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| Tips for Winterizing Skin |
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Winter is here, and so is the dry, itchy skin season. Winter can wreak havoc on patients’ skin, causing numerous problems. Fortunately, with a properly followed treatment program, patients can have better-looking and better-feeling skin.
Charles E. Crutchfield III, MD, of Eagan, Minn, offers four simple principles that patients can follow to obtain healthy-looking skin this winter: cleanse, moisturize, protect, and correct.
According to Crutchfield, it is important to cleanse the face with products that contain lotion to replace the moisture lost during cleansing and that do not contain detergents that remove natural oil from the skin.
Moisturizing the skin is also important, says Crutchfield, especially during winter, when humidity is low. The best time to apply moisturizer is right after bathing. It is important to gently pat-dry the face with a cotton towel and liberally apply the moisturizing lotion. Some moisturizers he recommends contain sesame oil, oatmeal, and alpha-hydroxy acids.
To protect the skin, Crutchfield recommends using a sunscreen that has a sun-protection factor of 15 or higher as well as UV-A protection. The sunscreen must be applied 30 minutes before UV exposure and every 30 to 60 minutes thereafter.
Crutchfield’s final principle for obtaining beautiful-looking skin is to use lotions to correct and reverse the signs of aging. Antioxidants are a broad category of substances that quench the free radicals produced in normal skin processes. Corrective lotions that contain alpha-hyroxy acids perform this function.
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