NYC Dermatologist Lawrence Jaeger, Medical Director of Advanced Dermatology Associates in New York provides useful health & medical tips on achieving your optimum health.
As the season slowly changes from summer to fall, the onset of skin rashes and acne becomes more prevalent due to the associated weather, heating or moisture changes. To avoid the “red itchy syndrome” or potential skin irritation to your face, here are our skin care tips to having clearer and cleaner skin.
It’s simple. The more you take into consideration of what touches your face – i.e. pillow, cell phone & hands — becomes the basis for establishing healthier skin.
Three Expert Tips To Clearer, Cleaner, Brighter Skin:
1. Leave Your Face Alone.
It’s hard to realize this, but throughout the day we touch our faces too much. That wouldn’t really be a problem, except for the fact that we’re constantly touching tons of other surfaces, making our hands a Petri dish for germs and other unwanted bacteria. That subway pole you held on to…or the infamous amounts of buttons, bells or door-knobs touched.
- Did you know that there could be over 332,000 bacteria on the human hand?…basically over 4,700 different strains too.
Therefore…
- Wash your hands more, especially during the fall/winter months when germs are more abundant. It’s suggested that to wash your hands for 20 seconds (singing the tunes of “Mary had a little lamb” or “Happy Birthday” TWICE – can rid your hands of over 200 germs).
- Keeping hand sanitizer in your bag can be another great option. Not sure or confused about the different hand sanitizers available?
2. Clean Your Smartphone.
Another big but unnoticeable way your skin could be sprouting rashes, blemishes and breakouts is related to your cell phone. Considering that it’s always in your hands; placed down or left on many types of surfaces, and then it touches directly your face. Yes, your cell phone is a major germ center.
- Did you realize that the average cell phone has 18 times more bacteria than a toilet?! Even worse is our phones are breeding grounds for bacteria.
- Not only are they overloaded with germs, they are harboring bacteria that we should not be in contact with, such as E. coli,MRSA and the flu. In other words, your toilet is cleaner than your iPhone or Android.
However, the amount of germs on a phone solely isn’t the problem — it’s the sharing of phones between other people.
So basically strive to keep your dirty expensive germ ridden phone in a cover/wrap and use antibacterial wipes and even buying headphones with a mic. Always use your own phone.
3. Cleaner Pillow Talk.
Ever went to bed with your skin looking just fine but woke up with a big red blemish or nasty pimple outbreak?
Another culprit in the struggle for clear skin could be where you rest your head every night. Just consider what is in the pillow you lay your face on night after night… everything from dirt, oil and dead skin cells get trapped there, which may lead to acne. Often times, people always raise comments about grimy sheets, but they forget to change the pillows on their beds. Which is just as worse, as dirty pillows can harbor a host of critters and debris.
The solution…
Basically you should change your pillows “Every three weeks for the outer cover, and every three months for the pillow itself”.
Everyone was the best of health but if you’re looking for healthier skin, nails, lip and hair, it’s accomplished through a better understanding of how the little things you’re doing can either make you better or break you. Establishing this mindset is no different with your skin, hair or nail care.
The better understanding that you have could be the difference. As you can be your own worst enemy when it comes to the root causes of your skin outbreaks or acne. But as with anything in life, it’s about focusing on the simple “little” things by applying three tips to reach your desired skin health.
