Medical and Skin Spa

Richard M. Foxx, MD

The holidays are upon us. Again. Everyone who has not put away last year’s Christmas decorations raise their hands.

It seems so unfair—just at the time of year you want to look your best, the deadly combination of parties, alcohol, smoke, lack of sleep, travel, and of course stress, combine to make you look dehydrated, puffy-eyed, and blotchy with large pores and wrinkles.

There are a host of things that can be done; first-aid measures that can perk up your looks and get you back into the fray in short order. But a few simple measures taken now, while Christmas is still light years away, can go a long way toward holiday-proofing your look.

Start now to pump up your water intake and your intake of those precious Omega-3’s and Vitamin C. It takes a few weeks to load your tissues and the results will be worth it. You might even be so impressed you’ll continue to take them all year.

Make arrangements now for a good, exfoliating skin treatment that will remove dead cells, bacteria, and oils. Perhaps a non-ablative skin treatment such as 1064 Nd:YAG Laser Genesis with IPL would be just the thing to tune-up your pores and chase some of those brown spots away. A change in product to one that is more hydrating might be just what you need.

And don’t forget some of the new TRUE mineral makeup magic tricks we have.

Stress always seems to increase during the holidays, even if you’re having fun. And stress kicks up the body’s level of cortisol and all those other bad advanced glycation end products that act as fuel for the breakout fires. Make it a mini-goal to carve out a few moments for you out of every day as a stress antidote. Start now, so when the stress really builds, your relief mechanisms will already be in place.

First-aid measures after the fact can be as simple as keeping hydrated while drinking alcohol, getting as much sleep as possible, sleeping on two pillows to decrease puffiness, and applying cool tea bags for five to ten minutes to those puffy undereyes. And since dehydration seems to be such a problem, going to a richer moisturizer, or switching from a gel to a cream is a good trick to remember.

When all seems lost, something we call the “Desert Quench” that combines a no-downtime exfoliation with an infusion of oxygen enriched hyaluronic serum with peptides can restore even the most dehydrated, hungover, challenged, jet-lagged skin in under an hour.

And one more point: Have fun. And make a few good memories to share when you come back in. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Doctor Foxx is the Founder and Medical Director of The Medical and Skin Spa in Indian Wells, CA, at Hyatt Grand Champions Resort.  He may be reached at drfoxx@medicalandskinspa.com or at 760-674-4106

Tags: Add new tag, dehydration, Desert Quench, Skin Stress, TRUE Mineral Makeup

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Non-surgical aesthetic enhancement, Non-surgical aesthetic procedures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.