When trying to take care of skin, too many people focus on the outer layers of skin and do different kinds of peels and treatments on the outside of the skin. But the key to better skin and better looks lies deeper inside.
The surface of the skin is dead cells and no matter what you do to them, they are still going to be dead and are not going to change. If you want to change the look of skin, the treatments need to penetrate deeper.
New cells are produced deep down in the skin and these gradually come to the surface and when they die off, they form the surface of the skin. If the cells are irritated deep inside, they come out in uneven layers and when these reach the surface, the texture of the skin is rough.
Excessive sun exposure causes skin to develop freckles and uneven pigment. When this pigment comes to the surface there is uneven color to the skin.
In order to have better, healthier skin any products you use need to penetrate deep to the place where new skin cells are being made so that the cells are not produced unevenly and with varying pigment.
Obagi makes a lot of skin products where they do research on how to get the medications to penetrate to the depth that would be optimal. It has been well known that Benzoyl Peroxide helps stop acne, but Obagi is the only company that has found ways to make this penetrate deeper down into the skin to stop Acne.
As an Internal Medicine Physician, I can appreciate the importance of penetrating deeper into the internal areas and making changes where they count. That is why we use the Obagi line and also use Thermage which is a machine that uses radiofrequency to penetrate deep into the collagen and stimulate the collagen there. There are many different machines that use radiofrequency to stimulate collagen but Thermage is the leader in penetrating deeper into the collagen and stimulating it. This helps to firm the skin and remove wrinkles and cellulite.
Hormone imbalances also contribute to wrinkles and change the look of skin. It is important to check hormone levels even as early as the age of 35. Lot of women and even men start to gain weight at this age due to hormone imbalances. Saliva testing is better than blood work when it comes to hormone testing as most of the hormones in the blood are inactive but the hormones in saliva are active so we get a better measure of what is actually working.
Lot of women have estrogen dominance where there is too little progesterone to counter the bad effects of estrogen and this causes weight gain. Starting a low dose progesterone cream, in this case, helps to control weight gain and even helps with energy. The skin also looks a lot better when the hormones are balanced.
So, you can see, the key to better skin is not on the surface but lies deep inside. There are a select few things that can penetrate deep enough to really make a difference.
