What is Micro needling?

Technically speaking the term Micro-needling is the insertion of very fine, small needles into the outer most layer of the skin, or the “epi-dermis.” Depending on the procedure being done will determine the depth, energy or even solution that is being used. The purpose of the treatment is to boost the skins natural collagen & elastin regeneration process to provide smoother, tighter rejuvenated skin. In the past year micro needling has advanced

Is derma-rolling at home the same as in-office micro needling?

The short answer to this is: No.  Some patients swear by using derma-rollers at home. These tools can be okay, if they are being sterilized properly (spraying with 70% isopropyl alcohol after each use) & not treating too deep into the skin. Generally, these over the counter tools are 0.25- 0.5mm depth which can help with product absorption. Please remember if you are using these tools to be gentle with your skin after following with a hydrating mask or anti-inflammatory product. Example:

I recommend consulting with your dermatologist before using a micro needling device at home. It is not always best for skin conditions such as: Cystic acne, rosacea, dermatitis, eczema or psoriasis. We never want to make the skin irritated or throw it off balance. In- office micro needling will of course be administered by a licensed professional to treat skin concerns to not irritate anything. Professional micro needling can go deeper into the skin and even include laser energy for better results!

What is RF micro needling?

A recent study done by The American Academy of Dermatology stated that Micro needling alone could only give a temporary result, the improvement simply doesn’t last (this is referring to rolling or stamping), but when the micro needling is paired with energy like radio frequency can be more successful & provide long lasting results.

How does it work?

When the treatment pulses the skin, the needles will deliver the radio frequency into the dermis, causing new collagen production and tissue tightening. This technology advancement has been a true gamechanger in the world of non-invasive skin procedures. The elastin & collagen building typically takes place 4-6 weeks after the treatment with optimal results usually seen at 12 weeks after the last treatment.

What is a vampire facial?

A vampire facial, coined by some of our favorite celebs, is when a person’s own blood is applied to the skin immediately after a micro needling procedure. In a professional setting this is good for 2 reasons: 1. The depth of the needle in a professional dermatologist’s office is deeper, allowing the serum to get into the dermis. 2. The blood serum, more commonly known as PRP (platelet rich plasma) is extremely anti-inflammatory which helps push the healing process and shorten your downtime. Here at our office we would refer to this as micro needling with PRP.

Who is a candidate for micro-needling?

As far as at home micro needling goes, if you get the OK from your dermatologist and sanitize it properly, go for it. Anyone looking to improve the texture of their skin can benefit from professional micro-needling. Concerns like acne, acne scars, fine lines & wrinkles, or anyone looking for radiance improvement & rejuvenation! Another cool fact is that micro needling is safe for all skin types and can be done anywhere on the body!

Call our office to learn more & book your micro-needling consultation!

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Tired Eyes

Spikes in cortisol can disrupt your circadian rhythm, break down skin’s structure, and reduce circulation. It leads to tired eyes, which appear as more wrinkles, laxity, dark circles, and puffiness.

The remedy: 

• At home: B3 adaptive superfoods stress SOS eye cream -This eye cream is infused with coffee arabica, acai, cordyceps mushroom, and maca root — a magical combination that’s specially formulated to eliminate dark circles, puffiness, and crepiness. An insider tip is to keep this eye cream in the refrigerator and press lightly around eye area to gently cool and de-puff.
• In office: For an immediate result you can inject a hyaluronic acid based filler such as Restylane into the tear trough area. This will act as a built-in concealer to hide dark circles and hollow-ness. The eye area instantly looks brighter and better yet, well-rested! If filler isn’t something, you’re interested in RF micro needling under the eye can work wonders to rejuvenate and tighten the area.

Fine Lines & Wrinkles

Cortisol has been scientifically linked to breaking down collagen and elastin in your skin, which leads to ‘worry lines’ and wrinkles, especially on the forehead and around the eyes, which are the areas that express stress on your face the most.

The remedy:

• At home: Using the daily Alpha Beta Peel. Our at-home, clinical peels offer significant results with the instant benefits of radiance, a smoother skin texture and refined pores. In the long-term, these peels prevent the breakdown of collagen, while sending signals to produce new collagen to aging. Follow your peel with your favorite serum, eye cream & moisturizer… and never forget your SPF!
• In office: Botox & fillers are injectables that reduce the appearance of deep lines & dynamic wrinkles. Botox can relax the fine lines on the forehead and around the eye area, while filler is used to restore volume in areas with deeper folds, like around either side of the mouth.

