Natural Skin Care Guide

The skin can lose its firmness at any age even in some cases as early as late 20s. Our skin’s firmness depends on a number of factors like our lifestyle, the food we choose to eat, how often we exercise etc. Whatever we do has its effect on your skin. Signs of sagging are not very prominent in the early years of our life still we can’t afford to ignore it. All we need is to live a healthy life and take care of ourselves right from early youth. Here a few simple things you can do to prevent your skin from losing its elasticity.

• Wear sunglasses, use a sunscreen lotion and cover your body well while going out in the skin. A 15 minutes exposure to sun daily will give your skin enough Vitamin D. But if you stay in the sun for any longer time it will dry up your skin and will hasten the aging process and even cause serious skin disease. Using sun protection can prevent your skin from the harmful effects of the UV rays.
• Harsh wind, scorching sun, central heating, air conditioning, harsh chemicals of the soap robs the skin of its essential oil making them dry and dull. Moisturize your skin regularly. Pay special attention to your hands and feet. Apply moisturizing lotion to your body after bath and before going to bed. Use a moisturizer free of artificial color and fragrance.
• Exercise regularly. Exercising helps to keep our body in shape. It helps our skin to take up necessary oxygen and makes helps the skin to retain its elasticity. Facial exercises make aging lines appear worse. There are some special exercises for toning up the facial skin. Laughing is said to be the best facial exercise.
• You can bathe yourself in cold and hot water alternatively before going out of the bath. This contrast bathing will help your skin to contact and expand again and again and will keep it more elastic.
• Neither gain nor lose weight too fast. When your skin cannot keep pace with the rapid changes in your weight it can either get you some wrinkles (in case of remarkable weight loss) or leave stretch marks (when you suddenly put on weight without moisturizing the skin) .
• Opt for a balanced diet. Choose foods that are rich in minerals, proteins and vitamins that our body really needs. Go for home made foods and avoid fast foods. Avoid too much sugar in your diet as it can increase laxity. Instead choose diet rich in protein which has antioxidant. Olive oil is great for skin. Eat fresh citrus fruits and vegetables.
• Drink sufficient water to keep your skin hydrate

Scabies is essentially a skin infection which is caused by a particular type of mite called Sarcoptes Scabiei. The scabies mites are very small, grey in colour and are not visible to naked eyes. The mites generally require the warmth of the body to survive. These mites make a tunnel just below the skin surface and start living there. Once into the skin the parasitic female mites start feeding on the blood of the host. They lay eggs which hatch after 21 days and the larva comes out. The new mites make their own tunnel below the skin surface, grow up, lay eggs and in this way they continue to multiply in number unless the cycle is broken by proper treatment. Scabies is characterized by itchiness and are contagious. A person with scabies can infect others unless the eggs and mites in his body are fully destroyed with proper medication.

The scabies spread through

• Skin to skin or bodily contact with the infected person.
• Sharing of personal articles like towel, bed linen, clothes with the infected person.

Anybody of any age group can get infected by this disease. The occurrence of this disease is in no way linked to poor hygiene. However it is common in crowded conditions where people live in close physical contacts.

Treatment of scabies

• The first step is to apply topical mite killer creams of permethrin (Elimite) or Lindane on the infected areas. Leave it overnight before washing them off. However, pregnant women, nursing mother or children below 2 years of age should not use lindane.
• Oral medication is also effective to treat scabies
• To relieve itching antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can be used.
• The clothes, towel, bed linens, pillow covers of the patient should be washed in boiling water. Because the mite does not survive long after it is moved away from the body of the host.

Home remedies

• Mix equal quantities of neem (margosa) leaf, turmeric powder and mustard oil and make a fine paste. Apply it on the body of the infected person and leave it for half an hour. After that the person should take a bath. His clothes and towels should be washed after having been soaked in hot neem water. Repeat this 7-10 times a day till lesion completely disappears. Simultaneously the person can also drink the decoction derived boiling neem bark in water.
• Make a paste of sublimed sulphur with eight tablespoon of the coconut oil and rub it all over the body of the infected person after he had taken a hot bath. It should be done for 3 successive nights.
• Make a fine powder of dried peepul leaf and then dust it over the infected area.
• Mix equal quantities of drumstick leaf juice and seasame oil then boil them till the water completely evaporates. Allow it to cool and then store it. Apply it on the infected areas daily.
• Apply fresh juice of apricot leaves over the affected area.
• During the treatment period the patient should take plenty of juicy fruits such as orange, apple, pineapple, pear, peaches and melon.

Anti aging wrinkle cream- what is it?

It is a special cream which has certain ingredients that helps to reduce the signs of aging. There are anti wrinkle creams available for people of different ages. Different anti wrinkle cream work in different ways. Some of them tone up the skin and reduces the appearance o f the wrinkles, while others work with the skin’s natural repairing process and might stimulate the production of collagen or other natural substances within the skin.

