The Right Moisturizer is Hard to Find - Even for Men

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The Right Moisturizer is Hard to Find - Even for Men

While the market has always heavily favored skin care products for mostly women, the focus on men has dramatically increased over the past several years – and with good reason.  More and more men are starting to work in a daily moisturizer or face cream into their skin care routine.

When it comes to selecting a face cream, there are a ton to choose from and can be incredible overwhelming. 

To help guide you through this process, there a few key factors that you need to look out for before you press that ‘buy it now’ button.

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Defeating Aging – More than Just Sun Screen, Botox and Moisturizer

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Defeating Aging – More than Just Sun Screen, Botox and Moisturizer

The cosmetic surgery and medical spa industry have many snazzy, innovative, high-tech solutions designed to slow down or reverse the effects of aging. Every month there's a new cool gadget or special sauce that hits the market adding a couple more years to our ‘beauty curve’. They all have one thing in common – they attack the effects of aging after-the-fact.

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Oh, Charcoal. Are You Dirty? Clean? Both? Neither?

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Oh, Charcoal. Are You Dirty? Clean? Both? Neither?

The theory behind including activated charcoal in beauty products is similar to its medical use: it will act like a magnet to attract and absorb dirt and oil. And the experts say that theory holds water. "When dirt and oil in your pores come in contact with the carbon, they stick to it and then get washed away when you rinse," cosmetic chemist Ni'Kita Wilson explained to Allure.

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Mastering Multi-Ethnic Hair

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Mastering Multi-Ethnic Hair

The global haircare market is predicted to be worth an astonishing 87.73 billion USD this year. The industry is booming. But with thousands of new products coming to market each year, how much do people really know about caring for multi-racial hair? Even their own? After all, no two heads of multi-ethnic hair are the same. But it is possible to care for all the different curls, coils, waves, kinks and unique beauty of multi-ethnic hair.

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Sun Damage Dos and Dont's

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Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun can cause premature skin aging, skin cancer and other conditions such as:

Skin texture changes, such as coarse wrinkles, especially on the back of the neck, and fine wrinkles caused by thinning of the skin, especially on the forearms and back of hands. Excessive bruising from minor trauma. Pigment changes, such as brown spots, freckles, age spots and liver spots. White spots on legs, arms and the back of hands. Red areas on the sides of the neck. Moles, some of which can develop into skin cancer. Pre-cancerous skin changes, including red scaly lesions called actinic keratosis and lesions on the lips called actinic cheilitis, both of which can develop into squamous cell carcinoma.

What you should know about sun-damaged skin:

Excessive sun exposure is the most significant cause of aging skin. It also can exacerbate many other skin conditions, including age spots, scars, crow’s feet, frown lines, scars, skin cancer and more.

Do’s and don’ts

Do...

  • Reduce your exposure by wearing comfortable loose-fitting clothes during summer months.

  • Use the appropriate level of full spectrum sunscreen, somewhere between SPF 15 and SPF 50.

  • Wear a hat or head covering while outside.

  • Get 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure daily to promote your body’s production of vitamin D.

Don't...

  • Use sunscreens with SPF factors greater than 50 as they give a false sense of security and may encourage you to stay in the sun too long.

  • Expose skin to the sun that is red, sore or blistered.

Sun-damaged skin questions to ask a dermatologic surgeon

(Download a Sun-damaged Skin Questionnaire to bring to your appointment)

  1. Which sun-damaged skin is the correct one for me? (What are the options?)

  2. What is the estimated cost of the procedure?

  3. How long is one appointment?

  4. How often will I need to receive treatment?

  5. How far apart are the treatments?

  6. What are the common side effects or complications associated with the procedure?

  7. How can I prepare for the treatment/procedure?

  8. Does the treatment hurt?

  9. What are my pain management and anesthesia options?

  10. How long is the recovery time associated with my procedure?

  11. Do you have before-and-after patient images to help to prepare me for what to expect?

  12. Will someone walk me through the process before going in for treatment?

  13. What are the risks?

  14. What should I expect after the procedure is performed? (i.e., short-term and long-term effects; activity restrictions; expected recovery period)

General questions to ask before sun-damaged skin procedures

  1. Is a doctor on site?

  2. Is the doctor board-certified in dermatology or in another specialty with equivalent training and experience?

  3. Was my medical history taken?

  4. Was I given an initial evaluation to determine if the technique or procedure is appropriate for my skin type?

  5. Did the doctor show me before-and-after photos?

Number of Male Plastic Surgery Procedures on the Rise... AGAIN

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Number of Male Plastic Surgery Procedures on the Rise... AGAIN

From aging executives trying to fend off younger rivals to male models looking to make a bigger splash on the runway, more men are turning to plastic surgery to try to improve their looks, the industry's professional organization says. 

The number of plastic surgery procedures performed on men rose 29 percent between 2000 and 2017, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported Wednesday. Some 1.3 million cosmetic procedures were performed on men last year alone.

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Who is That Poor, Tired Old Person Staring Back at Me in the Mirror?

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Who is That Poor, Tired Old Person Staring Back at Me in the Mirror?

Sometimes clients will feel they look tired or deflated without being able to pinpoint why they feel that way. They may not have the distinct volume loss or facial laxity that would be fixed by fillers or a facelift, respectively. Instead, they may have broad areas of volume loss across the mid-face, along the cheeks and in the temples. At SkinSpaMED, we commonly see this effect in patients with petite faces, long lean faces and especially athletes. Sculptra Aesthetic is one of our favorite products used to address these areas.

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Botox & Fillers – What’s the Difference and Which Is Better?

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Botox & Fillers – What’s the Difference and Which Is Better?

Those of us who work in the cosmetic business usually look with a cynical eye at the way the media portrays certain cosmetic treatments. Oftentimes, highly effective cosmetic procedures are treated as a punchline, like sitcom characters ending up with paralyzed faces for laughs. I have to admit, this kind of drives me a little nuts, as it can scare away some who would otherwise benefit from cosmetic procedures, but are now worried about potential side effects that are greatly exaggerated for comic reasons. Botox, one of the most popular and effective non-surgical treatments out there to treat wrinkles, is often minimized and demonized with misinformation and scaremongering.

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