Dealing with stretch marks – the options available to you

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Stretch marks can be incredibly embarrassing and can lead to you feeling shy about wearing any kind of revealing clothing, even just a pair of shorts in the summertime. Many women feel as though they’re the only ones to be afflicted with this unsightly issue, simply because people tend not to discuss it all too often. The fact is though that a huge number of men and women suffer from them, whether they have been caused by weight or muscle gain or loss, or by pregnancy for women.

If you do have stretch marks though, you could be waiting for a long time if you decide to simply wait for them to disappear on their own. This may eventually happen, but it can sometimes take months or even years for your red or pink stretch marks to turn to a silvery white colour. Even this shade can be noticeable, so it might be worth looking into some of the other options available to you:

1)      Stretch mark creams

There are a great many creams out there that are designed for use on stretch marks. They can speed up the rate at which your stretch marks fade, but you should remember that it will still take some time – don’t expect them to just vanish overnight. You will need to follow the instructions for the cream you are using very closely and should give it a fair chance at working, so don’t just give up after two weeks!

2)      Diet changes

You might be surprised to hear that just changing your diet slightly could help your stretch marks to fade faster. You should begin eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as using healthy oils when cooking and lowering the amount of fat in your diet. Taking a dietary supplement such as a multi vitamin might also help – choose one that has vitamins A, B, C and E, as well as copper and zinc and ensure you are drinking the recommended amount of water every day as this can help with skin elasticity.

3)      Cosmetic procedures

If you want to rid yourself of your stretch marks for good instead of simply waiting for them to fade you could look into the option of laser stretch mark and scar removal. This non-surgical procedure can effectively reduce the appearance of stretch marks following just one thirty minute treatment (four treatments are usually recommended) and because it’s a non-invasive procedure you won’t need to take time off work for recovery.

Laser treatment works by using a factional laser on the stretch marks, which breaks down the toughened tissue and helps healthy new tissue to form in its place. Afterwards, the area that’s been treated is likely to be red and swollen, but this should go down within a week. Not all skin colours can be treated with this procedure though, so you’ll need to check with your local skin clinic to see if you can undergo laser stretch mark removal.

Do you have stretch marks and, if so, what words of advice would you give to others with them?

Francis Lawson is a freelance writer specialising in non surgical treatments such as skin treatment or non surgical face lifts.

Acne Myths

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For millions of teens and adults, acne is a serious problem. Acne can affect how you feel about yourself, your social life, and many other aspects of your life. It is by no means a welcome part of anyone’s life. For years, people have been fooled by myths about what causes acne and how to treat the skin condition. This has only caused further frustration and feelings of helplessness. By understanding the myths, we can help ourselves and our children to cope with this sometimes inevitable part of life.

Myth #1:

Washing your face more often will get rid of acne

The common myth that acne is caused by poor hygiene is simply not true. Our pores may be getting clogged, but it isn’t due to impurities on the skin. Frequent washing can actually cause the pores to become irritated and promote clogging, causing even further breakouts. Using a washcloth is also a way to further irritate the area. Wash your face twice daily with your fingertips and a mild soap.

Myth #2:

Stress causes acne

While stress can cause your hormones to fluctuate, other factors are more likely responsible for your breakouts. Stressing over your stress will only make you feel worse.

Myth #3:

Tanning will get rid of acne

While there is a small amount of truth behind this myth, it is often misconstrued. For some people, 10 to 30 minutes of sun exposure per day can be beneficial for acne symptoms. However, the myth that regular tanning will rid you of your acne is false. Over exposure to the sun will cause further damage to your skin. This can result in even more breakouts.

Myth #4:

Greasy foods and a bad diet cause acne

While this myth may not be 100% false, there is no proof that your diet has a direct effect on your acne. A lot of people seem to think that too much chocolate or greasy food makes you break out, when really this is not the case. If you find a diet that works for you and decreases your acne, that’s great. However, it’s important to understand that it may appear to work when you start losing weight. This is caused by insulin and hormone fluctuations. Once your body weight levels out, the acne symptoms may return.

Myth #5:

Squeezing pimples makes them go away

While having a face full of pimples can be embarrassing, resist the temptation to squeeze. Popping your pimple will not open up the pore; it will only further inflame the area. Not only will your breakout last longer, it will be much more noticeable.

If acne isn’t caused by eating fatty foods or poor hygiene, how does it happen?

Acne is actually caused when an excess amount of oil is produced on your skin and becomes trapped inside a hair follicle or pore. When this happens, the oil attracts dead skin cells that are shedding from your face or body. These skin cells then become trapped in the pore and a pimple or blackhead forms. This can be purely genetic or hormone related, and it is not caused by anything you have done.

What Can I Do?

