When we go to sleep, our minds and bodies get a chance to rest from the day and recharge for the next. But the night isn’t only for your mind and body to rest, it’s also when your skin repairs itself. Your skin cells are regenerating and reproducing, so it’s the perfect time to help them work their best.
Here are three things you can do tonight to ensure your skin is glowing in the morning:
Exfoliate gently using a scrub and/or derma buff (depending on your skin) with cold water to remove dead skin cells and excess makeup. Pat your skin dry.
Use a pea-size amount of your glycolic creme or use a cotton swab to apply a medication product, like acne-control. Remember to always apply your glycolic creme on your mouth and lips, since night time is quiet time for this area.
Wait 1 minute for absorption of the glycolic product before applying moisturizer, applying extra moisturizer under the eyes. (Remember that your glycolic creme can be used as an eye creme as well. Dab that on first under your eyes, then add moisturizer.)
Change your pillow case each evening.
Your pillow is your delicate facial skin’s resting place that is a playground for bacteria. Keep it clean.
Candy Langan, owner of Academy by Candy Medical Skincare, works with patient Diana Antholis of Middletown at Langan’s Freehold Township office. (BOB BIELK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Over 30 years ago, a woman came to me and my husband, a Freehold facial plastic surgeon, asking us for help. She needed surgery that no one wanted to perform. Why not? Because her age and advanced cancer of the face and neck would require very complex reconstruction.
Together, we performed extensive surgery removing the cancer and reconstructing her face. However, in addition to extending her life, I wanted to do more for her appearance and self-confidence. This experience set the foundation for my business.
As a registered nurse specializing in head/neck cancer, reconstruction and facial plastic surgery, I decided to use my past experience in modeling and cosmetics to help many women who are concerned about their appearance.
Initially, I used camouflage makeup on my post-operative patients. Then I taught them how to take care of their skin to look and feel better and improve their self-image. Helping patients look and feel good after surgery was as important to me as curing the patient. I strongly believed that other physicians needed to offer the same. But how?
Where do you take your Academy sunscreen? This bottle has been to Long Branch, New Jersey in the photo. Take a photo of yours and post it to the Facebook Wall! http://facebook.com/academybycandy
The sun. We love it. We hate it. We need it.
We’re told to spend time in the sun to increase our Vitamin D levels, yet we’re told to stay out of the sun to avoid skin cancer.
What’s the deal?
I’m answering your most pressing questions about sunscreen now! Here is the truth.
1. What number SPF should I use? What’s the difference between numbers?
Bottom line: The FDA prefers that we use a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15.
The difference between SPF 15, 30, 50, 100 etc is supposed to mean more protection time. To date, the FDA is not convinced this is actually the case, therefore they do not support the additional use of chemicals needed to achieve this slight benefit, if any at all.
The best and safest way to achieve protection is to reapply, reapply, reapply!Children should have sunscreen reapplied every hour.
Recent studies have shown that SPF #’s on products have not been accurate. Even the most expensive sunscreens have not been proven any better than less expensive brands. A good guideline should be to use a product with an SPF of 15 with ingredients appropriate for “facial moisturizing.”
2. What happens to my skin when I get a sunburn? A tan?
Bottom line: Our skin can become uneven, spotted, clumpy, and potential cancerous spots can occur.
The outer layer of your skin, the keratin layer, gets thick and clumpy. The alive cells, collagen and elastin, are more rapidly destroyed, causing premature aging. Brown spots, melanin, or hyperpigmentation will occur and be difficult to correct. Abnormal cells will be stimulated and can become cancerous. And, for some unknown reason, the actual color of our tans with today’s sun rays is no longer attractive.
3. Does glycolic acid make my skin more sensitive to the sun?
Glycolic Acid, unlike Retin A, will not make the skin more sensitive to the sun. It actually reverses premature aging by stimulating new collagen and elastin cells. Having said this, buyer beware for not all Glycolic Acid is formulated correctly! Ask questions to make sure you are getting a quality product.
4. What can I do to reverse sun damage?
Use properly formulated and balanced glycolic acid products, like Academy by Candy medical strength glycolic acid products, to stimulate collagen and elastin cells again. Hydro Light Plus-10 is a great glycolic acid formulation used to reduce sun spots, combining four of the most effective lightening agents on the market today.
5. What can I do to prevent sun damage?
Use and reapply your sunscreen all over your body. Avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, even with your sunscreen. Use Academy by Candy glycolic acid products to stimulate your skin and help protect your skin from sun damage.
More questions? Write a comment below and I will answer.
With summer approaching quickly, we suddenly remember that we will be baring more skin than usual. We start sizing up our bodies, wanting to lose weight, tone up, and get rid of our dry, winter skin.
While our skin is different on all parts of our body, we can use the same basic skincare routine and treatment in all areas. You simply just have to change how often you apply products to the different areas of skin.
For example, let’s compare lower eyelid skin to the skin on the heels of our feet. They seem drastically different, but you would use the same principle.
Ultimately, you want to remove the dead skin cells and firm the living skin layer.
The normal transition of skin from being a living cell to a dead cell in approximately 21 to 29 days. This dead layer (or keratin layer) is not pretty—it’s usually clumpy and dull looking.
In order to create pretty, glowing skin, we must slough off these dead cells. Then, we want to thicken the living layer (or inner dermal layer) of the skin, firming it to look more youthful.
As you can see, our goal for both areas of the body is the same. Therefor, the treatment is the same, with certain variations determined by how delicate or coarse the area. One quick look at the areas and you’ll know. In this case, the lower eyelid skin is much more delicate than the heals of our feet. We have to use “smart” ingredients that can penetrate the skin to the targeted cellular level, but at different rates based on the type of skin.
Basically, if the goal is the same then the effective treatment ingredient and product should be the same.
The difference in the treatment of these two areas may simply be the frequency with which the product is used and the strength of the effective ingredient. You may want to apply the product less often to your lower eyelid and more often to the heels of your feet. Notice how your skin reacts and use the product accordingly. If there is redness and irritation, use the product less often.
There are so many products on the market today that claim they are not only beneficial for your skin, but actually promise they are the “anti-aging magic wand.”
These lotions and potions come in many forms, beautifully packaged with promises of eternal youth. No wonder walking down the skin care aisle in stores is confusing and overwhelming!
In order to find the real anti-aging magic wand, we have to ask ourselves this: “What actually happens to the skin as we age and how can we reverse the aging process?”
In simple terms, as we age, the dead layer of our epidermis (keratin layer) becomes thick and dull, while the alive dermal layer becomes thin, losing it’s elasticity. This creates sagging, wrinkled skin.
Our goal in medical skin care is to reverse this process by creating a glowing, beautiful outer layer of skin and a firmer, tighter inner layer.
In order for a product to actually achieve this goal, it must have two major properties.
1) A small molecular size – The product must have a small molecular size—small enough to actually penetrate deeply into the area of the dermal layer where the collagen and elastin cells live.
2) Strength – The product must be strong enough to trigger those cells into reproducing. The more collagen and elastin cells we have, the stronger, thicker, and firmer our skin becomes. And the more rapidly these cells reproduce, the faster the dead, dull outer layer sloughs off. This leaves the skin with a real glowing, youthful look. Strength and penetration is what it takes!
As you know, my research and years of experience has led me to formulate products that can do just that with unbuffered glycolic acid.
You CAN have a youthful glow and a much brighter, smoother complexion. It’s important to know the process behind it so you can actually SEE RESULTS. Because if you don’t have results, what’s the point? The pretty packaging of products on the market today isn’t going to make your skin look amazing. An effective product does.
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