The Transition from Summer to Fall Can Affect your Skin
Have you noticed some drastic changes when you’ve looked into the mirror first thing in the morning over the last couple of weeks? Where has your youthful glow gone? Why has the plumpness and resilience in your skin disappeared?
Lower Humidity Equals Drier Skin
The transition from summer to fall can take a toll on skin. As humidity levels fall in the atmosphere, the skin moisture evaporates more quickly. Exposed areas like faces and hands suddenly look much older. Some of us can experience patches of dryness or flakiness anywhere on our bodies.
One of the Biggest Culprits is Indoor Heating
As we ramp up the heat, our skin undergoes a second transition. Dry heat sucks even more moisture from the skin leaving it parched and dry. We experience chapped lips, dry hands, cracked heals and rough, painful patches on elbows, knees, and anywhere where our skin is thin.
Temperature Changes
As the climate changes, we experience hot one day, cold the next. Additionally, moving from the heated indoors to the cooler outdoors can cause rosacea to flare or result in broken capillaries. Many people experience acne flare ups in the fall. The reason the skin can flare up in cold weather is due to sebum, the secretion from glands that lubricates the sin. The greatest concentration of these glands are found the T zone across the forehead, nose, and chin areas. The drier the air, the more sebum your glands will produce, and the more likely you are to suffer with clogged pores and breakouts. Cold, dry air can also trigger inflammation, which is a cause for concern for acne sufferers.
What You Can do to Combat Dry Indoor Air:
Humidifiers are one answer. Set pans on your radiators, or purchase a humidifier. If possible, place one near your desk at work. You can also reduce the heat in your home to the lowest possible setting and run your humidifier at night. The humidifier will replace the lost moisture in your skin and sooth your dry throat and nasal passages, in addition to helping to control chapping and cracking.
Drink Liquids to Keep Hydrated
Just because you don’t feel thirsty doesn’t mean you shouldn’t drink. If you have no taste for water, especially cold water, in the winter months, switch to herbal teas, decaffeinated teas and coffees, and warming bullions and soups. Even though you are not perspiring the way you do in summer, dry heat is sucking the moisture from your skin and making it look shriveled. Remaining hydrated will plump your skin and give you a younger appearance.
Avoid Long Hot Showers and Harsh Soaps.
It feels wonderful and relaxing to be under a hot shower or to take a long soak after a grueling day. However, the hotter the water, the more destructive it will be to the natural moisture of your skin. Try to keep the water temperature to warm and the length of your bath short. If you are prone to acne, don’t over wash your skin. Cleansing multipole times daily will irate your skin and worsen your condition.
Harsh bar soaps, usually the heavily scented kind, are terrible for skin. Switch to a mild organic liquid soap for hands and body.
Switch Your Skin Care Routine
You will have to use creams instead of balms on your face and body lotion and creams on your hands and body. Always moisturize after a bath or shower and pay special attention to hands, feet, elbows and lower legs. Moisturize your lips and use hydrating lip sticks. Don’t keep licking your lips, which will cause extra irritation. If you are prone to break outs, please don’t exfoliate on your own or use harsh scrubs. They will only exacerbate redness and irritation. Instead, come in to see Dr. Vulich, who will prescribe the right facial for you. Her team will clean and prime your skin and get rid of dead skin build up, preparing you for the onslaught of cold weather.
Good Skin Health Begins on the Inside
What you put into your body matters. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: dairy is inflammatory. Cut down or eliminate it to lower the onset of breakouts.
Eat healthy fats. Fatty fish, nuts, avocado, olive oil, coconut oil are all good for your skin. Avoid fried foods, fast foods, and processed foods. Eat healthy fruits and vegetables. You won’t be craving cold salads but you can steam broccoli, kale, spinach and the like in a matter of minutes, or make stews and soups and freeze them for the rest of the week.
Holiday Eating
We don’t know where the year went either! All those wonderful sugary treats and goodies are looming. It’s tempting to cut loose over the next three months. Halloween is around the corner, and then Thanksgiving and Christmas, and before you know it, you’ve not only packed on pounds, but you feel awful.
Eating foods with a high glycemic index not only exhausts the body but can trigger inflammation. High-glycemic foods like bread, sodas, candy, and baked goods contain refined sugars and starches that cause insulin to spike. When insulin spikes, inflammation is triggered.
Sugars also accelerate skin ageing. All high glycemic foods cause the breakdown of collagen fibers through the process of glycation. Sugars bind with collagen to cause advanced glycation, stiffening fibers and leading to an aged appearance. To feed your sweet tooth, Dr. Vulich suggests eating fruit, which contains fiber, slows down insulin production, and contains vitamins and health giving properties.
Sugars and processed foods also affect gut health. See our article on gut health.
Gut health, Supplements and Probiotics
Wrap Up
We know mom already drilled this into you, but wrapping a scarf around your face and wearing gloves on cold days does protect your skin from the elements. If you have eczema or break outs avoid wool. The fibers can get stuck in skin, further irritating it.
Get a Facial Treatment
And lastly, we recommend you come in for a hydrating plumping facial like Venus Glow. Not only will it make your skin look younger, it will help you maintain your youthful appearance and possibly lengthen the time between injections. Additionally, we feature Aqua Gold, which is specially blended to your skin needs with serums that plump, hydrate, and rejuvenate, and PRP, which uses your own blood plasma in conjunction with micro- needling to produce the formation of collagen.
We hope these tips will be helpful to you in combating the change of seasons.