Essay on the relationship between beauty and skin health

Beauty practices that conform to the physiological laws of the skin are effective means of maintaining and strengthening skin health. Improper beauty practices that violate skin homeostasis are the core causes of various skin problems. The two are by no means a binary opposition between "natural skin care is absolutely safe, and functional beauty must damage the skin."

I met two very typical girls at a clinic a while ago. One is 28 years old. She firmly believes that "skin care products are all chemically harmful to the skin." She only washes her face with water all year round and does not apply anything in winter. When she comes, her cheeks are so dry that they are flaky. The transepidermal water loss is three times the normal threshold. She already has moderately sensitive skin, and she still feels that she is "naturally healthy"”； The other one was only 20 years old. He followed the internet celebrity's tutorial to do skin rejuvenation three times a week and applied a whitening mask every day. When he came, his stratum corneum was so thin that it turned red when he touched the mask fabric. He also said, "This is a necessary tolerance period for beauty, just get over it." Don't tell me, this just steps on the two extremes of the current debate about beauty and skin health.

Interestingly, both views have professional support behind them. Conservatives in traditional dermatology have always advocated "skin care by subtraction". When I first started my rotation, my instructor repeatedly said that the skin itself has a self-regulating homeostasis. A three-piece set of cleansing, moisturizing, and sunscreen is enough, and additional functional ingredients will only increase the metabolic burden. This view is really not an old fashioned, you turn to 202 According to the "Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sensitive Skin" published by the Dermatology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association in 2017, 45.8% of the causes of sensitive skin include improper skin care and excessive cosmetic surgery. Many people originally have good skin, but their faces are ruined by repeated treatments, which destroys the skin's barrier stability. This part of the data is real.

But you can’t kill all beauty behaviors with one stroke. I have a 42-year-old patient who has been followed up for two years. She used to run a business outdoors all year round. Photoaging is very serious. She has continuous sun spots on her cheekbones. She becomes red and allergic when the seasons change. At first, she did not dare to have medical beauty treatments. Later, she tried one treatment every three months. I followed the regulations for photorejuvenation, and usually only use mild repairing essence + hard sunscreen. Now the sun spots are 80% lighter. Last winter, even the redness caused by the change of seasons did not appear. During the reexamination, the water content of the cuticle was 40% higher than two years ago. Nowadays, many scholars who do research on functional skin care have mentioned that on the basis of skin health, reasonable cosmetic intervention can strengthen the barrier function: for example, for patients with stable seborrheic dermatitis, using low concentrations of salicylic acid can reduce abnormal secretion of sebaceous glands and reduce the recurrence rate. ； For people with mild to moderate photoaging, compliant photovoltaic projects can stimulate the regeneration of collagen in the dermis and increase skin tolerance. This part is also supported by clinical data and is not an IQ tax promoted by merchants.

The most controversial thing is actually the gray area in the middle. For example, there is a quarrel on the Internet about "Is morning C and evening A suitable for everyone?" Conservatives say that alcohol A is very irritating, and ordinary people will look bad if they don't use it well, so it is better not to use it. ； The functionalists say that after establishing tolerance, the anti-aging effect is clear and the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. I also encountered a pitfall when I tested a certain high-concentration prototype VC. I applied it on my cheekbones for three days and my cheekbones turned red. I stopped for a week and used a repairing essence to suppress it. Then I switched to using it every other day. After two months of use, my skin became more translucent and it became less prone to dullness when the seasons changed. Is there any absolute right or wrong? Oily skin is tolerant, so once you build up a tolerance, it’s no problem to use it. Dry and sensitive skin tends to get red during the change of seasons, so if you insist on joining in the fun, aren’t you asking for trouble? Some people also say that "natural ingredients are safer than chemically synthesized ones." The emodin in fresh aloe vera juice is much more irritating than many synthetic ceramides. Many people are allergic to homemade fruit and vegetable masks. On the contrary, synthetic raw materials produced in compliance with regulations have higher purity and lower sensitization rate. This really cannot be judged by the "natural" or "artificial" label. It depends on the specific ingredients and the condition of your skin.

In the final analysis, beauty is never the enemy of skin health, nor is it an IQ tax that must be paid. It is essentially the same daily adjustment as you eat, sleep, and exercise - just like you need to eat when you are hungry, but eating hot pot all the time will definitely hurt your stomach. If your skin is dry, apply moisturizer, but applying a facial mask every day will inevitably overhydrate you. There is no need to praise beauty too highly, and there is no need to discount it as worthless. Pay more attention to the reaction of your skin: stop the tingling after applying skin care products, repair them in time when you are red, and ask a regular dermatologist if you are not sure about the ingredients. It is better than following the trend and buying it blindly. At present, the academic community is still continuing to track the long-term skin effects of beauty intervention, but what is certain is that the premise of all beauty behaviors is not to disrupt the homeostasis of the skin. This is the core principle of the symbiosis between the two. After all, if you spend a long time for beauty, you end up damaging your skin, and the gain outweighs the loss, right.