3D Laser Treatment – uniquely stimulates collagen from within your own skin cells in a three-dimensional way. The neck and face appear lifted, smoother and tighter with fewer lines and wrinkles while providing an immediate radiance to the surface. This laser treatment works within the skin to firm the skin with absolutely zero downtime.

Dry or Red Patches

A study in the January 2001 issue of the Archives of Dermatology, entitled ‘Psychological Stress Perturbs Epidermal Permeability Barrier Homeostasis,’ found that — as a result of a spike in cortisol —stress has a negative effect on the barrier function of the skin, resulting in water loss that inhibits the skin’s ability to repair itself after an injury and leading to dry, patchy skin.

The remedy:

• At home: Stress Face cream – The main goal is to strengthen the skin’s moisture barrier in order to relieve and prevent dryness. The nourishing Stress Repair Face Cream quenches thirsty skin with a powerful blend of moisture-driving nutrients, featuring three different kinds of plums (kakadu, illawarra, and burdekin), maitake mushroom, goji and acai berries, and turmeric, to hydrate at the cellular level. Niacinamide, too, is key for adding moisture and reducing redness.
• In office: Depending on the severity of the dryness, sometimes starting with a light peel in order to exfoliate the roughness is best for our next steps to help gain results. Following a peel, we recommend trying a laser for redness such as the v-beam. This laser will immediately rejuvenate the skin for a clearer more radiant complexion. Combining the peel or v-beam with the LED panel is an additional way to reduce redness and inflammation.

Dullness

Your skin doesn’t renew itself as quickly during times of stress, which results in a dull complexion and longer healing time. We need to help regain radiance by exfoliating and re-feeding the skin.

The remedy:

• At home: Stress serum & Alpha Beta peel – Get a glow in secondswith these tried-and-true peel pads soaked in alpha and beta hydroxy acids that eliminate dullness, uneven texture, and fine lines. And then top it off with this hero of a serum that ensures a radiant complexion by stimulating cell turnover with cacao, boosting circulation with chaga mushroom, and injecting moisture with rich omega fatty acids that are found in acai berry.
• In office: Chemical peels safely remove or exfoliate the top layer of dead skin allowing new, more youthful, healthy skin to show through. While the skin typically sheds old, dull dead skin cells every 28 days, this process slows down with prolonged sun exposure and aging. Chemical peels cause this natural cell turnover process to speed up, helping to stimulate the growth of new collagen, or the skin-firming protein that acts like a scaffold for the skin. The speed or depth of cell turnover is determined by the concentration of the peel and the amount of time it’s left on skin.

Micro needling can be another exciting way to bring new life to the skin. By creating microscopic injuries in the epidermis, we are superficially stimulating collagen to tighten & brighten the surface. Immediately after the injury is made, we have “open- channels” to deliver ingredients into the skin. RF micro needling has been a true game changer in the world of Dermatology

Flare-ups

Stress can aggravate skin and trigger unexpected flare-ups. Cortisol can cause an increase in oil production, which can lead to oily skin, acne, and other related skin problems, including aggravating rosacea and eczema.

The remedy:

• At home: B3 Adaptive Superfoods Stress Serum – Niacinamide, the vitamin B3 that’s woven throughout Dr. Dennis Gross’ stress-proof line, plays a starring role in combating flare-ups by reducing inflammation, improving the appearance of large pores, and correcting uneven skin tones. This serum is especially noteworthy for boasting perilla sprout and ashwagandha — two ingredients with antibacterial properties that are said to target and treat blemishes.
• In office: The world of acne treatment has grown leaps and bounds over the years. Times of extremely strong peels and your only oral medication option being Accutane are days of old. Not only are there hundreds of medications (both oral and topical), but now we have amazing lasers, LEDs, and exfoliation techniques that can make a major impact without affecting your daily life. Our IPL laser has a specific acne filter to kill bacteria, reduce inflammation and help alleviate any residual scarring.

Knowledge is power. Knowing how your skin reacts to stress and treating accordingly both at home & professionally is the key to a clear, healthy & more radiant complexion. Please call our office for more information on any of the products or procedures listed above.

