I’ve really been focusing on making gratitude my attitude this month. I’m grateful for my blog readers. At the suggestion of my mentor this week I’ve really been thinking about excellence, not success. To sum it up, excellence is being your best self and success is more comparing yourself to others. Excellence often leads to success. It’s easy to get caught up in being successful and forgetting that sometimes success is not excellent. I want you all to know that I am grateful for this blog and I hope to make it more and more excellent. This week I’m shooting for a post that appeals to all of you. I think male or female, rich or poor, Arkansan or Oklahoman we all care about our skin health and how it looks. So this week I’m listing my general skin rules. Do your skin a favor and follow them for better skin health.
1. Be gentle. Scrubbing, exfoliating, wash cloths, loofas, washes with little beads, sugar scrubs and anything else that doesn’t feel like butterfly kisses from a toddler should not be a part of your regimen. These things can cause inflammation which can cause acne, dullness, redness, wrinkles and rashes.
2. Use sun protection, other than sunscreen. We all know that sunscreen is a good thing but protecting yourself from the sun with clothing and avoiding the sunniest parts of the day are even better. More and more frequently I’m reading articles about this concept. Wear sun protective clothing. Seek the shade. Avoid outdoor activities during the hottest parts of the day. UV damage can cause wrinkles, brown spots, leathery looking skin and put you at risk for skin cancer.
3. Use good sunscreen. Too often I hear people say “It’s in my make-up” but usually that isn’t enough. The main things to look for are an SPF of at least 30, UVA/UVB (broadband) and water resistant. I usually tell people to look for the ingredient zinc as this is a physical rather than chemical sunscreen.
4. Use sunscreen correctly. Did you know sunscreen needs to be reapplied every 2 hours? Even more often than that when swimming? Well now you do, so do it!
5. Use Retinol. It’s the tried and true. It has been researched more than any other anti-aging ingredient. It is the one thing almost all dermatologist agree on. No retinol is created equal. Talk to your dermatologist about a good one for you. I use SkinMedica 0.5 strength and most people love it as much as I do.
6. Get your skin a dermatologist. Dermatologists are skin experts. Skin is what their education focused on, skin is what they do all day, skin is what they know. Get a baseline skin cancer check. Get in a gown and let your dermatologist look at your skin from your scalp to your tiny pinky toe. Let your dermatologist recommend how often to have one done after that, most likely at least once per year.
7. Check your skin. Look at your skin and know your moles. I will often recommend people check their spouses too. Take pictures of your moles (use your phone if you want) and compare the pictures to the moles every few months to track if they are changing. Most skin cancers are found by the patient.
8. Moisturize. Do you take an aspirin everyday for your heart? A multivitamin for overall health? Exercise daily? Eat healthy? These are all health maintenance. Things you do on the daily to keep yourself healthy. Moisturizing is a great daily practice to take care of your skin. Keep the water in your skin and prevent dry, cracking skin that is prone to infection. I keep 100% petroleum jelly in the shower and take the lid off and let the hot water warm it up while I shower. After I pat dry I dump the water off the top of my vaseline and rub warm vaseline all over my skin. It locks in moisture and it feels like I’m at the spa {insert hair flip here}.
9. Don’t pick. Don’t scratch until you develop a sore from scratching. Don’t pick and pop your acne. Just don’t do it. There are lots of things in dermatology that we attribute to “picking” such as lichen simplex chronicus, prurigo nodularis, trichotillomania and more. On the other hand, there is nothing in dermatology that we treat by telling you to scratch it and pick it and dig at your skin. If you think something needs “popped” see a dermatologist first. (I know you’re all imagining those youtube videos of cyst right now. Resist, no fingernail surgery).
10. Strive for excellence not success. Make your goal for your skin to be your best. I promise you that’s the way you will feel good in your own skin. It could always be worse and probably could always be better. See a dermatologist and let them help you make your skin look how you feel.
I hope you all enjoy the blog. I truly enjoy skin and love writing about it in this blog. I’m always open to suggestions if there is a topic you would like me to post about. Johnson Dermatology has started snapchatting and instagramming (are those words? Get with it spell check, it’s 2015) and I hope you follow us there too. Our snapchat user ID is jdermatology and our IG is johnsondermatology. You won’t want to miss my snaps at the clinic.They provide a peek into what we are doing every day at the clinic.
“The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.”
-William Arthur Ward
Have an excellent week, Nina
