Back in the day, the thinking about good skin care products was not very sophisticated. Essentially, good skin care was something that made you look better immediately. Heavy makeup and cosmetics, products that could eventually damage the skin and even occasionally poison the body, were all the rage. If it looked pretty, it was what you wanted to put on your face. In many ways, skin care cosmetics have changed since those days, but the changes have come slowly. Innovations such as natural skin care are still not universally accepted, and many people use harsh skin anti aging treatments that might do more harm than good in the long run.
As a dermatologist familiar with the practice of alternative medicine, I try to steer people away from this approach. There are some great creams available for skin treatments, but good skincare doesn't start with the skin itself. If you want to have good skin care, you need to take care of your body as a whole. Good nutrition is where good skin starts, you see. Of course, nowadays many people understand that eating too much fatty food can make your skin oily, greasy, and unhealthy looking. It can ruin your complexion in ways that are not easily fixed by topical treatments. What people don't realize is that the problems go deeper than that. The vitamins that make healthy skin look vibrant and radiant come from the food that you eat every day. Without getting good nutrition, there's no way to have truly good skin care.
Of course, if that were all that it took to take care of your skin, us dermatologists is would be out of business. We would be replaced by dietitians overnight! Fortunately for my profession, there is more that goes into skincare than nutrition. There are many different treatments available for a variety of different skin issues. Exfoliants, anti-wrinkle creams, coverup and makeup, and nutritional rubs can all help to keep your skin healthy and beautiful. Health spas, massages, and other treatments that don't obviously relate to the skin can still improve appearance. Apparently, the way our skin looks is much more complicated than even dermatologists anticipated. Basically, good skin care involves two things: being aware of the variety of treatments available, and being willing to try them until you find something that works. With enough persistence, even the worst skincare problems can be resolved. It is just a matter of being patient.
