I have been obsessed with skincare my entire life. I had horrible acne as a teenager and very dull skin in my 20s, so I¹ve spent the better part of my adult life researching and experimenting with skincare products.Now, fast-forward to my mid-40s and I am both thankful that I have been on a strict skincare regime, as well as terrified because I see my skin changing, yet again. Thank you, Father Time. You suck.
I started my skincare regime about 14 years ago with the help of Dr. Marcia Fleming and her amazing team at Delta Laser and Skin Care Centre in North Delta. I knew I needed a professional because what I had been doing cherry-picking drugstore-brand products was not helping or improving my skin. Fleming has been practicing in the Vancouver area for 14 years and she is the medical director of both the Delta Laser and Skin Care Centre and the Lougheed Laser Centre.
She keeps on top of the constant change in the field of aesthetic medicine and she is also a clinical preceptor (that¹s a fancy word for saying she also teaches other physicians the fine art of aesthetic medicine).
In other words, she knows her stuff. I interviewed Fleming for this column to get the lowdown on what we should be doing with our skincare regime with each passing decade and how we can get beautiful skin, at any age.
In our 40s, our focus should be on adding moisture to our skin and rebuilding the collagen that is slowly diminishing as we age. Two products Fleming recommends to promote collagen production are vitamin C and retinol.
In addition, we need to start protecting our skin with a broad-spectrum sunscreen, minimum SPF 30, all year round. (Yes, all year, not just on sunny and bright days, or when travelling to a hot climate. Sunscreen 365 days a
year, baby.)
In our 50s, the same rules as in our 40s apply (adding moisture to the skin, sunscreen and boosting collagen), with a shift now leaning towards adding growth factors and peptides to your skincare regime. Growth factors strengthen the skin, repair aging skin and protect the future of aging skin. But, alas, just like a cheap Coach knockoff, not all growth factors are equal.
To make a difference in the skin, you need a pharmaceutical product, compared to a cosmeceutical like those found in drugstores. Cosmeceuticals will not have the magical active ingredients needed for serious skin
improvement. These skin-changing, fabulous products can be only be obtained by a doctor at a medi-spa.
Peptides (especially ones that contain retinol, antioxidants and specialized DNA-repairing enzymes) work around the clock to help minimize UV oxidation damage and uneven pigmentation while restoring skin function and elasticity.
In our 60s, Fleming recommends higher concentrations of active ingredients such as retinol and growth factors with enzymes to prevent and repair photo-damaged skin. These products will radically reduce wrinkles, uneven skin tone, fine lines,
rough textures and sagging skin. And, of course, as always, sunscreen 365 days a year.
One of the biggest skincare concerns women have (and the initial reason I walked into Fleming¹s clinic) are brown spots, otherwise known as age spots,and redness. No woman likes these! They are the equivalent to that person in front of us at the checkout who has the exact change, somewhere in the bottom of their purse, and wants to count it slowly and methodically to the cashier.
Thankfully for us, though, we can easily do something about the spots and redness, and as for that person in front of us, just don¹t use the express checkout. That is their natural habitat, the "under nine items or less"
lane.
There are two services you can have to treat spots and redness that work brilliantly. The first, IPL/photorejuvenation, will address age spots,redness and small broken capillaries (like those little buggers around the nose) in as few as three to five treatments. I have had IPL treatment a lot through the years and it does work, and with no downtime. The second service is Fraxel or Venus Viva (newest on the market). These treatments work by resurfacing the skin, which in turn creates new collagen production, as well evens out the tone and texture, tightens enlarged pores and helps with pigmentation (aka age spots).
PJ Wren is a local personal trainer and writer who specializes in over-40 fitness and health and who wore sunscreen while writing this column.
