Five steps to amazing skin with Dr Des Fernandes

Here are five crucial tips to create the healthiest skin from Dr Des Fernandes, plastic surgeon and founder of Environ, the results-focused, anti-ageing range available from skincare therapists: 

1. Each and every day, replace vitamins A, C, E and beta carotene that have been destroyed by exposure of the skin to light.  The only way to replace vitamin A in the skin is to apply it topically.  Because day-light challenges the skin with a free radical attack, you should load up the skin with protective vitamins A, C, E and beta-carotene in the morning before you leave home. 

We know that UV-A penetrates window panes, so exposure to the sun behind glass may protect you from a sunburn, but it does not stop the damage to vitamin A in the skin.  Even on a cloudy day, vitamin A is destroyed by soft UV-A, so that means that the vitamin A, and the anti-oxidants, need to be replenished in the evening.

2. For the youngest looking skin, start a regimen of vitamin A and antioxidant replenishment soon after your first exposure to the sun.  Yes!  I mean when you are still a child. The important message is:to preserve young healthy skin, you have to start when the skin is really still young and healthy!

3. We need sunlight to be healthy so do not avoid it.  However, be sun-wise and never trust the protection of any sun-block.  No sun-screens (even the mega SPF products) have adequate protection from UV-A.  That’s why we need to concentrate on adequate replenishment of vitamin A and the antioxidant vitamins that will permit you to go into the sun with greater safety than using sun-screens alone.  Retinol and ascorbic acid may make the skin hyper-sensitive to the sun so choose products with kinder versions of vitamin A and C.

4. Spend a few minutes cleaning your skin thoroughly but gently so that the horny layer is not disrupted.  Whiteheads and blackheads are more easily dissolved in an oily preparation and mineral oil is one of the best agents to do that.  Most people, especially people with a tendency to acne, fear that mineral oil will exacerbate acne but that is not true.  Massage for two to three minutes to make sure that the skin is thoroughly cleansed but not abraded.

5. When you are out in the mid-day sun, wear a hat.  People with a tendency to pigmentation problems should always wear a wide brimmed hat made of a thick material.  Even the tiniest exposure to UV-A can make lightening on pigment blemishes an impossible task.