Your skin is hard at work even when you’re at rest. It is also your largest and heaviest organ. Depending on your body shape and height, your skin may weigh anywhere from 7-22 pounds and have a surface area of more than six square feet. Your skin protects your inner organs from the environment and helps excrete toxins, too.
Your facial skin works just as hard as the rest of your skin. But it’s also exposed to sunlight, pollutants, and other environmental stressors. Although you may be supporting your skin’s health with high-quality cleansers, moisturizers, and sunscreen, you can help it even more with a facial.
At Dermatology Institute & Skin Care Center, our dermatologist, Paul Yamauchi, MD, PhD, and our skin specialist Summer Nguyen Liew, MSPAS, PA-C, advise that you support your skin with regular facials at our Santa Monica, California, office. Following are a few reasons why adding facials to your skin care routine take it — and your glow — to the next level.
Facials assist with skin cell turnover
Your outermost layer of skin is called your epidermis. It consists mostly of cells that produce keratin, a form of protein that keeps your skin, nails, and hair strong. These types of cells are known as keratinocytes.
Keratinocytes are pushed to the epidermis by newer skin cells underneath. On the surface, the keratinocytes cluster together and harden, forming a strong barrier against the environment.
The keratinocytes on the outer layer of your skin eventually die and are sloughed away. However, when your cells don’t turn over quickly enough, such as when you start to age or have acne, the epidermis takes on a dull look. That’s because it’s composed of dead cells.
If your skin is prone to acne, those old keratinocytes clump inside your follicles, causing whiteheads, blackheads, pimples, and more. The dead cells become food for the bacteria living on your skin, causing them to create more bacteria and inflammation.
A facial’s first order of business is removing those hardened and clustered keratinocytes. Once the dulling layer of the epidermis is whisked away, fresh new keratinocytes emerge and form the new surface of your skin. Your skin looks younger and fresher because it’s actually composed of younger and fresher keratinocytes.
Facials stimulate new growth
The gentle mechanical forces involved in facials — from exfoliation to extraction — also trigger healing processes in your skin. For one, your body starts to produce more blood vessels in your facial skin, which keeps the cells nourished and youthful.
Second, a facial helps stimulate more collagen and elastin production in the deeper layers of your skin. That can help your skin grow stronger and even thicker. To some degree, it may even tighten your skin.
Facials remove debris and impurities
If your skin tends to get clogged with blackheads, whiteheads, or pimples, our aesthetic experts can extract your pores. However, we may not be able to perform extractions or exfoliation on already inflamed skin with active lesions. In that case, you may need to delay your facial.
In addition to removing clogs through extraction, a facial also deep cleanses your pores of other materials that may dull your skin. Old skin care products, dirt, and pollutants are gently whisked away during your facial.
Facials nourish your skin
A facial is also a great time to drench your skin with the nourishing ingredients it needs to stay fresh and resilient. Depending on your needs, we may select from a variety of serums that counter the signs of aging or minimize the risk of acne breakouts.
Make this year your skin’s best year yet by booking your first facial today: Phone our friendly staff or send us a message online.