Beauty Isn't Just Skin Deep!

What is between 16 and 21 feet,  hosts up to 50 million different living organisms and some parts regenerate every 27 days?  Your skin! 

Your skin is one of your most vital organs. It protects your inner organs from radiation, bacteria, and other harmful agent.  It reflects your physiological and psychological health, and can be the difference between a bad day, a good day and a great day.

The two most common skin problems, acne (both pubescent and adult) and sun damage/aging (wrinkles, discoloration, sunspots, cancer) have been around since the beginning of time. So have various skin protection and healing remedies.  Ancient Egyptians used soaps made from animal oil, vegetable oil and salts.  Fenugreek was used to create soothing face masks and Cleopatra used to bathe in milk to help exfoliate and rejuvenate her skin.  In ancient Greece, masks of honey were used to treat acne. Today, you can buy or make many of these ancient remedies or turn on the television to see the latest therapy.

What causes Acne?

Acne is a part of the normal pubescent experience. Some teens exhibit more acne than others because their body is creating more of the oils that trap bacteria (P.Acnes) residing in hair follicles in the skin.   This trapped bacteria continues to grow and produces the pimples, blackheads and whiteheads.  In much the same way, almost 50% of adult women and 25% of adult men experience acne as well.  A hormonal change, such as when starting a birth control pill, hormone imbalance due to stress and/or poor nutrition, or other factors are usually related to an increase in acne.  It’s important to remember though that there is no direct relationship between the food you eat and acne.  However, because the skin is the bodies largest organ, eating well keeps your skin healthy, just like any other organ.

Treating Acne!

Having acne can be stressful, treating it doesn’t have to be.  Once the root cause of acne is identified, treating it can be as simple as following the right plan for you.  Because acne starts by bacteria being collected deep in hair follicle roots, it’s important that any acne treatment utilized is able to penetrate deeply into the skin to get to this bacteria.   The next important step is to help the skin control how much oil is produced/applied and trapped on the skin.  The sebaceous glands produce oil and overactive ones produce more.  In some cases, certain cosmetics include excess oil that is then trapped in follicles as well.  A good cleanser can help control how much oil is present on the skins surface and how much gets trapped in the hair follicles.  However, you don’t want  a cleanser that simply over dries your skin. Oils are essential to helping your skin look and feel healthy.

I look too old for my age!

If acne isn’t the issue but skin discoloration, sunspots and the appearance of fine lines and the development of wrinkles has you looking and feeling older than you are, then you may need something to help heal your skin.   If you spend a lot of time in sun, like to tan (outdoors or in a sun tanning bed), live in an area with poor air quality or a lot of pollution or smoke, free radicals associated with these environmental factors accelerate the skin’s aging process.  Free radicals are unstable molecules that attack nearby stable molecules to steal their electrons.  By stealing electrons, they create more unstable molecules, thus, for example in your skin, break down the collagen in your skin that normally gives you that youthful resilience.  Normally your body can develop anti-oxidants to help control free radicals but when excessive environmental factors overwhelm your system, your body needs help. 

Nature to the rescue!

One effective, natural way to battle excessive free radicals and the damage they cause is using Vitamin C.  Not only is Vitamin C a powerful antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals, it is crucial to the production of collagen and therefore helps produce collagen where it has broken down. 

Sure you can eat a lot of Oranges to get your Vitamin C, but in order to effectively treat and reverse the breakdown of collagen and its effects on the skin, you have to be able to apply Vitamin C directly to the skin and let it be absorbed.  The best type of Vitamin C for this is stabilized ascorbic acid (you can tell how stable a Vitamin C serum is by seeing how quickly it oxidizes or becomes brown and crusty near the containers opening).  Serums can come in concentrations from 5% to 20%, with 5% being ideal for sensitive areas and 20% being the most effective at reducing brown spots, discoloration, fine lines and other signs of damage caused by free radicals.

How can avecinia wellness center help you?

We have developed two new services to help you address acne or the early signs of aging:

“Clear” is a combination therapy designed to diagnose and treat the cause of Acne.  We start with a 30 minute consultation session to understand your diet and nutrition habits and determine whether their might be an hormonal issue to address.  Then you get a combination treatment of 3 Obagi Radiance Treatments and a 3 month supply of Obagi Clenziderm Acne Treatment.  The Radiance and Clenziderm treatment work together to cleanse your skin of dead skin and bacteria and get you back on track to clear, smooth skin.  

“Glow” is a combination therapy designed to refresh and revitalize your skin. We start with 3 Obagi Radiance peels and a 20% Obagi Professional-C Serum.  Obagi’s Professional- C  Serum is rated by Allure as a “Beauty Best Buy” and is consistently rated as one of the best Vitamin C Serums available.  Obagi’s Professional C-Serum is specifically designed to be more stable and penetrate deeper into your skin to help reduce the visible and not so visible signs of aging.  The “Glow” package also comes with Obagi’s new SPF 50 sun protection moisturizer to help you protect your new, refreshed skin.  The sun screen protects you from both UVA and UVB particles as the Professional C Serum corrects damage caused by free radicals and repairs collagen.

Call us today to come in and find out what may work best for you!  Starting a healthy skin care regimen now can get you the healthy, beautiful skin you want before the summer!

Visit our website at www.avecinia.com to see our prices and our sales.  Call us today to make an appointment and be ready for a beautiful new you for the summer! This article was reviewed by Dr. Unaiza Hayat, MD.


For daily updates on news, information and more on health care and wellness, join avecinia wellness center's facebook page (facebook.com/avecinia) and follow avecinia on twitter (twitter.com/avecinia4health). avecinia wellness center is Fresno's premier integrative medicine and wellness center. We combine internal medicine and primary care with health management, weight management, acupuncture, aesthetics (Botox, Juvederm, Radiesse, Obagi and more) and massage therapy for a holistic approach to health. We use a robust electronic health record program and patient web portal to enhance our delivery of services and to help our patients reach their optimal well-being. To learn more, visit www.avecinia.com. If you are looking for a primary care doctor in Fresno or the Central Valley and would like to become a part of the avecinia family, visit our website and click on new patient registration. Let Dr. Unaiza Hayat and/or Ali Kunkel, MPA, PA-C, become your trusted guides. Our Aesthetic, Weight Management, Acupuncture, Health Management and Massage Therapy services do not require us to be your primary care physician. Learn more at www.avecinia.com We look forward to meeting you!