What are the sort of common changes that women
in their 40s will notice occurring to their skin?
Okay, I mean... I can even speak from my personal
experience because when I hit 40, all these things
happen. The first thing happens, your skin is
going to change from oily to combination. It's
not completely dry yet, but we are hitting that
sneaky decade before menopause. So some parts
are going to be dry. Now, the second thing is,
like you mentioned, the cell turnover is going
to be slower. So scars are going to stick around.
You know, you get one pimple, but the scar is
going to hang around for a longer time. Don't
I know it. I'm a picker. As soon as I get one,
I can't help it. I'm like there and I'm scratching
and then I'm like, oh, I've got to be scarred
out. And it's not just on your face, like on
your legs. You go somewhere, you cut yourself
and then that mark is there for weeks and you're
like, I don't remember that being, you know.
And then lastly, a lot of people think I hit
40, I'm never going to have pimples again. Unfortunately,
that's not true. You kind of get the worst of
both worlds. You're still going to have acne.
But they tend to be the larger underneath the
skin, a bit more problematic, hanging around
for a long time. You don't get a lot of them,
but you still get them. So I think these are
the sneaky changes that come in. Well, and you
said, you know, the nature of your breakouts
change. Do you find that they're more hormonally
driven in their 40s? Totally. So does that mean
that we're helpless against them? Like, you know,
I mean, like if it's like a hormones issue and
it's going to happen, like what are the best
way to deal with hormonal breakouts? So, you
know, there's so many things you can do with
hormonal breakout because hormones is... just
i mean like you guys know it's not just your
female hormones cortisol is a hormone and that's
why when you don't sleep well you're going to
break up break out you're going to heal slower
so the first thing you can do is better nutrition
hydration first thing in the morning sleeping
better you're going to reduce your cortisol and
of course you're there's a lot of female hormonal
changes that's taking place i think by the time
acne comes on and you're taking that pimple cream
and dotting it It's too late. There are a lot
of things we can use on our skin to prevent our
skin from breaking out. So a lot of people treat
acne like when I see it, then I'm going to do
something that's wrong. In the 40s, you're going
to be using things like niacinamide. It helps
very much with pimples. It's vitamin B as well.
These really boring ingredients. I call it the
beige cardigan of skincare because nobody really
is like, what does it do? But it's so gentle,
but it does a few things. Anti -aging, it helps
a bit of acne, helps with oil control, but not
very strong. It doesn't kind of peel like HA,
doesn't exfoliate your skin like retinol. So
a lot of people say it does nothing, but it does.
And you use it on the whole face. It can be in
a moisturizer or a serum. The second thing is
azelaic acid. Again, this is one of these multitasking
ingredients, but not very sexy. It's been around
for a long time. It helps with pigmentation,
helps with pimples, comes and moisturizes, so
you can use it all over your skin. And I think
that... when I change that for my patients and
I'm giving them, you know, not empty moisturisers,
but moisturisers with a bit of vitamin B, a bit
of azelaic acid, they find that in general, there
are breakouts. It doesn't stop completely because
sometimes the breakout is due to you calling
your husband. Sorry, you still have your husband.
But the breakout sort of reduces. Then when they
get that breakthrough acne, that one or two pimples,
okay, that's where we dot with the pimple cream.
That is the best strategy I find. Okay, so you've
mentioned... sort of applying sort of vitamin
B, vitamin A in the form of retinoids. What about
ingesting it? So like, can we take supplements
to help with breakouts? Okay. My feeling about
supplements is that when you take a supplement,
it doesn't really go to the skin of your face.
It goes to your entire body. Okay. That's why,
you know, a lot of my patients, when I take collagen,
it's going to pat on my cheeks. Well, it could
go to your buttocks. It's not always true. And
it doesn't work quite as well as topical. application.
For us to take a vitamin and for it to reach
such a high concentration in the skin of our
face, we'll be ingesting such huge quantities
that it is not feasible. And most of the time,
we're going to pee it out. So by the time we
are taking supplements and you notice your pee
is bright yellow, you're just making very expensive
urine. Okay, well, that's good to know. So I
think now is the perfect time to play a little
game, which we call Hot or Hype. Okay. I'm going
to chat about some trending topics for you. And
you can tell me whether you think they're hot
or hype. You kind of already mentioned one, but
collagen drinks. Hot or hype? Oh, it is definitely
hype. Oh, is it really? It's hype. I wish it
was true. But you think about it. Just because
we don't have enough collagen doesn't mean we
take collagen. Same like when your hair's dropping,
you don't eat hair, right? Yeah, thank God for
that. What about skin boosters? Okay, when you
talk about skin boosters, are you talking about
the injectables? Yeah, I think that's what I
mean. Yeah, that totally works for increasing
dermal water. So what happens is the hyaluronic
acid content in our skin goes down. And so you're
replacing the hyaluronic acid content in our
dermal layer. And that helps us hold water. Okay,
so my profile is doing something is what you're
saying. Yeah, your profile is doing something
and you look great. What about baby base hugs?
