Essay on beauty and skin health

The core underlying logic of beauty behavior is "health takes precedence over efficacy." All beauty operations that deviate from the skin's physiological tolerance threshold and destroy the skin barrier, no matter how attractive the short-term whitening, anti-aging, and rejuvenation effects are, will eventually backfire on skin health and even cause irreversible damage.； Truly sustainable beauty must be based on maintaining skin homeostasis and adapting to individual skin characteristics to gradually improve appearance.

I worked at the Dermatology and Beauty Center of a tertiary hospital for half a year, and I had seen too many cases where "beauty" was turned into "disfigurement". The one that impressed me most was a 22-year-old sophomore girl. In order to eliminate the cleft on her forehead, she followed a beauty blogger and applied 30% fruit acid at home for three consecutive weeks. Her face was red and hot, and the cuticles were so thin that you could see obvious red blood streaks, which hurt when touched. Even when washing her face, she could only gently rub it with warm water. It took almost half a year of repairs before it returned to normal. She cried when she first came here, saying that she originally just wanted her skin to feel smoother, but she didn't expect her face to be rotten.

In fact, the beauty industry has been very quarrels nowadays. Both schools of thought have their supporters, and no one can convince the other. One group is the efficacy radical group that focuses on "powerful ingredients." They believe in high concentration and strong efficacy. They believe that as long as the ingredients are hard-core enough, they can quickly solve problems such as spots, wrinkles, and enlarged pores. To be honest, this view is not unreasonable. I have a senior ingredient beside me. A friend from the party was born with oily skin. He has never had any allergic symptoms in his 30 years of life. He has been using 0.5% retinol essence for two years. His pores are indeed much finer than those of his peers, and he has no obvious dry lines. Even the dermatologist who attended the consultation praised his good skin condition. But the problem is that most people don't have this kind of natural buff. I just received a doctor last month from a primary school teacher who has dry and sensitive skin. I bought a high-concentration niacinamide, retinol, and fruit acid essence stacked on the recommendation of a blogger. I wanted to satisfy the three needs of whitening, anti-aging, and removing mouth shut at the same time. As a result, I got contact dermatitis after three days of use. My whole face was so swollen that I couldn't open my eyes. I took leave and stayed at home for almost a month before I dared to go out.

The other group is the minimalist maintenance group that follows the "less is more" route. They believe that the skin itself has the ability to repair itself. Apart from cleansing, moisturizing, and sun protection, other skin care products are redundant and may even add extra burden to the skin. This view also has very clear applicable scenarios. For example, people with a damaged barrier should really stop all functional products. When I had allergies during the change of seasons last spring, I put all the whitening and anti-aging essences in the cabinet. I only used mild amino acid cleansing every day, and then applied a repair cream containing ceramides. I only relied on physical sun protection by wearing a hat and an umbrella when I went out. I didn’t even dare to apply sunscreen. Within a week, all the redness and stinging symptoms disappeared. But there is no need to be minimalist for the sake of simplicity. Healthy oily skin produces a lot of oil in summer, so it’s no problem to use an oil-controlling gel. There’s nothing wrong with dry skin applying a moisturizing essence oil in winter. You can’t just apply toner when your skin is dry, right?

Oh, by the way, there is another widely circulated misunderstanding: natural is the best. Many people think that commercially available skin care products contain additives that are unsafe, so they DIY them at home, using fresh aloe vera to rub their face, lemon slices to apply on their face, and egg white-based facial masks. They think that the absence of chemical ingredients is more gentle, but this is not really the case. A patient once planted aloe vera at home. He broke it off and rubbed it on his face to get rid of acne. As a result, his face became red and swollen with a rash in less than two hours. This is because the emodin in fresh aloe vera is extremely irritating. It is not a purified natural raw material and is much more risky than skin care products from regular production lines. Some people apply lemon on their face to whiten their face. However, the citric acid concentration is too high and directly burns the cuticle, leaving discoloration for several months. The gain outweighs the gain.

When it comes to the medical aesthetics that everyone loves to try now, the controversy is even greater. Some people think it is a magical tool for face transplantation, while others think it is just an IQ tax and may even disfigure the face. The essence is still a question of adaptability. My best friend used to have red acne marks on her face. She tried skin care products for more than half a year but had no effect. Later, she went to a regular hospital for three M22 photorejuvenation treatments. 80% of the red acne marks disappeared and her skin tone became brighter. Now she praises the effectiveness of photorejuvenation to everyone she meets. But there is a girl in her company who has severely sensitive skin. After seeing the good results of my best friend's treatment, she followed her, but she also insisted on asking the doctor to prescribe the highest energy for her. The day after the treatment, her face was swollen like a pig's head, and it took almost two weeks for the redness to disappear. Everyone said that medical beauty is a liar. Whose problem do you think this is?

Having been in this business for so long, the question I’m most frequently asked is “Do you have any skin care products you recommend that you must buy?” 」Every time I can't give a direct answer. I have to first ask the person what their skin type is, whether they have any allergies, and whether they have any abnormal symptoms such as redness and tingling on their skin recently, before I can give appropriate advice. It's really not that I'm perfunctory. It's because individual differences in skin are too great. Someone else's honey may really be your arsenic. I once had a patient ask me whether more expensive skin care products are better. I gave her an example of her own: She has oily skin. She bought a bottle of moisturizing cream that cost several thousand yuan before. After applying it for half a month, her face became stuffy and her mouth shut. Later, she replaced it with a refreshing moisturizing lotion worth dozens of yuan, but all her tightness disappeared. Does the expensive one definitely suit you? Not necessarily.

Oh, by the way, there is another point that many people ignore: skin is a barometer of the body. If you stay up late, eat spicy food, or are stressed, your face will give you feedback immediately. I had to stay up late for a week to give an academic report, sleeping only four or five hours a day. No matter how good the anti-aging serum I used, my face was still dull and yellow, and I also had several red and swollen pimples. After the report was handed in, I slept well for three days in a row and ate a clear meal every day. Light vegetables and whole grains, even if you only use ordinary moisturizer, your complexion will brighten up immediately. This is really not a metaphysics, but has a clear scientific basis - the metabolic state of the skin is much more closely related to endocrine, work and rest than what skin care products you use.

After all, the relationship between beauty and skin health is really not that complicated. Don’t always take shortcuts, don’t follow the trend, figure out what your skin wants first, rather than forcing your skin to look like what it should be. Take your time, and you will get the results you want faster.