retinoid. As I explain to my patients, it will make you irritated and red but, if you can tough it out, you’ll see a benefit in two or three months and your skin will develop a tolerance. But in my line of work, I can’t afford to have my skin look bad that long.
This article first appeared in the December 2006 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.
Can you define healthy skin?
Healthy skin protects us from the external environment, keeps us watertight, and prevents germs from getting in. At any age, healthy skin feels smooth, is comfortable to wear, doesn’t sting, and has even coloration. One threat to healthy skin is damage to its barrier function. Lipids, or fats, make up about a third of the outer layer of skin. Wash these away with soaps or solvents and you leave the skin flaky, irritated, and less able to withstand environmental insults. People who have chapped or eroded skin are more likely to get secondary infections. Maintain your skin’s barrier function by using a cream at night that contains squalane, cholesterol, lecithin, and/or shea butter.
What can people do to maintain the health of their skin?
The main threat to healthy skin is sunlight. Sun damage causes not only an aged appearance and pigment irregularities--freckles or liver spots--but also cellular mutations that can lead to skin cancer, especially in light-skinned people. Years ago I worked with chronically ill World War II veterans who had dozens of premalignant lesions on their faces when admitted to the nursing home. After three or four years of being indoors all the time, the number of those lesions was dramatically reduced. Now, I’m not telling people to stay indoors. But do wear sunscreen every day. If you want a tan, go to a salon and get sprayed with sunless tanner.
You’re nearly 60 years old but your skin looks much younger. How do you do it?
The things you do to keep your skin healthy also make it look younger. I wear an ultrahigh SPF sunscreen every day. I had my first skin cancer at age 32 in Florida, so I really take this seriously. I wash my face with a mild bar soap. I wear a light-reflecting foundation. I use a night cream that contains a copper peptide, which increases the thickness of the dermal layer. One thing I can’t use is a prescription-strength retinoid. As I explain to my patients, it will make you irritated and red but, if you can tough it out, you’ll see a benefit in two or three months and your skin will develop a tolerance. But in my line of work, I can’t afford to have my skin look bad that long.
This article first appeared in the December 2006 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.
