How Can I Protect My Skin?

Protecting the skin is all about supporting skin health and preventing skin damage and early aging. It involves taking proactive and preventative measures, often before skin deterioration occurs. To do this, we need to understand the most detrimental factors that are directly damaging to skin health and how we can protect our skin from them: 

Sun Damage 

We’re all familiar with the benefits of getting daily sun exposure, particularly vitamin D production. Sun exposure itself isn’t bad, in fact, we need it for survival and optimal health. The problem comes from chronic and excessive sun exposure. This may be a result of spending the majority of the day outside for long periods of our life or getting frequent sunburns. Premature aging isn’t the only concern, sun damage can increase our risk of developing skin cancer. The goal is to acquire just the right amount of sunshine on our skin each day, while preventing too much exposure at one time and over time. One way to do this is to wear non-toxic sunscreen (30-50 SPF) throughout the day (especially midday) on your face, neck, and chest areas. Keep in mind that UV rays can penetrate through overcast. If you go into the sunlight without any sunscreen, just be sure to go for short periods at a time. Another recommendation is to use non-toxic antioxidant products, such as vitamin C serum, to help heal damaged tissues.

Toxic Exposure

Did you know that we are exposed to hundreds of chemicals before even leaving the house each day? Many of which come from products we apply directly to the skin, such as moisturizers and makeup. Unfortunately there are thousands of chemicals used in American industry, most with harmful effects on our body and health. One of the best ways to decrease exposure is to be conscious about the products you choose to purchase and bring into your own or use on your skin. Useful resources for finding non-toxic products are the Think Dirty App and the EWG Skin Deep website. Another source of potentially damaging substances are those found in our water sources – and not just in the water we drink but also the water we wash ourselves in. Any easy fix for this is to purchase water filters for your sink and shower.

Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress occurs when the amount of free radicals in our body exceeds the amount of antioxidants. Free radicals are highly reactive, unstable molecules that can cause local or widespread cellular injury and inflammation. Antioxidants are molecules that stabilize free radicals and keep their levels at bay. Oxidative stress can come in many different forms – smoking, substance abuse, pollution, chronic mental/emotional stress, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, inflammatory diet, leaky gut, and backed up detoxification pathways. Lifestyle changes we can make to prevent, lessen, or reverse this include eliminating smoking, alcohol, highly processed foods, fried foods, added sugar, and food sensitivities; investing in a good quality air filter; reducing stress with daily relaxation and self-care practices; and promoting detoxification with sweating and liver support. 

At LIVV, we’re proud to offer anti-aging and regenerative procedures that are safe, effective, and minimally-invasive – these include PRP micro-needling, radio frequency, morpheus, and more! Give us a call today to book your appointment and receive your anti-aging protocol! 

Written by Jordan Valdez, ND, RD