Revealing common skin care myths
As a plastic surgeon with several full-time estheticians and multiple lasers, we do a lot of skin care for our patients. As a result, I have had the opportunity to speak with many patients about their skin and what is done to it. From those discussions, I have learned many understandable myths and misinformation patients have about their skin and skin care products.
1) There is no one magic product that does it all. Skin care is a matter of selecting a handful (not a cabinet full) of good products that can perform the basic functions of cleansing, moisturizing, protecting, exfoliating, and stimulating. No one product, no matter how many ingredients it may have, can do it all.
2) Products that contain collagen or hyaluronic acid can penetrate the skin and build up and thicken it. This is classic ‘truthism’, which means that it looks like it should work and it does. There is no scientific evidence that large molecules such as collagen or hyaluronic acid can penetrate the dense dermis that makes up approximately 95% of the skin’s thickness. These product ingredients feel nice to the touch and moisturize the outer layer (epidermis), but that’s about it. Topical collagen cannot make your skin more collagenous.
3) Organic skin care products are better than synthetic skin care compounds. This sounds good, but it’s far from accurate. Many organic products are far from natural and misrepresented. But aside from that issue, synthetic compounds can appear identical to natural compounds and are often more potent. The issue should not be whether a compound is natural or synthetic, but rather how well it works. Skin care and skin care products attempt to delay and improve a natural process, aging. Most of the time it takes an unnatural or synthetic approach to actually do it.
4) The higher the SPF rating, the better the product will be for sun protection. This is true, but only a little. Most sun protection comes in at the SPF 15 level. Moving up to SPF 30 increases protection by only an additional 2% and SPF 45 by an additional 1%. It’s fair to say that SPF protection above 30 is only important if you’re going to be out in the sun for a long time. Plus, SPF only covers UVB rays, not the more damaging UVA rays. New sun protection classification systems, including UVA rays, will be implemented soon.
5) Antioxidants can help wrinkles diminish or disappear. This is probably the most common misconception patients have about skincare technology today. As antioxidants have appeared on the skin care scene, new ones appear every year, and their promise is great. The reality is that antioxidants help fight the formation of free radicals, one of the main causes of skin damage, but they cannot repair the skin damage that currently exists. Just some form of physical manipulation, such as Botox, microdermabrasion, chemical peels, or laser resurfacing, can significantly diminish or improve wrinkles. Topical vitamins A and C may also offer slight improvement over time.