There are several acne treatments that work to reduce the amount of acne breakouts you have. Gently washing your face or the affected area twice daily with mild soap or cleanser is necessary. Also, exfoliating the area will help to clear off the dead skin cells before they can become trapped. You can also apply benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid to help remove the excess oil that causes the pores to become clogged in the first place.

Author Bio – Jonny Webber lives in Manchester, where he works as a free lance writer creating content about health/fitness and cosmetic surgery. He writes regularly for a dermatology website http://www.dermatologist.org.uk/acne.html that offers all manner of tips and information on skin care and general health. Follow him on twitter by clicking @Jonnywriter.

Skin Whiteners Brighten Your Skin

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Every woman wants to have beautiful, glowing skin. Because of this, there are a variety of masks, lotions and soaps available in stores that are made to target specific skin issues like acne and signs of aging. If you’ve tried numerous beauty treatments to no avail and you want to try something different, you should try a new beauty treatment known as skin whitening.

As we get older, our skin loses its luster. Issues like age spots can give the skin a darker, older looking appearance. What skin whitening does is add a bright glow to your skin that will give your face a healthier, more youthful look and feel. When you use a skin whitening product not only will you get clean skin, but you will get skin that truly glows. Skin whitening can be done in a completely all natural way that is safe for your skin. Skin whitening products come in a variety of different packages including:

1. Skin Whitening Soap. A skin whitening soap is a bar of soap that cleans while lightening and brightening your skin. If you prefer to whiten your skin using a bar of soap, then you should try skin whitening soap.

2. Skin Whitening Cream. A skin whitening cream is applied to the skin after it is washed. Skin whitening cream can be used on any part of your body that you want whitened and brightened.

3. Skin Whitening Lotion. Skin whitening lotion is similar to a skin whitening cream only it isn’t as thick. As with a skin whitening cream, skin whitening lotion can be applied to almost any part of the body you want whitened.

4. Whitening Body Scrub. If you want to cleanse your body while giving it a whiter and brighter appearance, you must try a whitening body scrub. Not only will a whitening body scrub give your skin a deep down clean, but it will also give it a healthy glow.

5. Whitening Mask. A whitening mask is perfect for fighting signs of wrinkles while whitening and brightening your skin. A luxurious whitening mask is perfect for you if you want a deep down skin whitening treatment.

6. Whitening Toner. A whitening toner is a great way to moisturize your skin while whitening it. Simply apply the toner after washing your face and you will soon see whiter and brighter skin.

There may be a wide variety of beauty products on the market today, but no other skin product can give you the glowing skin that a skin whitener product provides. If you want to have healthy looking and feeling skin that is whiter, brighter, and more youthful appearing, you should try one of the above listed skin whitening products.

About the Author: Suzzy Boleche is a blogger and beauty enthusiast with Flawless Beauty and Skin. She has a passion for health, fashion, and reading. She also enjoys spending time with her family.

How can facial thread veins be treated?

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A lot of people suffer from facial thread veins – these are tiny broken veins just under the surface of the skin that usually appear visually as little red lines. The usual places for them to happen are on the sides of the nose or on the upper cheeks.

These types of veins can happen at any age but they accumulate as we get older, so most people will start to notice them in middle age. There are some people who have quite a lot of them so by the time they get to their mid fifties they are really quite prominent.

We aren’t exactly sure why people develop these blemishes, but being exposed to harsh weather and sunshine seems to be one reason and this probably reflects underlying damage to the skin from dryness and exposure to ultraviolet light. For this reason moisturisers and sun creams can protest the skin from this sort of damage and the development of facial thread veins.

As far as treatment is concerned there are several techniques that can work quite well. The usual treatment for thread veins on the legs is injection sclerotherapy with a chemical which makes the veins shrivel up and go away. However the face veins are often too tiny to inject and in any event, the face is a very sensitive area and injections are very painful.

For that reason face veins are best treated with heat based techniques which avoid injections into the face. These devices use either electrical energy, delivered by a tiny wire into the vein (such as the Veinwave device), or a light based device such as a skin laser or Intense Pulsed Light machine. Both techniques aim to deliver a dose of energy into the vein to make it shrivel up and disappear. For tiny facial veins both options can be quite effective.

One problem with both techniques however is the potential to accidentally burn the patient with the delivery of energy – this is a particular risk for laser and pulsed light systems, so it is advisable to be treated by someone with significant training and experience in the use of the equipment. In addition, particular skin types are more suitable than others for these sorts of treatments – patients with fair skin tend to do better than patients with darker skin. Black skin is a particular problem for laser techniques as the melanin pigment in the skin tends to absorb the laser light before the blood in the vein and this can cause burns or depigmentation of the skin, both of which can look unsightly.

