Health and Beauty Articles for Women

“One of my patients, a tv actress, came into my office the other day pretty upset,” recalls Ava Shamban, M.D., a dermatologist in Santa Monica, California. “She is in her early thirties and has noticed that people have suddenly started casting her as a killer. Her face has changed—the corners of her mouth have started turning down just slightly, and it has given her a much harder look.”

It’s one of life’s crueler jokes. Your thirties are supposed to be your best years: You finally have a handle on your relationships, you’re on track at work, you’ve built a respectable shoe collection. In other words, you’ve gotten your act together. But it’s at this exact moment that life throws you for a beauty loop. “Thirty is often the age when you start to see your looks changing…and not for the better,” Shamban says.

Those first deep wrinkles begin to emerge, turning once-charming crinkles into full-on crow’s-feet. High school-style acne may decide to make a comeback, or crop up for the very first time. Damage from decadesold summer-camp sunburns can begin to emerge as brown spots and saggy skin. A formerly plush ponytail may become a scrawny shadow of its former self. You get the not-so-pretty picture.

Hormones are one of the main culprits for all these maladies. “The majority of hormone changes start around age 30,” explains Beverly Hills endocrinologist Eva Cwynar, M.D. Because we’re engineered to have babies in our teens and twenties, our reproductive hormone levels begin to taper off in our thirties, which can result in hair loss and funky skin conditions. Human growth hormone, or HGH, begins to peter out too, which means cells don’t turn over as quickly. This puts the brakes on collagen production, giving way to dull, slack skin. “When we’re 18, our growth hormone levels may be around 800. By 30, they’ve dropped to 150. It’s normal. It’s just how we age,” assures Cwynar.

And if you spent your twenties on a beach chair with a glass of chardonnay in one hand and a cigarette in the other, those vices will begin to show, quite literally, on your face. “You start to see the cumulative effects of hard living on your skin in your thirties,” says dermatologist Rebecca Giles, M.D., owner of FIX skin clinic in Malibu, California. Everyone is going to see some changes in her thirties due to hormonal shifts, “but for those who have been tanning, drinking, smoking, and eating poorly, the problems are going to be worse.”

To keep you looking gorgeous throughout your thirties and way beyond, we asked dermatologists to identify the major skin and hair issues you’re bound to encounter during this decade and offer ways to keep problems at bay. If you’ve already detected some beauty erosion, don’t fret. There’s still time to undo the damage.

Stray Hairs

It’s a raw deal that when your hair starts to fall out of your head, it starts to pop up in less than- ideal places, like your chin, nipples, and abdomen. The reason: The ratio of androgens (male hormones) to estrogen may change in your thirties, which can turn a soft, fine hair into a (gasp!) whisker

Preemptive Strike
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s not much you can do.

Turn Back Time
Traditional hair-removal methods like tweezing, waxing, and electrolysis work, and laser treatments have proved to be highly effective too. “There’s also a prescription cream called Vaniqa that can help prevent hair from regrowing, with varying degrees of success,” Day says.

Acne

You may associate zits with first dates and SATs, “but it’s a myth that acne ends in your teens,” says Heidi Waldorf, M.D., director of laser and cosmetic dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “In fact, lots of people see it for the first time at 30.” The causes? A natural decline in estrogen levels, switching birth-control pills (which can create a temporary hormonal imbalance), and stress. The adult responsibilities of your thirties (a big-shot job, a kid, or both) may make cortisol levels spike, resulting in a case of adolescent-like acne.

Preemptive Strike
Daily cleansing and weekly exfoliation will help keep your pores clear and fend off acne. Waldorf recommends the Neutrogena Wave ($13, at drugstores), a device that uses a salicylic acid cleaning pad to remove dead skin cells. If exfoliating seems tedious or if your skin is very oily, you can simply apply a salicylic acid product daily (try Murad Anti-Aging Acne & Wrinkle Reducer, $58, sephora.com, or Philosophy Oil-Free Acne Treatment Gel, $22, sephora.com). “These exfoliate the skin and penetrate pores to disrupt oil production,” Hirsch says.

Turn Back Time
Wrinkle-fighting retinoids also have a way with pimples. If prescription-strength products are too strong for your sensitive skin (or your wallet), try Olay Total Effects with Pro-Retinol ($23, drugstore.com), which is gentle and nearly as effective. Apply it at night to clean skin.

Ask your dermatologist about in-office peels (a custom blend of peeling agents like salicylic acid or alpha-hydroxy acid that’s left on the skin for several minutes, which may result in peeling a few days later). Both are proven zit erasers.

Red Bumps Around Your Nose and Mouth

Notice a constellation of tiny, painless red bumps on the lower half of your face? Chances are, you’ve got a case of perioral dermatitis, which is most common among women in their thirties.

Preemptive Strike
Quit touching your face! “While the cause of perioral dermatitis is unknown, picking and prodding can trigger it by introducing all sorts of bacteria to your skin,” Giles says.

Turn Back Time
“Nothing is available over the counter to treat this,” Giles says. “If you notice these tiny bumps, and they don’t appear to be acnerelated, see a dermatologist, who will likely prescribe an antibiotic in a pill or lotion form to reduce inflammation.”

Brown Spots on Your Face

Big blotchy patches on the upper lip, cheeks, and forehead are called melasma. While typically considered one of those annoying estrogen-related pregnancy symptoms, they can occur in 30- something women who have never been preggers. “Sometimes oral contraceptives can cause these patches, but sometimes they pop up for no particular reason at all, and even just a few minutes in the sun makes them worse,” Day says.

Preemptive Strike
According to Day, nothing can prevent melasma entirely, but slathering on Neutrogena’s new Spectrum+ Sunblock Lotion SPF 55 ($12, at drugstores), which protects skin from UVA and UVB rays, as well as certain wavelengths of infrared light, can stop patches from getting darker. “The latest research indicates that infrared rays and heat play a role, and traditional sunscreen doesn’t shield the skin from them.”

Turn Back Time
Melasma can be tough to treat, but light chemical peels such as the Vi peel, a combination of ingredients like salicylic acid, retinoic acid, and vitamins, can be effective in lifting the pigment from your skin.

Don’t have the bucks (or the pain threshold) for a peel? “Using a topical lightening cream with kojic acid or hydroquinone can lessen the appearance of melasma,” Kopelson says. Apply SkinCeuticals Pigment Regulator ($85, skinceuticals.com) every other night, building up to every night.

Source: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty-and-style/natural-anti-aging?cat=18091&tip=18046

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