Posts Tagged ‘skinceuticals’

SkinCeuticals 10% Off Sale, Monday, December 12th: Notes from a San Francisco Bay Area Dermatologist

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Get Red Carpet Ready for the Holidays!

Monday, December 12^th

Enjoy 10% Off SkinCeuticals!

~Free Gift with Purchase~

Purchase $150 in SkinCeuticals products including Allure Magazine’s “Best of Beauty” award-winning antioxidant technologies and receive a complimentary SkinCeuticals Cleanser! ($36 Value)*

You deserve to be pampered for the holidays, let our experts help.

*Gift with purchase is limited to 1 product and available while supplies last!

SkinCeuticals Sale- Thursday, October 14th!

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Please join us Thursday October 14th for an in-office

SkinCeuticals Promotion.

Experts on hand to answer your questions.

Food, Samples, Fun!

20% off all SkinCeuticals products.

Kathleen Welsh, MD

2299 Post Street Suite 312

San Francisco, CA 94115

(415) 292-6350

I Hate My Neck! Notes from a San Francisco Bay Area Dermatologist

Monday, March 15th, 2010

I hate my neck. Or as Nora Ephron would say…“I feel bad about my neck.” Long before Nora Ephron penned her book with this name, men and women have looked in the mirror and seen loose neck skin that didn’t seem to match their facial skin. Why? Neck skin is thin and has few adnexal structures (oil glands, hair follicles) that can give skin more support. Neck skin is often overlooked when applying sunscreen, yet is almost always exposed. Women also begin anti-aging regimes to the face much sooner than they do the neck. Ms. Ephron complained that surgery could do little to improve her neck’s appearance and until recently there was very little we could offer for neck rejuvenation. Now we have quite a few answers!

First and always is skin care. In most instances your neck care routine can be very similar to your face routine. Neck skin can be more sensitive, like eyelid skin, so care must be taken to use “active” products sparingly. A suggested routine for people with normal skin would be to apply an anti-oxidant such as SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic, SkinCeuticals Phloretin CF, RevaleSkin Coffee Berry, Replenix Green Tea Serum or Prevage in the AM then a sunscreen on top. Reapplication of sunscreen is also important during the day, which may be easier with a powder sunscreen, such as Color Science Mineral SPF 30. Banish V neck shirts from your closet for daywear and consider sleeveless tees when you know you might be stuck out in the sun. I always carry a thin scarf to tie around my neck if I am at a prolonged outdoor event. In the evening you may be able apply a small of amount of Retin-A 3-5 times a week. Non irritating brands like Atralin, Refissa and Micro Gel may work best for you. After Retin-A apply a thick, moisturizing cream. I love Neova’s Creme de la Copper which enhances Retin-A’s work in collagen building. Neocutis cream is also great as is SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter. Sensitive skin types may not tolerate Retin-A on the neck but may be able to try retinols like Replenix Retinol Serum or glycolic acid products found in the Vivite skin care line. There are some home devices that can encourage collagen growth and can be used on the neck. We recommend the Omnilux home LED device and the MTS Roller to help your current products penetrate more deeply into the skin.

Discoloration the neck is usually due to excess sun over the years and can appear as patchy, red brown areas on the sides of the neck. This is called pokiloderma and responds to laser treatments as do brown spots and broken blood vessels. Unsightly growths such as skin tags and flesh moles can also be easily removed in the office. The neck is difficult to treat with chemical peels as it is not as resilient as facial skin. We do have several peels suitable for the neck, but improvements can be subtle.

What’s next! Consider what really bothers you. For crepey skin nothing beats Fraxel laser treatments. These treatments are non-ablative and heal like a sunburn over a week. They are easy to tolerate and very cost effective. In our office a neck Fraxel treatment costs about the same as a syringe of Restylane or Juvederm. You will need 2-5 treatments to see improvement. Treatments can be done every 4-6 weeks. A before and after photo is listed below. Click on the photo to link to the Fraxel website for more results!

If the skin quality seems good but looseness is more of a factor, especially underneath the chin and jowl, Titan or Thermage would be best. These treatments use heat to promote collagen building and focus on tightening of the skin over time, rather than texture. Both treatments have no down-time, which make them simple to fit into any busy schedule. One or two treatments may be required for best results. We can help determine which treatment will be most effective for you.