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Dr. Francesca injects the scalp with PRP, or platelet-rich plasma, which encourages the hair follicles to enter an active growth phase, causing the hair to start growing again and causes individual hair shafts to thicken. PRP isolates the Hair Growth Factors found in the bloodstream and creating a high concentration of them which are then directed into the hair follicle to stimulate hair growth. Very often hair follicles are still alive although they are not growing giving the look of hair loss. PRP stimulates and reactivates these hair follicles 

The 45-minute process starts with the doctor and our team drawing blood from the patient. The blood is then spun in a centrifuge, separating out the plasma from the rest of the blood components. The doctor then further separates the plasma so that only the richest plasma, Platelet-rich plasma, or “liquid gold” as it’s sometimes referred to as is injected directly into the scalp. Dr. Francesca’s patients experience exceptional results, owed to the meticulous fashion by which she performs this treatment and the state-of-the-art devices she utilizes. Pronox, a nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’) delivery system is available for use by patients to make the process completely comfortable.

For best results, patients typically do PRP treatments once a month for three months. Patients could start seeing results in the first two months of treatment.

Call our office today to book your hair consultation with Dr. Francesca to see if PRP is the right option for you.

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It’s my job to find the cause of the acne and create an action plan for clear skin. Each patient’s skin is different, so I tailor the treatments for the individual, creating a plan to eliminate the current acne and stopping future acne. Below are a few of my favorite in-office methods for clearing acne:

Medical Facials:

Coming into the office on a regular basis for a medical facial can help clear current flare-ups and prevent future breakouts. A medical facial will thoroughly clean the skin and unclog pores. First, one of our estheticians will gently cleanse and steam the patient’s face. This opens up the pores and allows for easier extractions. Then they will extract the clogged pores, leaving the skin cleaner and smoother. Post extractions, I recommend a chemical peel.

Chemical Peels:

My patented Alpha Beta chemical peels use a blend of acids at low concentrations to deliver maximum benefits without irritation, dryness, or flaking. The peels will exfoliate the dead skin, which will reduce oil production, kill bacteria, and reduce pore size. This treatment will also help with an active breakout and fading acne scars. It is safe to do chemical peels as often as once a month.

LED Light Therapy:

LED Light Therapy kills acne-causing bacteria and reduces the inflammation of current breakouts. The light works by triggering the body to convert light energy into cell energy without the use of heat. Originally created for NASA, the LED technology is now a fantastic acne treatment that can be done weekly. It can also be done in conjunction with a chemical peel or a medical facial.

Smoothbeam:

For more serious acne cases, I recommend Smoothbeam laser therapy. Smoothbeam is the only FDA approved laser for treatment of acne on the face and body. It alters the function of the oil-producing sebaceous glands, effectively slowing oil production and keeping acne from forming. It also smoothes skin texture, eliminating acne scars in the process. Our office strives to make our patients happy. Being a teen is already hard enough and I want to make sure our young patients start the school year off picture-perfect. We will work together to create a plan of action to best target our patients’ acne.

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As a dermatologist, I see patients struggling with acne every day. In fact, it’s one of my specialties. For how common it is, acne is also a very complicated disorder. It can be discouraging to fight what feels like a never-ending battle, but I can tell you from experience that it can be won—you just have to know what you’re dealing with.

Here are the three major causes of acne, and what you can do to prevent and treat your breakouts:

T-zone Acne

The most classic type of acne is something called T-zone acne. The T-zone is the area that encompasses your forehead, nose, and chin. There are more oil glands here than anywhere else on the face—and, along with excess oil, the oil is very heavy. Our natural oils are supposed to be close to the consistency of water, but for those who break out, that oil is more like honey. It can become lodged in the pore, creating a blackhead. Bacteria gets trapped behind that blockage, which leads to bigger acne pimples and deeper cysts. All this trauma from a little-blocked pore!

If you have acne only on the forehead, you should double check your hair styling product. Often they contain waxes and thick oils that block pores by seeping down from the scalp. Switching to oil-free hair gels may cure forehead acne.

Hormones

One of the most frustrating causes of acne is hormones. In women especially, hormonal breakouts—which regularly occur along the jawline and chin—are both common and require unique treatment. They usually manifest as deep, painful cysts and can lead to permanent scarring. The skin does not like any sudden fluctuations in hormone levels, which is something that happens around the third week of your cycle, right before you have your period. At this time, estrogen and progesterone levels do a flip-flop, which turns on production of that acne-causing heavier oil. That’s why you get acne in that particular area during that particular time, like clockwork.

