Skin Care Beauty Zone

Skin Tightening Treatments for Preventing Saggy Skin

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 09:35 AM PDT

Although everyone would like to think our tight, smooth skin will last forever, the fact of the matter is that skin tightening treatments are very necessary once people get into their 30s and 40s. Everyone is going to wish that their skin could look tighter and more youthful, but this is something that is rather hard to attain once you get older.

There are many different options when it comes to tightening the skin, and they can basically be broken down in the two categories of surgical and non-surgical.

Skin Tightening Treatments The non-surgical skin tightening procedures include Titan, Refirme, Thermage and LuxIR.

These are often advertised as alternatives to going through with a surgical procedure, but they generally don't have the same level of efficiency that is found in surgical alternatives.

When talking about the face, the surgical procedure of skin tightening is often referred to as a face-lift.

A non-surgical procedure will generally have the ability to tighten the skin at a level that is about one-fifth of what can be seen from the results of a surgical option.

These numbers will vary depending on what part of the skin you are trying to tighten, but the general rule is that a surgical option will be much more reliable.

New laser treatments are also receiving high marks from doctors involved with skin tightening around the world.

How will these skin tightening treatments do their job?

Skin tightening procedures are necessary if you want to continue to look youthful as you get older in age because your skin will begin to lose a bit of elasticity as you age. Elasticity is important because it is actually what holds your skin close to your body. As your skin loses its connection with the body, it will begin to sag and hang down in an unattractive manner.

The main thing that the elasticity of your skin depends on is the levels of elastin and collagen in your skin. These two main components of elasticity can be found deep in the skin in the layer known as the dermis. Collagen and elastin are responsible for making sure your skin stays tight all the way down in the deepest section of your skin.

Do these treatments really work?

The effectiveness of skin tightening treatments depends entirely on what kind of treatment you decide to use. Some treatments require multiple visits to the doctor, while others will be completed in one simple visit. When it comes to treatments that involve the use of radio and infrared frequencies, you can expect better looking skin in about 30% of all cases.

If you can't live with that sagging skin on your face, you should definitely think about getting some kind of skin treatment to make sure that your skin tightens up a bit. Even if your skin tightening methods do not work, it would be much better to try and fail than to not try at all.

You will know whether or not the skin tightening treatments are worth it after they are over by checking out some before and after photos provided by your doctor.

8 Tips for Hand Care – Is It an Overlooked Part of Your Skincare Regime?

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 06:30 AM PDT

Did you know that your hands can be a dead giveaway of your real age? Not looking after your hands can show your age even if you take great care of your facial skin.

Think about it – the hands are the parts of our body that work hardest, are subject to the most amount of exposure to the elements, are often overlooked when it comes to skin care, and also, you cannot put makeup on your hands to hide those lines.

Hand Care So here are some tips to help your hands look their youthful best –

1. Moisturize your hands and don't forget your nails.

Moisture will help keep the skin soft and supple, reducing appearance of lines and it will also keep the nails healthy and prevent them from becoming brittle.

Ideally moisturize your hands as part of your nightly skin care routine, and then wear gloves to bed to keep in the moisture.

2. Wash right. When you wash your hands use a gentle cleanser to retain natural moisture. Liquid soaps are usually milder than bar soaps.

3. When you do the dishes, make sure the water is lukewarm and not hot; in any case wear gloves to protect hands from harsh chemicals and water that will leach the moisture from the skin of the hands.

4. Protect from the sun as well. When you slather on the sun screen on your face and arms, remember to do the hands as well.

5. File with care. When filing nails, make sure that the cuticle is protected and the nails also don't suffer from incorrect filing. Also when it comes to the cuticles don't cut or trim them; rather use a soft towel to push them back when the hands are well.

6. Good hygiene is important too. Not only do unclean nails look terrible they can also harbor a host of germs giving rise to infection and other problems.

7. Use nail polish but give your nails a break from it from time to time. The acetone in the nail polish can discolor the nails and so use nail polish occasionally rather than routinely.

8. Eat healthy and exercise. Your skin is an organ like any other and that which is good for the other organs is good for your hands as well.

As a healthy diet can benefit the body it benefits the skin keeping it younger, more supple and with relatively fewer lines and age spots; giving you younger looking hands as well.

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