After treatment it is important not to be exposed to prolonged or intense sunlight for a couple of weeks, as the skin is sensitised to light and even mild sun exposure can cause a significant burn – use of high protection factor sun creams can limit this risk, but it is not a good idea to have your face veins treated immediately before flying to Spain for a holiday!

Eddie Chaloner, a consultant vascular surgeon at Radiance Health in London, wrote this article. Eddie has been qualified since 1989, and was appointed a consultant vascular surgeon in 2002. He is a pioneer in the minimally invasive procedures to treat thread veins, varicose veins, and DVT.

5 Shocking Sunscreen Facts

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For most of my life I have had a love-hate relationship with sunscreen. Now that I’m in my 30s, I love it. But when I was in my 20s, I hated it. I was always so focused on getting a good tan, getting my bronze on, and soaking up the rays that I really didn’t take into account how much I was hurting my skin.

But now that I’m a 30something who is starting to seeing these annoying little wrinkles pop up, I’ve gotten religious with my sunscreen application.

I always thought I was doing it the right way, putting it on my face before going out for the day, using moisturizer with SPF, and trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible.

Which is why I was so shocked when I stumbled upon 5 shocking sunscreen facts that rocked my whole world.

So what are these facts? Well I’m so glad you asked.

SPF-less Errands

How many of us put on sunscreen before running out to the car to grab something, or going to the mailbox, or walking down to the corner store? I bet not many of us.

But what is alarming is that, according to sunsafetyalliance.org, 80% of our sun exposure is incidental. Meaning those shorts walks to the car, or the mailbox, or the corner store, or to and from a parking lot, and even being outside on a cloudy day all adds up to 80% of our overall sun exposure throughout our lives.

And if you are doing all of these things without proper SPF protection, well you can be sure that your day at the beach you just indulged in has nothing on the rest of your everyday life.

While it seems so innocent, if you don’t take proper action and start guarding your skin against the harmful UV rays you are subjected to each time you walk outside, you will start to notice earlier signs of aging than those who do use sunscreen each time.

Size Matters

This one goes out to all the sunscreen users who think they have got it right. While I commend you for using sunscreen daily, chances are you are still doing it wrong and not using enough.

In fact, studies show that you should be using at least 2 tablespoons of sunscreen on your body, in addition to at least half a teaspoon of sunscreen on your face to properly protect yourself.

And while that may sound like a lot of sunscreen for one person, if you let it absorb and sink into your skin, you can apply a second coat.

That way you can enjoy your time outside and in the sun without worrying about the damage you are causing your skin.

Ahhhh guilt-free sun exposure. Who knew it was possible?

All Day Protection Doesn’t Exist

Now I don’t know about you, but I always thought if I was spending a whole day outside and I reapplied my sunscreen once throughout the afternoon I would be safe.

Well imagine my surprise when I discovered that in order to get the full sun protection benefits from any sunscreen, you have to reapply it once every two hours!

And what’s even more shocking is that this applies to those who spend the whole day outside as well as those who are just getting incidental sun exposure through everyday errands.

Oops.

Each Sunscreen Is Unique

I am not sure if it was just my sunscreen ignorance, but I always assumed that each sunscreen worked the same way and protected you against the same UV rays.

Boy was I wrong. Completely wrong actually.

Actually, it turns out that if you use a sunscreen that protects against UVB rays, the rays that cause your skin to burn, your skin is still getting blasted with UVA rays. This is important because while we don’t want our skin to burn, we also want to protect ourselves against UVA rays as they are what causes wrinkles, sun spots, and premature aging.

So next time you are looking for a good sunscreen, make sure you choose a product that offers broad spectrum protection, so you can be sure you are guarded against both UVA and UVB rays.

Secondary Sunscreens

Many women I know, myself included, use a daily moisturizer that is fortified with SPF, and usually we consider that to be enough protection for the delicate skin on our faces.

Well not so fast ladies. According to some experts, cosmetic creams containing SPF should actually be considered secondary sunscreens as they don’t offer full protection from the sun’s rays.

Think about it, because we use these creams as moisturizers and for cosmetic reasons, chances are we aren’t reapplying them every 2 hours which means your skin is left unprotected for the better part of your day.

If, however, you prefer to use these products as your primary sunscreen just make sure you reapply it every two hours. But since that can get a little expensive, your best bet might just be to find a sunscreen that doesn’t feel oily and can go under your makeup.

So what did we learn here? Simple. Lather up and lather up frequently to help guard your skin against those annoying, and unsightly, signs of aging. After all, it is a simple step to ensure that your skin looks it’s very best for as long as humanly possible.

AUTHOR BIO:

Vanessa is a skincare blogging babe whose work can be found on websites all around cyberland, including a post on the best microdermabrasion machines on the market today. The best part about her job? She gets to help her readers look and feel their very best.

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