Botox is, you know, there were three treatments
I put in my books that totally works and Botox
is one of them. Okay, shout out. Botox, we welcome
you as a sponsor. Please come on the show. It
has years of science, but it's gone from sexy
to not sexy only because it's been there for
a long time. But it does what it does. It actually
reduces the excessive muscle movement. And when
done well, it's not paralyzing your face. It's
reducing this excessive movement in your skin.
Don't forget, your skin is going to be on top
of your muscle. Every time you have a muscle
contraction, your skin sort of gets creased up.
So if you minimize this excessive movement, you're
also saving your skin. So baby bowl shots for
people who want it. Minute doses, preserving
expression. I think it's a great way. Okay, that's
good to know. Yeah, I love that. What about things
like red light therapy? The masks, right? Yeah,
that everyone's wearing. Okay, so red light therapy,
you've got to be very careful. You have to use
one that is bright enough, what we call luminescence.
So some red light therapy... it's not bright
enough to penetrate the skin. So like, you know,
handheld devices at home. I mean, if you're really
patient, maybe after years and years of using,
but if you really want something to help, you
want one that you're sitting in a clinic where
there are a lot of bulbs, it almost feels like
it's almost too bright, you need goggles, that
does help. Two things. At 670 nanometers, improves
healing, it rejuvenates the skin. And of course,
there's a latest study in UCL that says that
if you expose your eyes to red light in the morning,
just two to three minutes, three times a week,
it actually improves your eyesight. Oh my gosh.
I had not heard. I was trying to say that is
something I had not heard about until like on
this chair. Okay. So a lot of women go around
saying we want to age gracefully. Yeah. What
is... So would you say there's a fine line between
aging gracefully and giving up? Yes, I think
it's a fine line. You know, I mean, yeah, sometimes
it is almost like one of my male patients came
and says, you know, I have this girlfriend and
she's so natural. She doesn't even wear makeup.
And my heart was thinking for your girlfriend
to not wear makeup, she must do a lot of aesthetic
treatments. So that's the difference. What is
aging gracefully? Aging gracefully really is...
Not overdoing, but you still want to treat yourself
and your skin with some amount of respect. Like
not wearing sunscreen, that's not aging gracefully.
It's really throwing yourself to the environment.
Smoking, that's not aging gracefully. So I think
the first thing if you talk about aging gracefully
is having good habits. Before you even think
of aesthetic treatments or layering anything,
it is nutrition, sleep. exercise mindset. If
you are always stressed, I think it shows up
on your skin. Yeah. So what would you say are
the bad habits then that can really show up on
your skin? You know, I think I have a culprit
for many of these bad habits. One is sleeping
late. Okay. Okay. So a lot of people think when
I talk about sleep, they say I do get eight hours,
but the eight hours sort of starts at 2am in
the morning and then goes to the timing of when
you sleep is very important because Because like
you were saying, in your 40s and your 50s, you
really rely on these repair hormones at night.
They sort of are like the construction crew.
You know, so your melatonin, your growth hormone.
But the problem is if you're not in bed by 10pm,
this construction crew starts thinking, oh, she's
not asleep. I'm going to take a day off. So if
you sleep at 2am, they don't actually come and
repair your skin as much. So if your shift work,
you're the sort that is like a night owl, you
tend to have poorer skin. So sleep is one main
thing. And that's the same for muscles, by the
way. You know, if you don't get the proper timing
and amount of rest, then your muscles don't repair.
So all that work you do in the gym, for what?
I'm so glad I go to bed at 9 p .m. It's so reaffirming
to what we already do. Okay, so sleep. What else
would be a bad habit that people are doing? Okay,
one of them is sugar. Okay, and I think you guys
eat nutrition. We just did an entire episode
on sugar. Probably going to your area of expertise.
But for us, you know, sugar isn't just sweet
things. Like high -carb food, that's also sugar.
And I know for you guys about building muscle,
I think that's a no -no. But for the skin, they
form these things called advanced glycated products
and products. And these things make your skin
stiffer. And they can't be reversed. So imagine,
you know, creme brulee and you're caramelizing
the sugar on top, making your skin a little bit
stiffer. And that's how wrinkles form. So when
you take high sugar food, you are actually wrinkling
faster. And also spottier, right? It also contributes
to dark spots. I know Tyler, my husband, is always
talking about the banana, you know, the ripe
banana, the overripe banana. That's you on carbs.
That's your skin on carbs, I should say. And
you know, it's funny, isn't it? The advanced
glycation end products actually is an acronym.
Easy to remember. Or to avoid. But a lot of people
think sugar is just sweet foods. But you know,
if you just take a lot of plain rice or bread,
that would also form AGE. Yeah, sugar needs a
rebrand. In other words, people start to understand
that it's carbohydrate load. You know, it's carbohydrate
load. a clip from 40s Formula in Focus with Dr.
Chai Lo Lim. You can go back and listen to the
full episode now by clicking the link in the
show notes.