There is no question that taking care of our body helps to achieve a positive attitude and increased self-confidence. We spend hours working out and learn what we can about healthy eating in order to attain this. But how we truly feel about ourselves is seen by others through our face, and healthy skin becomes as important as a healthy body. The face is, ironically the part of the body we abuse or neglect daily.

A person cannot have beautiful skin without first having healthy skin. Healthy skin is that of a child. It is uniform in color, with a peachy, creamy hue, and lacking freckles. The pores are small and it self-hydrates; it is neither oily nor too dry. New skin cells in children are born, surface and slough off naturally approximately every six weeks.

So what causes unhealthy skin? The sun is probably the biggest culprit. Sun-bathing is widely known to be unhealthy, yet many of us continue to do so without sun protection. Walking our dogs, and driving in our cars, our bodies are vulnerable to sun damage.

One major consequence to sun exposure is skin cancer. Skin cancer is so prevalent these days as to become almost commonplace. Most skin cancers become evident during our 30’s and 40’s and older, when we are finally maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and the idea of a scar is unthinkable.

Leathery-looking skin, hyperpigmentation (age-spots or freckling), and hypopigmentation (the lack of color on the skin) are other consequences of sun exposure.

Pregnancy and certain drugs or medications add to the unhealthy appearance of our skin. Many women develop the “pregnancy mask” during pregnancy, which does not disappear after birth. This hyperpigmentation can also be seen in women who are on birth control or hormone replacement therapies.

The simple act of aging adds fine lines around our eyes and mouth. Additionally, around the age of 30, men and women develop an inability to naturally exfoliate the dead layers of skin, which may be one cause of adult acne.

Regardless of the person’s age or habits, a good skin treatment program can revitalize and rejuvenate the skin, to give each person, man or women, the peachy, creamy, glowing skin attributed to healthy skin. The correct protocol of hydroquinone, tretinoin, Vitamin C, and sun protection can restore most skin deficiencies to provide the person with beautiful and healthy skin to match the healthy body we work so hard to achieve.

Hydroquinone, sometimes called the “bleaching cream”, helps the skin to attain that uniform color, devoid of sun-spots or freckles. Tretinoin stimulates the birth of new skin cells and encourages their quick movement through the epidermis, approaching the six-week cycle of normal skin. Vitamin C helps to protect the skin from the free oxygen radicals that cause aging and skin cancers. A good skin program must include sunblocks to protect the skin against the damage caused by the sun.

Give your skin the daily workout it deserves by exercising skin restoration. Let your skin reflect your healthy lifestyle and ageless attitude.

Robin Dabbah – Skin Care Consultant to Albert Dabbah, MD, Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon, Boca Raton, FL.