Key Ingredient used

• Vitamin E is an important antioxidant found in the skin. Wrinkle cream with Vitamin E neutralizes the free radicals and makes the skin soft, smooth. It also helps to reduce the depth of wrinkles and the length of facial lines.
• Tretinoin is derived from Vitamin A. It helps to lighten the skin and replace old skin with new skin and thus reduces the fine lines and blotchy pigmentation.
• Vitamin C is helpful in repairing the skin damaged from exposure to the UV rays of the sun. It is also know to recycle Vitamin E and promote collagen formation.
• Hydroxy acids are derived from food and dairy products. They work as exfoliant by removing the
  dead and dry skin and encouraging the growth of smooth and evenly pigmented skin.
• Retinol is also an important antioxidant.
• Alpha -lipoic acid (ALA) is a naturally occurring anti oxidant of the skin. It also has mild exfoliant property which is helpful in reducing fine lines, wrinkles, and age spot and leaves a firm toned skin with a smoother appearance.
• Coenzyme Q-10 is essentially a nutrient which regulates the generation of energy within the cells.
• Copper peptides have wound healing property and play a major role in synthesis of collagen and elastin.
• Kinetin keeps the skin hydrated and helps in reducing the wrinkles.
• Isoflavones are derived soy and can protect the skin against sun damage and can increase production of hyaluronic acid, a very important constituent of skin.
• Green tea extracts have anti -oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It helps to repair the sun damaged skin.
• DMAE is said to improve the firmness of the skin.

How safe is it?

Anti aging wrinkle cream is a natural way of fighting the signs of aging. It delays the aging process by clearing the skin of excess oils, free radicals, and other damaging toxins and brings them to a healthy state. It is safe to use an anti aging wrinkle cream. But there are may be some ingredients in the wrinkle cream which can initiate some allergic reactions. So, it is always safe to go through the instructions and look for the mention of the side effects if any before using a product. However, no anti aging product is the ultimate solution to aging; they are meant to compliment a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Tattooing has become extremely popular in present society especially among the teenagers. Tattoos are made by injecting colored pigments in the small pores of the skin. Tattoo marks are relatively permanent in nature. So, it is not very easy to get rid of those marks. Fortunately, now there are a number of techniques available to remove the tattoo marks. But all techniques may not be equally effective. The results can range from lightening of the tattoo marks to its complete removal. This is because the extent to which the tattoo marks can be removed depends on number factors like the size of the tattoo, its color, location and the length of time it has been on skin. In this article we will discuss briefly the various tattoo removal techniques.

Laser removal

Laser therapy is a common method of removal of tattoo. A cream is applied to the tattoo to numb the area. Then, pulses of highly concentrated light are used to target the tattoo pigments and break them into tiny fragments and in a few weeks time the treated pigmented areas are removed by the body’s scavenger cells. However an effective result cannot be obtained in a single treatment. When the number treatment is more the laser rays can go deep inside the skin to remove the tattoo ink in a better way. But more treatment means more harm to the skin which can cause painful blisters and scabs that can eventually lead to scarring. Laser therapy generally require 1-10 sessions depending on the nature of your tattoo which can be pretty expensive.

Intense Pulsed Light Therapy

It is the newest method of tattoo removal. Here, instead of laser high intensity lights are used. A gel is used on the skin then intense pulsed light rays are emitted into the skin to remove the marks. It is less painful than laser therapy and requires fewer session.

Impetigo is a localized bacterial infection common particularly among the children aged below 6 years. It is a highly contagious disease. The disease is caused by Group A streptococci (also known as strep bacteria, by Staphylococcus aureus (also known as staph), or by a combination of the two. The bacteria being very contagious can spread to other parts of the body through scratching or through contact with towel, clothing, or a stuffed animal and cause infection. The impetigo targets those areas which are already damaged by either chicken pox or insect’s bite or burns etc.

Symptoms

• Lesion on face, lips, arms or legs
• Blistering
• Itching
• Stinging of skin
• Inflamed skin
• Crusting of the skin and oozing from the blisters
• Appearence of rashes on the skin.

Prevention

Since Impetigo is a contagious disease. Hence to prevent it from spreading the following precautions should to be adopted:

• Close contact with the infected person should be avoided
• Children who are affected by the disease should not be sent to school or day care until their condition is under control.
• Patients should not share his towel and clothes with others.
• Change the bed sheet, pillow covers, and clothing of the patients daily in the first two days of the treatment and wash them in hot water.
• Keep the finger nails of the children short it will prevent the bacteria from spreading in other parts of the body when the child scratches.
• Regular bathing and washing hands with anti-bacterial soap can prevent the spread of the disease.
• Any injury on the skin should be kept clean and covered to prevent the bacteria from affecting the wounded area.
• The contagious period is usually over after the first two days of the treatment. But in case the impetigo does not heal in one week go for another evaluation.

Treatment

Depending upon the extent of the problem of impetigo there are many treatment options.

• If the infected area is very small then the best way to treat it is to leave the area as it is and let the nature do its healing work.
• Topical antibiotic ointments such as fucidic acid, mupirocin or polysporin are helpful in treating impetigo when the affected area is small.
• Oral antibiotic like Flucloxacillin is prescribed when the infection is severe.
• When the healing process starts it is very important to keep the infected area clean. Wash the area with anti bacterial soap. Remove the crust skin from the infected area using warm soapy water. Clean skin allows the anti bacterial ointment work better on the bacteria underneath the crusted skin.
• However if the impetigo is accompanied by fever or the infected area becomes red or inflamed immediately see your doctor.