Essay on the relationship between beauty and skin health

Beauty and skin health are not opposites or sequential relationships, but a highly symbiotic organic whole - all beauty methods that are divorced from the foundation of skin health can only achieve short-term visual effects, and may even cause irreversible skin damage.； Scientific beauty practices that conform to the physiological laws of the skin are essentially positive maintenance of skin health. They can delay aging and improve appearance while maintaining the normal physiological functions of the skin.

Not long ago, I met a 22-year-old girl at the dermatology clinic I cooperated with. She came in with half her face swollen, her eyes were red and painful, and she was also flaky. After asking, I found out that in order to take graduation photos, she applied two whitening masks every day for half a month, did deep exfoliation once a week, and had thick eyelash extensions. She originally wanted to "beautify and become more beautiful", but she first contracted contact dermatitis and blepharitis, and she couldn't even put on makeup for the graduation ceremony. During the consultation, she was still mumbling, "I'm just doing skin care, why is my face so bad?" In fact, I have encountered this kind of case in perhaps 80 cases in the past two years.

The current debate on beauty and skin health on the Internet is basically polarized: one group is the radical group that "efficiency comes first". They believe that acid, photon, fractional matrix, and strong medicine stacking are the only effective beauty. All sensitive and stinging are "the only way to build tolerance." As long as they can lighten spots, remove wrinkles, and make pores smaller, short-term damage is not a big deal.； The other group is the "minimalist-oriented" conservatives, who believe that all skin care products and medical beauty programs are IQ taxes. Washing your face with water and not applying anything is the best for your skin. Applying a face cream will increase the burden on your skin. Both views have their supporters, and they have been arguing for four or five years with no results.

In fact, objective data is the most accurate way to speak. According to 2023 survey data from the Dermatology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, 62% of patients with acquired sensitive skin are caused by improper beauty procedures-including excessive exfoliation, frequent use of highly irritating products, failure to follow doctor's instructions for repair after invasive cosmetic surgery in irregular institutions, etc. What particularly impressed me was a 30-year-old investment banker who had 8 fractional laser treatments in one year for anti-aging purposes. She did not leave enough repair period for her skin in between. Her originally healthy normal skin turned into severely sensitive skin that turns red and hot every season. It took her two years to build up her skin barrier. But this does not mean that beauty is harmful to the skin. A 42-year-old sister I know has naturally sensitive skin. She did not even dare to use facial cleansers before. Later, under the guidance of a dermatologist, she underwent low-energy photorejuvenation every three months. She only uses mild skin care products with ceramides and squalane on a daily basis. The transepidermal water loss value measured last month was more stable than that of many 25-year-olds with healthy skin, and the fine lines were at least one-third fewer than those of her peers.

We in the industry often say "barrier first, then effect". To put it bluntly, the skin barrier is like the security door in your home. If you remove the security door and replace it with a carved glass door for the sake of appearance, it will indeed look exquisite, but if the wind blows or a thief comes in casually, your home will definitely be in chaos. Just like a while ago, I helped a review blogger test a new product. She put on a certain Internet celebrity mask that featured "instant brightening" for seven days in a row in order to shoot a video. Her face was indeed as bright as a lightbulb for the first three days. On the seventh day, she started to have dense, closed lips. She sent it to the laboratory for testing. The pH value of this mask is only 4.2, which is far lower than the weakly acidic range of the normal skin surface. It is strange that it does not ruin the face after long-term use.

Of course, there is no need to treat all beauty projects as a scourge. Last month, I accompanied my sister to the plastic surgery department of a tertiary-level hospital for endoscopic surgery to remove eye bags. After the operation, I used a restorative medical dressing for a week as directed by the doctor, and the swelling completely subsided in a month. She originally rubbed the bags under her eyes all the time, and the skin barrier around her eyes was very thin, making it prone to dryness and itching. Instead, she paid attention to care after the operation. Now the condition of her eyes is better than before. The last time she went for a skin examination, the doctor praised her for taking good care of her eyes. Even the Internet is making a lot of noise now about "Is morning C and evening A a tax on IQ?" There is nothing right or wrong in essence: for healthy oily skin and skin with strong tolerance, it can indeed resist oxidation and promote collagen production, and there are a large number of clinical documents supporting the effect. ； But if you have dry or sensitive skin and blindly follow the trend and use high-concentration prototype VC and A-alcohol, your face will be almost inevitable. If you have to dig two holes in the wall to install decorative lights, it will collapse quickly.

I have been in the skin care industry for 12 years, and I have seen too many people who put beauty and health in opposition: either they give unknown injections to the face for the sake of beauty, and in the end the bad face needs surgery to remove it.； Either I dare not put anything on my face for the rest of my life, and my face becomes so dry in winter that my skin peels off, and I feel that skin care products are all “chemical stuff” that damages the skin. Two years ago, I met a 68-year-old aunt who only used soap to wash her face all her life and endured the chapped face in winter. Later, her grandson bought her a bottle of baby moisturizing cream and after applying it for half a month, she came to me and said that her face had never felt so comfortable. She also asked me if there was any safe way to make the age spots on her face lighter.

After all, the relationship between the two is not that twists and turns. Skin is originally the largest immune organ of the human body, and health is its basic function. Beauty is just the icing on the cake. Don't treat it as a test field that can be created casually, nor as a glass vase that can only be used as a supply. Find out its tolerance, don't mess around, maintain it regularly, and it will naturally give you the state you want. After all, really good skin always looks translucent, feels soft and moist, and even you feel comfortable, right?