The discontinuation of birth control pills can also cause acne because this is another example of hormonal fluctuation. The longer you were on birth control, the longer your hormones will take to normalize.

Stress

As we’ve discussed before, one of the biggest victims of stress is your skin. Stress is a hormonal change in and of itself; when you are stressed, your body releases adrenaline and cortisol. When your cortisol levels are too high, they bombard the receptors in your oil glands causes and acne breakouts follow. The difference here from other hormonal acne is that it’s not limited to one place—if you are experiencing acne all over your face and body, there’s a good chance stress is the cause.

Treatment

A great preventative measure is to switch to oil-free products. As I said, if you have dense, excess oil on your skin already, the last thing you want to do is put more oil on it. So be sure you are choosing products that say oil-free on the label. It should be in your moisturizer, sunscreen, and makeup.

Two of the most effective ingredients to unclog pores are salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. While benzoyl peroxide is a very effective antibacterial ingredient, I find it to be a bit too drying and aggravating to the skin. Instead, I like a natural ingredient called farnesol, which is derived from a rose. I use it as the antibacterial agent in all of my acne formulas.

Acne products are notorious for being overly harsh. Contrary to popular belief, any ingredient that causes your skin to burn and flake is not going to be beneficial in the long run. You always want to keep your skin balanced. Products that cause redness or flakiness can worsen your appearance, and dead skin flakes can actually aggravate your acne by plugging the pores even more.

Rather than relying on spot treatments, which only help pimples already present, preventative products can stop acne from occurring in the first place. After all, you never know where exactly a pimple is going to pop up until it’s too late. I love alpha- and beta-hydroxyl acids—found in my Alpha Beta Peel pads—as a preventative treatment. They exfoliate dead skin and normalize that dense oil before they cause blockages in your pores. If you do get a large pimple that needs a spot treatment, I recommend sulfur as an active ingredient because it draws the blockages out of the pores. My Sulfur Mask was developed as an overnight mask to treat small or large problem areas.

And, if you’ve tried everything at home to no avail, don’t get discouraged. A trip to visit your dermatologist can help you fight stubborn acne, be it through antibiotics, prescription creams and, as a last resort, Accutane. Lasers used to treat acne and acne scars is a new exciting technology, my preference being Smooth Beam Laser which is FDA approved specifically for this purpose.

Just remember this: You’re never alone in your struggle with acne—you just need to find the right partner to help you manage it.

The post A Dermatologist Explains: How to Prevent the Most Common Skin Disorder | Observer appeared first on Dennisgrossmd.

As a dermatologist for over 25 years, I’ve been a part of many bridal-beauty prep teams. It’s my job to pave your path to great skin so you’re glowing as you walk down the aisle. That journey begins when you officially set the date for your wedding. That’s when the clock starts ticking, and it’s usually around this time that I’ll meet a bride-to-be in my dermatology office, wanting to ensure she’s doing everything possible to have perfect skin to match her perfect wedding. Here is my skin care checklist for anyone approaching their big day.

Identify Your Goal

Everyone wants to look their absolute best on their wedding day, but not everyone has the same concerns. To put your checklist together, it’s important to first identify what you actually need help with. Is it clarity? Even tone? Smoothing fine lines? Honing in on those issues will help your doctor advise you and give you plenty of time to remedy them.

I suggest meeting with your dermatologist at least three months before the wedding and following up monthly. I want everything wrong with your skin to be squared away well before the date, and the reality is that may take a few tries to get right. This is especially important with health-related concerns like acne, pigmentation, and redness, as they may need more aggressive treatment.

Know Your Options

Once you know what you are working toward, it’s time to get down to the actual work. It’s best to start at least six weeks before the big day. If sunspots and uneven skin tone are your issues, the Alexandrite laser is my recommendation. It’s a great treatment for any discoloration or sun damage on your neck and chest—which is imperative if your dress is low cut. If you need a bit of lifting or firming, I love using a 3D laser, which is great for the neck. For any redness, I recommend the award-winning VBeam laser. And if you are concerned about any fatty bulges then a treatment with the revolutionary SculpSure laser might be for you. It slims you by reducing areas of fats in the thighs, underarms, tummy, and butt with no downtime—this is a new era of dermatology.

