Prepare your skin for the summer – Prevent, Protect, Correct

There are many reasons why it is essential for anyone who  likes to take care of themseleves and their appearance, to prepare their skin for this summer. The skin is the largest organ in the body, and aesthetic medicine treatments such as botox, hyaluronic acid fillers, lasers and PRGF plasma are tools and treatments for the therapy and hygiene of our most precious feature.

For every woman (or man) who wants to look good, and to slow down the sands of time and the inevitable process of the aging of the skin, it is essential  to prepare the skin for the summer, to freshen it up, and to protect it from the harmful UVA and UVB rays of the sun, which in the 21st centruy is much stronger. The aging of the skin is affected by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and aesthetic medicine and it’s fast growing arsenal of treatments can now fight these factors on many effective levels.

The intrinsic factors are related to every individual’s  genetic predisposition, because of which some skins gae faster, and some, for the lucky ones, slower. Some get the forehead wrinkles, eyebags, capillaries and pigmentations sooner, just like their parents or grandparents.  Some on the other hand, age faster due to stress, smoking, pollution or because of the most common factor, the excessive sun exposure, sunbathing or the use of sunbeds. These are all extrinsic factors.  Yes I know, when we finally go on our well deserved summer holiday, we like to bask in the sun, of those endless summer days in Spain, Portugal or Croatia. We like to get a «healthy» suntan, we want to «look better». But beware! Too much of sun is very harmful to your skin, and apart from excessive and premature aging, it can also produce skin cancers such as melanoma. There should almost be a «government health warning» just like with cigarettes, no joke!

So let me set you a small test! Is one of the sides of your face more aged, with more wrinkles, less elasticity, more pigmentations, as around 90% of the general population have? Do ask yourself, is it perhaps your right side? The side which is always pointed towards the sun in the car when you drive? Is it the side which points to the window in your office?

We wish to prepare the skin on the face (and body) for the summer for two different reasons. Firstly, because we can see more of our skin in the summer, so we want it to look better, decolettage without wrinkles and pigementations, legs without capillaries, the bikini zone without hairs, the face without wrinkles.  Secondly, because we want the skin to be more protected from the sun, and to have a healthier and more glowing look at the end of the summer, with yes a medium and healthy tan.

If we use the frase coined by SKINCEUTICALS, one of the best brands of cosmeceutical creams and serums on the market: PREVENT, PROTECT, CORRECT, it is a good starting point from which I can advise you and make a plan for you and every individual patient, for pristine and healthy skin.

Prevention is the most important factor, and one which I want to highlight in this blog. With prevention, we are excluding the outer factors which damage the skin and cause it’s premature aging, and we therefore are left with healthy and natural skin.  Obagi Nu Derm and Skinceuticals are definitely the two brands I recommend the most in this regard. They have truly wonderful modern medical creams and serums, which protect the skin from the harmful rays of the sun, and indeed protect the skin from pollution too. Vitamin C serums such as the Vit C from Obagi, or the C Ferulic acid, protect the skin from the sun, and they feed the skin and indeed repair it.  Obagi also has an SPF 30 AND SPF 50 protection creams (as does SKINCEUTICALS), and these should be your best and most important friend this summer. Applying them will not mean you will not get a suntan, just healthier skin. Modern and sophisticated technology of these cosmecuetical creams of course means that these above mentioned brands are your only choice. Do not settle for cheaper options and cheaper creams this summer, as you will not get the same protection. Some cheaper brands add artifical protectors, which can indeed cause more damage and pigmentations, which will cost you even more to repair later.

And of course, when you return from the summer, and the skin is looking dry, and despite all your care, it is looking pigmented and more wrinkled, the Milo clinic has the perfect solution. Obagi Nu Derm system is «a kind of miracle for the skin» as I have often said, and it will wipe out all problems caused in the summer and give you new and healthy glowing skin. But do not rely on this, protect yourself!

The above mentioned cosmeceutical creams and serums can on their own, PREVENT, PROTECT and CORRECT but they are also an essential continuation of the treatment of the skin at home, after some of the wonderful aesthetic treatments at Milo clinic, like botox or dermal fillers. But without these treatments, creams and serums alone can not protect the skin, repair it and to make it glow and shine without wrinkles and other blemishes. Our aesthetic treatments will do their best to turn the clock back, and indeed to make sure that for a long time in the future, you have perfect skin, and I will give you a few examples of great treatments to ensure great skin, long after this summer.

MEDICAL MESOTHERAPY WITH JUVEDERM VOLITE AND RESTYLANE SKINBOOSTERS

A big innovation in aesthetic medicine are treatments with Juvederm Volite hyaluronic products which had their launch this year at the IMCAS congress in Paris. At the Milo Clinic, we call this treatment medical mesotherapy, because although it is applied very similarly to that of the classical mesotherapy treatments via multiple injections through a tiny and painless needle, Juvederm Volite (and Restylane Skinboosters) are stabilised hyaluronic acid, just like classical dermal fillers, and therefore much more effective. These small droplets of hyaluronic acid sit under the skin for 12 months, attracting new collagen, elastin and water and it behaves like like an internal hydrating cream. The skin is rejuvenated, and takes on a shine of a skin ten years younger.  Wrinkles, especially on the cheeks and around the eyes disappear. Both Volite and Skinboosters are done once every 6 months, and will give brilliant shiny skin all summer.

BOTOX

There are many applications, of our very good friend botox as there are also for treatments for the summer. Botox is a natural and «organic» medication, a protein which is extracted naturally from nature, we by now all know this! But do you know that the application of botox into the skin makes the skin more healthy and more elastic, as proven in medical testing? Do you know that injecting botox in the armpits or the forehead will reduce and remove sweating, avoiding troublesome rashes in the summer caused by sweating? And of course, botox removes wrinkles, especially the frown lines (elevenses) and around the eyes (crows feet), therefore avoiding those terrible white lines which form in these regions after sun exposure.

DERMAL FILLERS

Dermal filler such as Juvederm and Restylane, are known to removes wrinkles, fill eyebags, fill cheeks, but are also proven to improve skin quality and elasticity under the microscope. So another great treatment in the summer, as it can be done just days before sun exposure, with no risks!

PRGF BLOOD PLASMA SKIN REJUVENATION USING GROWTH FACTORS AND STEM CELLS (IN COMBINATION WITH MEDICAL DERMAL STAMP)

And finally, in our little guide of aesthteic treatments for this summer, we can not avoid this treatment which I like to call the «fountain of youth» , and I say this for many reasons. After 3 treatments with this wonderful innovative plasma system, when we analyse the skin under the microscope, it has been proven that the cells in the skin take on the appearance of a 10 years younger skin. How is this done? We take your blood, which is then centrifuged and the blood plasma rich in growth factots, extracted this way, is then injected into the skin through a tiny needle, where these growth factors affect the stem cells and new cells and blood vessels grow in the skin. We also often combine these treatments with medical dermal roller and dermastamp for an even better effect.

What is fascinating is that all sun damage is repaired, and in a recent study it was proven that treatments with plasma before the summer actually protect the skin from the sun, like an internal SPF factor. The possibility of plasma treatments is becoming limitless, and we can now even treat male pattern baldness and the weakening of hair in women.

All hail to a long and warm summer, and the sun which will hopefully shine on all our faces, and with a little help of the Milo clinic, hopefully it will be the best summer ever!