The relationship between beauty and skin health

The two are a mutually constitutive relationship of two-way selection - there is neither inevitable cause and effect that "beauty is equivalent to developing healthy skin", nor is it the extreme saying that "beauty is an IQ tax that ruins the face". Beauty behaviors that scientifically adapt to one's own skin condition are the gains of skin health. Blindly following the trend and wrong beauty practices that exceed skin tolerance are the culprits that destroy skin health. Beauty has never been a prerequisite for skin health. In turn, skin health is the basis for all beauty behaviors to be effective.

A while ago, a 25-year-old girl came to my studio. She used to have cold fair skin that everyone envied. In order to pursue the "zero pore microdermabrasion" spread online, she went for high-concentration fruit acid peels every week, and she also used high-concentration retinol and water at home. I chose cylic acid essence and even facial cleanser with a soap base that has a lot of cleansing power. As a result, my cheeks turned red when I applied it, and I felt itchy at the slightest touch. I went to the hospital to find out that it was already the early stage of rosacea. My good and healthy skin was ruined by wrong beauty treatments.

Many dermatologists frown when it comes to beauty treatments, and it’s not without reason. In their clinical logic, the skin itself has its own homeostasis system, with independent metabolism, repair, and protective capabilities. Too much external intervention will break this balance. Therefore, many dermatologists will tell patients, "Don't mess around, use less skin care products." This is really not a perfunctory statement. I have met too many patients with sensitive skin who stopped using all kinds of functional products and only used basic moisturizing and sunscreen. Most of them were cured in a month.

Let me talk about a very interesting phenomenon. The people I have come into contact with who have very stable skin either barely bother and follow the three steps of cleansing, moisturizing and sunscreen every day, or they know their skin condition very well, and the products and programs they use are based on their own tolerance points, and they rarely follow the trend blindly.

But if you ask skin care product developers or operators at compliant medical beauty institutions, they will give a completely different answer: reasonable beauty intervention can indeed help the skin reach a state that cannot be achieved by self-repair alone. Take the most common form of photoaging as an example. Sunspots and small static fine lines that have formed may not fade away in three to five years if the skin metabolizes them by itself. However, with the use of compliant whitening essence or two photorejuvenation treatments, significant improvements can be seen in about half a year. The year before last, I had a sunburn on my cheek that was as big as a fingernail. I followed the doctor's advice and took three DPL injections, combined with niacinamide essence. Now it is basically invisible, and there was no redness or sensitivity problem throughout the process. This is a typical example of beauty adding to healthy skin.

There are several hotly debated topics on the Internet these days, such as "Is morning C and late night A a tax on IQ?" and "Are all theater projects ruining your face?" In essence, the relationship between beauty and skin health is not clear. Many people just follow the blogger's instructions. No matter if they have dry skin, oily skin or sensitive skin, they directly use the highest concentration of functional ingredients. This is not called beauty, it is called experimenting with their own faces. Some people think that "natural ones are the best". They cut lemons and apply them on their faces at home, or mix pearl powder and honey to apply facial masks. In the end, they burn the cuticles and make them sensitive. This is not skin care at all. It just messes up the skin.

I once had a client whose face was full of inflammatory acne when he was in college. He went to a dermatologist and took medicine for more than half a year to suppress the inflammation, leaving a face full of red acne marks and shallow acne pits. If the skin alone relied on its own metabolism, it might take two or three years for these acne marks to fade away. Later, she cooperated with us to do a mild salicylic acid peel. She usually uses repairing essences and strictly protects herself from the sun. In less than half a year, the acne marks have basically disappeared, and the acne pits have also smoothed out a lot. Now her skin is in very stable condition, and she rarely suffers from acne-prone problems before. This is an example of beauty assisting the skin to move in a healthier direction.

To be honest, there is no need to take a stand for "beauty is an IQ tax" or "beauty can solve all skin problems". Just use your own feelings as a yardstick: whether it is applying skin care products or undergoing medical beauty projects, if your skin does not have any uncomfortable reaction after the treatment, and if the condition is stable and slowly getting better in the long run, then this thing is useful to you. If your face is always red, itchy, or prone to pimples after using it, stop immediately regardless of what other people say about how effective this product is.

After all, healthy skin, even if you don’t need to apply so many layers of cosmetics, and it is translucent and shiny, has a better beauty effect than any Internet celebrity.