Try Something New…Now

If there was ever a time to shake up your beauty routine, this is it. If you’ve been contemplating injectable fillers, Botox, lasers, or any new products, the lead-up to your wedding is the perfect time to go that extra mile. But be careful: There is always the possibility that adding something new into your beauty routine might need adjusting, which is why it’s important to allow time for tweaks before your big event.

Using injectables are a great way to look like a fresher, younger version of yourself. If this is your first time getting injectables or laser, it’s best to do it four to six weeks before your wedding, to ensure you are happy with the results. You can always get touch-ups if necessary. Avoid any type of injectable the week of your wedding. As for products, start new ones a month before to be sure they are effective for your skin.

Crisis Control

No matter how much you plan ahead, there is always the chance that something may go awry late in the game.  That’s why having a contingency plan is essential.

Here’s the fix for a few common beauty issues that arrive without an RSVP:

• Pre-Menstrual Breakouts or Stress Pimples: Have on hand a product containing sulfur to apply the night before to the problem area. It draws the oil out of the skin and eliminates redness. This natural ingredient is a proven fast-acting remedy.
• Under Eye Circles: Prevention is the best medicine. To avoid dark under eye circles, minimize alcohol and salty food the night before your wedding. And, of course, beauty sleep is key!

Start Your New Life Together

Just because the wedding is over doesn’t mean your skin honeymoon has to be. By the time you say “I do,” you’ve hopefully found a skincare routine worth committing to. Keep that newfound relationship going by incorporating the tips, products, and treatments you’ve learned on your wedding journey to beautiful skin. Continue with your new habits and I promise you and your skin will live happily ever after.

The post A Dermatologist’s Secrets for Perfect Skin on Your Wedding Day | Observer appeared first on Dennisgrossmd.

In the last decade, there’s been a shift in the attitude of men seeking a younger appearance. There’s a spike in interest of treatments that only women have been doing for years. More magazines and websites are educating men about “beauty,” making it socially acceptable for men to be concerned about looking older.

This new trend is rooted in men being practical, not simply vain. In the workforce, youth equates to more productivity and speedy results. Looking younger makes men more professionally desirable. And then there are social media and dating apps. More technology means we are looking at ourselves a whole lot more—and so are other people. The notion that “men look sexy as they age” is something they no longer believe.

Coinciding with this changing attitude is the advancements in the types of treatments available. Men are looking to dermatologic procedures that offer quick fixes with no downtime and that bring natural results immediately.

Here are my top 6 procedures and products that I recommend for men.

Botox

Unsurprisingly, Botox is the gateway procedure for most men. At first, men were hesitant to try it, fearing they would end up looking stiff as a board—expressionless with eyebrows that jutted up like Jack Nicholson. Men want to look natural above all, and that’s possible. As a man myself, I understand the art of administering Botox to men. I actually have a program in my office, literally called Botox for Men, where I soften wrinkles and lines around the eyes, forehead, and brow. This gives an overall refreshed, five years younger appearance that looks right.

Lasers

Men also want a tighter and firmer appearance all over their face and neck. They start to see their skin lose radiance and look weather-beaten from sun damage. That’s where lasers come in. Rather than Fraxel, which is invasive and requires significant downtime, collagen-firming lasers like the 3D Laser are gentle and give an immediate firming result, while the Alexandrite laser tackles sunspots and redness. Men get redder in the face as they age but they fear it makes them look like excessive drinkers. Once men learn how lasers can help fix so many cosmetic annoyances they say “why not?”

Fillers

Men are generally afraid cosmetic procedures will make them look feminine. That’s why they shy away from injectable filler. However, again there are masculine techniques. Fillers in truth are one of the most versatile and effective tools in the beauty arsenal. We use them in a conventional way for women, but for men, a lesser amount is the key to a natural undone appearance. More than ever men use fillers to create a more lifted look and fill in deep grooves and hollows. Treatment around the eyes is growing in popularity to remedy dark circles or that sunken tired look.

SculpSure Fat Reduction Laser

Men comprise fifty percent of my patients doing SculpSure, a new non-invasive way to destroy fat that is a game-changing alternative to liposuction. In two or three sessions, each taking 25 minutes, beer bellies and spare tires are slimmed down. This FDA cleared treatment can destroy up to twenty-four percent of men’s fat per treatment. No wonder men are lining up for SculpSure.