If “stringy” muscles and “cords” are an issue and are not too advanced an exciting treatment is to use Botox for the neck. This treatment takes about 5 minutes and can improve the neck appearance dramatically, while also preventing future wrinkling.

So, don’t give up on your neck - there is hope out there. Too bad we couldn’t offer Ms. Ephron these treatments before she wrote her book!

March 12th SkinCeuticals In Office Event: Notes from a San Francisco Bay Area Dermatologist

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Please join us on Friday, March 12th for an all-day SkinCeuticals product event. We will have snacks, free samples and a representative from the company available to answer any of your questions. We are particularly excited to introduce a few of their new products like the Pigment Regulator (an effective non-hydroquinone alternative to correct pigment), Retexturizing Activator (a resurfacing and replenishing serum) and A.G.E. Interrupter and A.G.E. Eye Complex (to combat the aging effects of glycation in the skin). In addition, all SkinCeuticals products will be 20% off!! Please drop by our office and take advantage of the savings!

SkinCeuticals 20% Off Promotion! Notes from a San Francisco Bay Area Dermatologist

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Please join us on Friday, November 6th for an in-office SkinCeuticals promotion. Experts will be on hand to answer questions and demo products. Enter our raffle, enjoy refreshments and take home samples of these excellent products.

We are also introducing SkinCeuticals new Retexturing Activator. This revolutionary resurfacing and replenishing serum surpasses the results of a 20% daily glycolic treatment while simultaneously reinforcing the skin’s barrier for healthier, more radiant skin. Retexturing Activator harnesses two polar mechanisms — exfoliation and hydration — to activate skin’s regeneration response, visibly diminishing surface lines and transforming skin’s fabric into a smoother, softer texture. This product is suitable for any skin type.

The Retexturing Activator and all SkinCeuticals products, including classics like C & E with Ferulic Acid and Phloretin, will be 20% off on Friday, so come by and take advantage of this special offer!!

Cosmeceuticals and Antioxidants - What Really Works?

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

You may be hearing the term “cosmeceutical” more and more when it comes to skincare. This fancy term refers to over the counter products that claim to deliver skin benefits similar to those of prescription grade products. The purposes of cosmeceuticals might include, but are not limited to protecting skin from UV damage (sunscreens), reducing free radical formation (antioxidants), improving skin lipid barrier (moisturizers), evening out complexion (bleaching agents and antioxidants), smoothing texture, reducing pore size and improving wrinkles (retinoids and collagen stimulators).

When you read labels on products, you may see they contain vitamin C, enzymes, phytochemicals, etc., but bear in mind that not all cosmeceuticals are created equal. Simply taking an active ingredient and bottling it, does not mean it will actually work when put on the skin. To have an effect, the active ingredients must be in the right concentrations and in the proper formulation to actually penetrate the skin and be biologically available for use by your skin cells. Always be sure to check with a dermatologist first before spending money on products you are unsure of.

It is also important to know that one product alone cannot address every cosmetic skin issue. A combination of cosmeceuticals, such as sunscreen and antioxidants along with prescription strength topicals like Retin-A and hydroquinone (bleaching agent), will give you a balanced skin care program incorporating the best of both product worlds.

My favorite “cosmeceuticals” are antioxidants, which have been clinically proven to combat the signs of aging. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun and environmental pollutants are known to cause skin damage. They create “free radicals” which are just what their name implies – highly unstable, reactive molecules that steal electrons from healthy skin cells, damaging DNA and destroying the cells. This causes age spots, wrinkles and skin cancer. Antioxidants are important because they significantly reduce the production of free radicals in the skin or absorb these radicals and their byproducts. Vitamins C and E and other compounds like ferulic acid, idebenone, green tea and coffe berrry are all proven effective from trusted sources. These sources include Skinceuticals Vitamin C products, Prevage MD (highest percentage of idebenone available), Topix Green Tea and Revaleskin (coffee berry), which are available in our office or at our webstore. These can help prevent skin cancer and keep skin firm and young looking. For best effect they should be used in the daytime under sunscreen. Please contact the office with any questions about which antioxidant is right for you!