You Look Great, What Are You Doing?

Sleeping every night. Ok, that joke aside, I have recently been trying to fix my skin. I’ve been busy. I work full time, have two kids, try to be all things to all people all the time and the result is that the extra 4 minutes a day for skin care was sacrificed. I know sunscreen is important, but how and I supposed to remember to do it every day? Well, in my case, I’ve finally made skin a priority, but truthfully, I’m still not perfect. So, below I shall detail my skins journey over the past year.

Over the last 5 years the rosacea that I’ve know was coming got so bad that I refused to be photographed without makeup on. Both my parents have rosacea, so genetically I stood no chance, but a complete lack of appropriate sun protection for the majority of my life meant min was horrific by 40, whereas my mom finally started doxy in her 50s. So, after self diagnosis, I watched some online influencers (yes, doctors do it too) and started topical metronidazole and azelaic acid. Since I used these consistently for 2 weeks and then only occasionally, I mostly got irritation for my efforts and no improvement in tone. For my 40th birthday, I was gifted a consult with a friend’s skin guru. After two months I got the appointment scheduled and we developed a routine. After six months, I got the products all the way from my friend’s house to my bathroom. I will say, the tinted sunscreen made it possible for me to photographed without embarassment, so this was an amazing gift. I got good at using moisturizer every day because my skin was irritated without it, but consistency - other than the suncreen, which I became almost religious about.

During this time, I also diagnosed myself with ocular rosacea and began waking up at night with dry irritated eyes. Stumbling to the bathroom at 2 am for eyedrops is very unpleasant - especially when your husband has put a similarly shaped bottle of ear irrigation on your counter and take it from me, it’s not the same substance. So, ear irrigation in the trash, I asked my eye doctor. For reference, I prefer to avoid oral doxycycline, which I know is effective, but I have trouble swallowing it. I would prefer to avoid a daily routine because I know I’m terrible at the consistency thing. Well, we are trying a dry eye therapy and it definitely works in the short term. I’ve just had treatment 3, so I’ll have to let you know the long term. I also finally got prescription sunglasses to try to protect my eyes and wow, it’s amazing to be able to see and wear sunglasses at the same time. While getting the dry eye procedure, I finally said, hey, can we also work on getting the telangectasias (visible blood vessels in the skin) lasered off. Why, of course we can. So, I’m voluntarily allowing someone to numb by face and then hit it with a cattle prod over and over. They would probably describe it differently, but also, I’m a total wimp. Natural childbirth has nothing on this - and have you seen how big my kid’s head is?

The final phase (as of now, because we are definitely going to have to discuss a face lift in 10-15 more years): When I had the opportunity to open my own practice, my friend and coinjector said we will be doing aesthetics. Ok. So, many hours of education and way too much time looking at my own face, I can now tell you exactly all the problems I have. I’ll spare you. What I have long noticed is that the only major wrinkles that bother me are the crows feet. However, as I was learning, I found a way to deal with my number one real problem - my eyelids. Again, I am genetically not blessed. Both of my parents have had upper blepharoplasty (removal of excess eyelid skin) once the excess eyelid skin started to impair their vision. I can see this coming in my future, esp on the left where I have more excess skin from a previous infection in my 20s. So, I lost my tox vierginity and had some xeomin put in my glabella and crows feet to get a little brow lift and fix the one place I have wrinkles - I literally had almost no ability to scrowl before tox as it’s just not something I do regularly. I’ve decided I don’t really have a frontalis muscle in my forehead, but I may need 2 units on each side. I also still have high cheekbones, so I doubt I can make absolutely all the wrinkles go away, but the improvement in my vision is huge and makes it absolutely worthwhile. Since I was losing my virginity, why not go all the way - so in full transparency, I also had DAO injections, which help prevent unintenional frowning and masseters because I clench my jaw without realizing it until I get a headache. If it makes my face look thinner, I can live with that too. I had to let someone put some filler in my lips for educational reasons and I still stand by my long term statement that there is no part of my body that I’ve ever wanted to be larger. So, we used the gentlest filler for “hydration” and it looks nice, but I could have lived without it. At the same time, I also got a real skin care regimen - cleanser, peptides, serum, azelaic acid, moisturizer in the morning and cleanser, less peptides, biogel and a heavier moisturizer at night. I have been more consistent than ever before in my life. I still use the sunscreen religiously and when you see me on the beach on pilgrimage later this week, you can expect alot of suncreen, physical blocking and wind protection. I may look silly, but I won’t have a sunburn.

We are all of three weeks out, so time will tell how long I can keep it up, but I’m determined to make my 40s my best decade - and the influence plastic surgeons say tht great skincare beforehand is key to getting the best results from your face lift.