Laser Hair Removal

Men are also doing more laser hair removal than ever. Imagine, treatment began as an exclusive treatment for women with leg hair! But men age get hair on their ears, between their brows, and more hair on their back and chest. The technology for hair removal has vastly improved in recent years. I perform the Candela Gentlemax Pro which I find to be best in class. There’s still one caveat: Unless the hairs are black in color, lasers are not an option.

Products

For men not quite ready to explore cosmetic treatments, and even for those who do, I highly recommend men use anti-aging products. Once upon a time men didn’t use anything on their faces. Then it gradually turned into men using a moisturizer. Now, men are more in tune with this idea of collagen loss and know that a moisturizer won’t address that. So they’ve learned to create an anti-aging regimen to keep their skin looking young.

The two products I always recommend are an eye cream and an anti-aging face serum. The skin on the eye is different from the rest of the face and tends to age faster. Using an eye cream, especially with C+Collagen, is an easy way to look instantly younger. The Ferulic Acid + Retinol Brightening Solution is another great entry into anti-aging skin care because it’s used similarly to after-shave in terms of application, something they already know how to use. Simply put six drops into your palm, rub your palms together, and rub it all over the face. It’s as easy as that and the result is skin that looks instantly refreshed and radiant.

The bottom line is that more than ever men are exploring their options to look younger. By taking a slow and steady approach they’re seeing natural results. This exciting trend of trying new things has to lead to more men being confident and satisfied with what they see in the mirror every day.

The post The 6 Best Cosmetic Procedures and Anti-Aging Products for Men | Observer appeared first on Dennisgrossmd.

The eyes are the first to go and the most important to fix.

There are several making factors making the eyes more vulnerable.

1. The skin itself is very thin—because of that, the skin around your eyes is more susceptible to breaking down, meaning it’s that it’s more prone to laxity, developing fine lines and wrinkles, becoming looser, and even thinner.
2. The tissue below the eyes is naturally missing a lot of essential elements that make your skin strong—there’s very little soft tissue like fat or muscle. Lack of those supporting elements increases the likelihood of the skin caving in.
3. Making matters worse is the anatomical fact that the skin itself is literally covering the hollow space of the eye socket.
4. There is also the issue of dark circles and puffiness that can be a result of lack of sleep, diet, and stress.

Seems like everything is working against you, no? Well, the good news is that there are plenty of ways to prevent damage to the skin around your eyes, and even help repair that area. Here are the essential tips you need to keep your future looking bright.

Say YES To Eye Cream

A lot of my patients are confused about eye cream. They think that whatever they use on the rest of their face will work just fine on their eyes. Unfortunately, this is not the case—it comes down to a few key differences:

• A moisturizer is not an anti-aging treatment and, while hydration is definitely something you need, it won’t do anything to fix or prevent the signs of aging.
• Can’t you just put your anti-aging face product around the eyes and expect the best results? The answer is definitely not. Many of those ingredients are too strong for the delicate eye area and can cause stinging, burning and inflammation.
• Eye products have been specifically formulated to avoid that with special delivery systems to ensure those ingredients actually gives the eyes what it needs (collagen-stimulating ingredients) where it’s needed (the fibroblasts cells in the dermis).

Invest In The Good Stuff

There are tons of anti-aging ingredients out there, but only a handful of them truly have an impact on your eyes. The tried and true formulas include peptides and vitamin C. These are the cardinal collagen stimulators that exist. However, you can also add ingredients like retinol—to smooth the skin’s surface and minimize discoloration—and hyaluronic acid—to pull moisture in the skin and negate the crepey texture that dry skin can create.

Myth buster: Many consumers believe that creams with collagen in them are good for actually firming the skin. This is not even remotely true. The same goes for ingesting collagen: it does not magically add more collagen to your skin. The only way to give your skin more collagen is by making your skin create more of its own collagen, which is exactly what the above ingredients do.

The latest at-home LED device, SpectraLite EyeCare Pro by Dr. Dennis Gross. Kristin Wolford

The Bright Stuff

Besides at-home products, there is a multitude of professional treatments that are great for addressing eye problems. Lasers specifically designed to stimulate collagen-like the V-Beam, Smoothbeam, and Laser Genesis—can work wonders for wrinkles, tone, and skin laxity.

