5 Things to Get Your Skin Ready for the New Year
As we prepare to enter a new year (hello 2019!), we all consider and “entertain” resolutions to make this year and us better than last year. It is so easy to articulate resolutions, but very hard to embrace them and make them part of our new habits. Here are a few we think you should consider to make you look and feel better in 2019!
- Embrace Skin Care – Skin care works and is not necessarily complicated. We tackled skin care in past blogs but here is a quick refresher. We have three incredible aestheticians that we work with who help me ensure that you are on the best program for your needs. Working here in Dallas and Frisco clinics with Medical Aestheticians – Wendy, Abby, and Jessica – is a real treat. Their expertise allows us to optimize your outcome. There are five critical components:
- Sun block – probably the most important aspect of skin care and should be used all year round
- Cleanser – whether you have dry, oily, or a more neutral skin, a daily cleanser is important to the health of your skin
- Retin-A or Retinol – helps your skin turn over and build collagen, making your skin look better and more uniform in color
- Antioxidant – in addition to your sunblock, helps protect your skin from all the UV ray exposure
- De-pigmenter – sometimes necessary for those of us living in southern, sun-soaked climates
Skin care is often the first step taken to help rejuvenate and turn back the hands of time. Remember, we can perform a surgical procedure to enhance your face, but if the surface is still sun damaged, the ideal outcome will never be realized.
A real patient of Dr. Kenkel with dramatic skincare improvement results.
- Compliment your skin with a facial – Skin care works but sometimes you need something a bit more aggressive to take off that outer layer. Under the guidance and expertise of our experienced aestheticians, we may choose to perform a light peel requiring a day or two of peeling or something more intermediate necessitating three or four days of peeling. These are office-based procedures done in our Dallas clinic. A new facial we have is the oxygen facial. This procedure uses pressurized oxygen to spray moisturizers onto the skin which help to improve the quality of the skin. There is no downtime associated with an oxygen facial. Oxygen and light chemical facials also are a pleasurable experience similar to a massage.
Woman Getting Oxygen Facial Skin Rejuvenation Therapy
- Consider a SkinPen® treatment – Also termed “microneedling,” the SkinPen® is relatively new addition to our tool belt! A series of fine needles superficially stimulate your skin, creating new collagen and elastin within your skin. The treatment is done by our aestheticians in our clinic using a topical anesthetic. Your skin appears red or sunburned for a day and then you peel for about two days. Many of our patients undergo a series of three treatments done every 4-6 weeks. Light peeling agents may also be used, taking advantage of the superficial injury to allow deeper penetration and better efficacy of the peeling agent.
SkinPen® treatment for wrinkles and acne scarring
- Use injectables to help restore your youth – Just as with the superficial peeling agents, we have many injectable choices to help improve your facial appearance. Botulinum toxins help soften lines that are due to the activity of certain muscles in our face. When injected appropriately, neuromodulators can soften your appearance, making you look less tired or angry. Products such as Botox® and Dysport® take a few days to work and last about three months. Filler products are made out of a substance called hyaluronic acid, which we have throughout our body as a water-based lubricant. These products can be used to help fill out volume in our faces or help soften facial lines. Dr. Kenkel tailors his treatment plan to the needs of each patient and performs these procedures himself. For before and after of injectables, see Dr. Kenkel’s patient gallery.
Dr. Kenkel does all his own patients’ injections.
- Eat right and be active! – If you embrace a healthy lifestyle and are physically active you will look and feel better and no doubt have more energy. There are many fad diets that are out there. If you are serious about changing your dietary and physical lifestyle then you should seek an expert in the associated fields (some trainers have a nutritional background as well, so do your homework). Dr. Kenkel likes diets that are well-balanced and tailored to the patient’s needs. Remember your daily activity influences what types of foods you should eat for both weight loss and recovery following activity. It is impossible to sustain a diet all of the time. Shoot for 80% of the time to allow for some indulging in ice cream or pizza on occasion! Be realistic. Quick fixes often are temporary and lead to long term disappointment. Activity is not only good for weight loss but also for your muscle and bone health, as well as for your mind. You’ll be amazed at how good you’ll feel and how much energy you’ll have when you make positive lifestyle changes.
Here’s to looking as good as you feel in 2019!
The new year is here, so stick to resolutions that you will participate in and want to achieve. One or two to focus on is plenty! Many people find that once they get into health, nutrition, and looking and feeling good, they can’t stop. Happy 2019!
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