Yes, that was not a typo.
I do love skiing, and clearly winter is ski season as well. But as I am a plastic surgeon and not a world famous downhill racer, I am here to tell you winter is prime time, the best time, to improve your skin. Why? Mostly because it is dark, and you aren’t out in the sun, a great thing when trying to get rid of the skin pigmentation caused by the sun.
My favorites for winter:
Retin A products. (Differin, Tazorac, Refissa, Renova) These are not over the counter- they are prescription and not baby safe (sorry for all of you Bay Area moms with the wee ones). The issue with Retin A products is they can make your skin a little red and peely. Not good for summer, but in the winter, AHA! I just tell people I went skiing and got a little windburned (though windburn is likely really a form of sunburn). What does Retin A do? It thickens your dermis (skin) and makes the collagen more organized (which is good). It is tried and true, old old technology which works. Put it on at night. Avoid the sun. If you get too peely, then lower the strength and/or do it every other night.
Peels. TCA, Blue peel. I love it. It is a controlled chemical burn which removes the top layer and a half of your skin.
(Yes, should only be done by a doctor professional. I recently fielded a question from someone who found a kit on the internet to do a home peel. eeek! Some acids are weak- like the fruit acids- so it is difficult to go deep. TCA is not a weak acid, and if you go too deep you will scar and depigment your skin. Bad.) So, back to the TCA. When you go deep enough to do anything for the fine wrinkles and pigment, your skin must resurface. Your skin looks flaky and peely- not red, bleedy, crusty- but you aren’t going to want to be seen by a lot of people as you go through it. The resurfacing process takes 7-10 days. A great lesson to your kids on why they need to put on the sunscreen in our California sun. The skin looks fresh and new after it peels, and you have months before you beat it up again with the sun (and of course, you will now be a big fan of sunscreen daily, yes?). I am a big fan of the peel, and have done it myself. Remember you need a week of downtime and avoid the sun afterwards. Again- walah! Winter is the perfect time. (NOTE: if you are dark skinned, you need to pretreat your skin prior to the peel for a month with Retin A and hydroquinone to insure your pigment will be smooth. Some of my patients get such an improvement from the products, they don’t need to do the peel).
Other good things:
B5 serum- Helps hydrate if you get dry skin.
Antioxidants :C&E. Always good, year round. Skinceutical C E Feurlic and Phloretin CF
Sunscreen: When you do go to the mountains, that windburn is really sunburn. (I know I know. I thought it was just the glow from being in the mountains skiing).
Eyecream: Winter can be drying. Elastiderm helps plump the skin up again.
Hmmm. Think that is about it.
Skin season. It’s on!