But an area I’m excited about is medical grade LED treatments. This uses intense lights to stimulate the skin to immediately start creating more collagen. These treatments traditionally are administered only by your dermatologist in the office—until now. I developed my new Spectralite Eyecare Pro device, now regarded as the next frontier because this FDA-cleared medical device creates collagen in the eye area at home. The American consumer wants everything quick and easy, and Spectralite fits the bill—requiring just three minutes a day without any redness or discomfort.

I predict many more effective at-home devices will hit the marketplace in the next few years. Once upon a time, electric razors and hair blowdryers were rare too. Technology marches forward for skin care devices, but now consumers can have higher expectations.

Remember: It’s All About The Collagen

Collagen is the protein fibers that give your skin support and density. They are like the steel beams giving your skin a firm texture and support. It’s analogous to the foundation of a building collapsing and causing cracks in the structure above it. In the skin, we see these cracks as wrinkles. To repair the eyes, you need to increase your collagen production and, to do that, you need to stimulate the cells—called fibroblasts—located in the lower layers of the skin known as the dermis.

The post Why the Skin Around Your Eyes Ages So Quickly—and How to Protect It | Observer appeared first on Dennisgrossmd.

As technology has advanced, we have swapped scrutiny in front of the mirror to a daily examination of our selfies.

HD has brought amazing clarity to pictures, which is not-so-amazing for those undereye bags. And the advent of the zoom function means that you can get close enough that you can count all of your pores. People no longer come into my office and say “look at my face,” but rather “look at me in this photo, or look at me in this Facebook post.” And while it’s easy to throw yourself into a tizzy over photographic evidence of aging, the good news is it’s equally easy to look your best in a photo.

Here are some insider camera-ready tips I give my patients behind closed doors… just in time for the holiday season.

Get a photo-ready glow

You’ve heard the phrase lighting is everything? Well, there’s a reason for that: The right lighting can make you look fresh and glowing, while the wrong lighting can make you look haggard and sallow. Simple as that. Your skin also needs its own form of lighting help. I advise trying chemical peels like our Alpha Beta® Peel—a micropeel with no downtime and the same benefits of a deep peel—to eradicate skin-dulling dead skin and refresh your natural glow. Bonus: It also helps stimulate collagen production to firm skin and diminish fine lines and wrinkles.

Perk up a tired face

If you look tired IRL, you’re going to look extra tired in a photo. Your undereyes can look droopy and puffy. I regularly perform Restylane under the eyes to improve dark circles and restore a more youthful appearance. With minimal downtime, this is a quick fix pre-holiday events.

Stop redness in its tracks

Many of my patients suffer from persistent skin redness, usually a form of rosacea. This can look very prominent in photos and can be a source of embarrassment. Rather than double down on Instagram filters, many people can benefit from Intense Pulse Light, commonly referred to as an IPL treatment. It’s broad-spectrum light that shrinks the tiny blood vessels in the face that cause the areas of flushing, minimizing that red appearance. I usually recommend a series of 2 or 3 treatments depending on the patient’s goals.

Say bye-bye to fine lines

In the bright light of a camera flash, it’s a sad fact that wrinkles and fine lines can be magnified, making you appear older than you actually are. This is where injectables like Botox come into play. The art of using these injectables is to give a natural appearance by injecting just the right amount in the right locations. Fine lines and wrinkles can be treated to virtually disappear or simply soften depending on the individual’s choice. The ultimate natural look is achieved by not making the skin appear stiff, something a skilled dermatologist should be a master at avoiding.

Be a better poser

Once you have your skin issues under control, it’s important not to sabotage your look with bad photography skills. Memorize these basics of taking a great photo to avoid messing up your picture. Extreme close-ups make absolutely zero people look good. Instruct your photographer to take a few steps back. As for selfies, ask the friend with the longest arms to snap the pic. And while it might sound silly, do a quick photo dress rehearsal. Snap some shots of yourself to discover your most flattering side, the best makeup and hair for you, and how much to smile. Once you discover your most photogenic look, you’ll know exactly what to do when someone asks to take a pic.

The appearance standard keeps getting higher thanks to celebrities looking progressively younger and more flawless at every turn. So, of course, we’re going to look at our own images and compare ourselves. But that’s setting yourself up for heartbreak. We all age differently and we all have our own trajectories. It’s a very personal thing for each of us and is it’s why everyone has a different anti-aging regimen. So focus on your skin and what you can do to feel comfortable in it, both on camera and off.

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