Nikki Sommer, a nurse practitioner with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to Medical MAtters.
Face serums can really help with rejuvenating your appearance.
Sommer explained, “Since we’ve been talking a lot about all the different treatments we offer, and we have our open house this Thursday, a lot of people come in and ask me for skin care advice, of course, because it’s part of the treatment when you’re trying to rejuvenate your skin.”
What are face serums?
Sommer said, “Everybody comes in and they give me their regimen, they have, like, 10 serums listed of what they do on a daily basis. And they’re like, well, which one should I use? So let’s talk about what serums are good for which condition you might have. They’re a little bit lighter than a cream, and that allows the ingredients to penetrate more effectively and target specific concerns.”
Cleaning the skin is important.
Sommer said, “If you talk to many estheticians, they’ll tell you you should do a double cleanse. Always clean your skin twice, usually with an oil cleanser, then with a gentle cleanser. That’s usually the recommendation. And for most women, when they wash their hair, they wash their hair twice. So I say clean your skin twice, especially if you wear makeup and you put a lot of sunscreen on. Then you choose the serum, you put on a moisturizer, which protects the skin barrier. And then, of course, don’t forget sunscreen down here in Florida, where the sun is out every day of the year.”
What conditions can serums treat?
Sommer said, “We’ve talked about hyperpigmentation. That’s when we talk about what our lasers do. RF microneedling can treat hyperpigmentation, is one of the most common concerns here, again, in Florida. So you want to look for serums like vitamin C, tranexamic acid, niacinamide and alpha arbutin. They can help regulate the melanin production, which can be triggered by heat and constant exposure to the sun. These can help gradually fade the dark spots and the sun damage. We always say pigment is pesky, but it is treatable. Unfortunately, when we’re down here in the sun, I don’t want to say it’s curable, but we can treat it and lighten those hyper pigmented spots.”
Wrinkles also can be addressed.
Sommer said, “As we age, our collagen production goes down. I think I mentioned before, previously, I think between 25 and 30, you start to lose 10% of your collagen annually. This leads to things we don’t want, fine lines, wrinkles, thinning, skin loss of firmness, firmness of skin laxity. So anti aging serums usually include retinol, peptides, antioxidants and growth factors. So when you’re looking at all the bazillion different products out there, when you see anti aging, it usually will say that it contains all of these ingredients. One thing about retinol is you need to be careful with it. If you use just straight retinol, like a prescription strength, if you use it too much, it can irritate your skin. So a lot of times, people will come in and they’re overdoing the retinol, and they actually make themselves really red and irritated, and they dry their skin out, and they’ll say, it burns. So when you use retinol, you’ve got to see how your skin reacts to it. And I always tell them to start, like, every other day or three days a week to build your skin up to a tolerance to it.”
How do you treat acne?
Sommer said, “Because acne is caused by usually an excess production of oil and inflammation. So the key ingredients you look for when you’re treating acne are salicylic acid, niacinamide and zinc, they help to unclog the pores and calm down that inflammation. So when you’re having an active acne breakout, those are the usual ingredients or treatments that you look for to calm that down. Down here, because we have chronic exposure to the sun, everybody has red in their skin and I see it in almost all skin tone types there. They always have this redness right in their cheek area. And it’s kind of like where the sun beats down, and our friend alcohol helps trigger that as well. It’s important when you’re looking for skincare products to control redness, inflammatory conditions like rosacea, you find products that contain hyaluronic acid. Ceramides are really big in protecting the skin barrier. Panthenol, which is like vitamin B5 so if you see vitamin B5 or the ingredient panthenol, that’s helps repair the skin barrier as well as this is a big ingredient, this last one in Korean skincare, centella asiatica. It’s actually derived from a plant in South Korea, but they have done a lot of research. It helps repair the skin barrier and calm inflammation.”
What is PDRN?
Sommer said, “Polydeoxyribonucleotide is purified fragments of DNA that usually comes from salmon or a fish. Trout is another one. It actually helps to stimulate tissue repair and cellular regeneration. We use this a lot post treatment when we do lasers or micro needling, but now you’re starting to see it in skin care as well. They’re advertising a lot of PDRN and products. It’s been used for decades to help with wound healing. We didn’t use PDRN in clinic for wound healing. But we, actually used, oh goodness, we had a graft. It was like a fish skin graft that helped to heal wounds, and it worked very well. So PDRN kind of works the same way they help tissue repair and cellular regeneration, just not on the skin level, but on wound level as well. It’s a key component for skin regeneration.”
Why is PDRN used?
Sommer said, “It enhances the skin healing and tissue regeneration. We increase collagen production when we do laser RF micro needling, so does PDRN. So when you combine them together, they’re actually working together to improve your skin overall. Once you decide what serums you need or you’re going to use, make sure you cleanse first before you put the moisturizer on. You can put your serums on. Even if they’re very thin serums, you can put the drops of serum in your moisturizer, actually, and put it on your face. It still will work. And then, of course, always wear a sunscreen and give it time, four to eight weeks to see if you see any results. There are so many different products on the market, so do your research. Before you go into Ulta or Sephora and spend $1,000, you can talk to an esthetician or somebody or myself who’s kind of been in the field, and can steer you in the right direction.”
The consultation at Key West Surgical Group is free.
Sommer said, “This Thursday, March 12, from five to seven, we have an open house. There will be snacks, refreshments, and I will be demonstrating all of our devices for one big platinum treatment. If they can call and RSVP, because our space is kind of small, so just so we can get a head count and make sure we have enough food and refreshment for everybody.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/