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What’s your favorite radiant skin secret? For some patients, it’s a favorite moisturizer, makeup, or blemish-busting soaps. For others, it’s diet and exercise. Still others seem to struggle with skin-related issues all of their lives — and that can impact everything from self-esteem to confidence levels. For these reasons and more, skin care can and should be a regular part of your self-care process.
If you’re feeling down about your skin, there’s hope for a fix. Here’s what you need to know and how you can get the skin care help you need from your local pharmacy.
The Statistics (Why You’re Not Alone)
According to the American Academy of Dermatology and Right Diagnosis, the prevalence of skin struggles (whether innocuous or serious) is quite high:
- 50 million Americans struggle with acne
- 5.5 million Americans struggle with psoriasis
- 15 million Americans struggle with eczema
- 50-60 million Americans struggle with allergies
- 31 in 1000 Americans struggle with dry skin
- 13 million people suffer from rosacea
All-told, several hundred different medical skin conditions can cause frustrating symptoms for patients. That makes skin struggles one of the most common and complex health-related issues facing Americans today.
Despite the commonalities, skin condition sufferers face an immense amount of stigma due to erroneous assumption about the nature of these conditions (e.g. people assuming they’re contagious). That can leave patients feeling disheartened, depressed, and upset — not to mention desperate for a fix.
When you’re ready to seek a solution, visit your local pharmacy. Your care team can help you self-resolve mild to moderate skin conditions and their symptoms through these five distinct strategies.
1. Skin Typing Advice
Think you know your skin cleansing protocol? You might be surprised to find out that you’re wrong.
Over the years, what we know about the skin and how it works has evolved and changed. Whereas we once believed that patients had either dry, oily, or combination skin, we now know that skin types are just the start.
Medical professionals now know that the skin has a barrier and is modulated by everything including:
- the immune system
- hydration levels
- monthly hormone fluctuations
That makes it very difficult to determine your skin type on your own.
Like hair types, determining your skin type is complex. Patients often assume they know their skin type only to later find out that they’ve misjudged their skin after irritation, dryness, or excessive oiliness occurs.
Sometimes, a patient who did have the correct products will notice that they no longer work as well over time. The natural aging process can also alter your skin and change your skin type altogether, as can hormone levels, so a patient who has dry skin at 24 could feasibly have oily skin at 45 or vice versa.
The first step to proper skin care is to determine exactly what your skin needs in the first place. Speak with your pharmacist about judging your skin type correctly. Through a series of simple questions, he or she can make an educated guess at your type and requirements. This, of course, works best in person where the pharmacist can visually confirm your skin texture, color, and concerns.
2. Skin-Specific Cleansing Protocols
Patients struggling with certain conditions (e.g. dry skin) may need to alter their skin cleansing protocol. Using the wrong products or washing at the wrong frequency can cause:
- irritation
- dryness
- oiliness
- a worsening of more serious skin problems
Excessive washing and underwashing can both cause your skin’s natural barrier to break down. Without a proper barrier, your skin can’t block out bacteria or maintain proper hydration. But the right washing protocol respects barrier integrity, supporting your skin in functioning as best it possibly can rather than attempting to strip as much oil and dirt away as possible.
If your skin problems aren’t resolving despite a daily cleansing regimen, speak to your pharmacist about more skin-friendly products. He or she may recommend a non-soap-based cleanser designed to address the needs of your specific skin type. These products are much less irritating.
3. Manage Chronic Skin Conditions More Effectively
If you do have a chronic skin condition your pharmacist will become an important part of your healthcare team. These are conditions such as
- psoriasis
- scleroderma
- cystic acne
Pharmacists are experts at looking at the bigger picture; they see a top-down view of the illnesses you have and the medications you’re on right from your file. That can make identifying opportunities to reduce symptoms or manage cosmetic impacts much easier, especially if you see both a regular GP and a dermatologist separately.
It’s also quite common for pharmacists to identify comorbid disorders that may be causing your skin conditions in the first place.
A patient who is struggling with what they believe is rosacea, for example, could actually be experiencing the complications of Lupus if they’re diagnosed with the disease. A red, butterfly-like rash across the face is one of the main identifying symptoms of Lupus, but rosacea can present this way, too.
There’s also a significant amount of crossover and misdiagnosis in dry skin, psoriasis, and eczema. A disrupted skin barrier causes the first, while an autoimmune disease is responsible for the second. Researchers believe that eczema is tied to the immune system as well, but it can also occur as an allergic response for sufferers.
Whether you’re sure your skin issues relate to a condition you already struggle with or you’re still waiting for a diagnosis, your pharmacist can help bridge the gap with advice, suggestions, and information.
4. Cosmeceuticals
Cosmeceuticals take the best of pharmacology and bridge it with cosmetics to create a new and entirely individualized approach to skin care. Unlike most commercial products, cosmeceuticals contain biologically active ingredients that specifically target skin conditions and problems to build, repair, and rejuvenate.
Cosmeceuticals don’t require a prescription (they fall under cosmetics, not drugs) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t powerful. On the contrary; most cosmeceutical companies use data-driven formulas backed by research to formulate their products. Cosmeceuticals often have a similar efficacy to prescription products despite the lack of prescription, but may be more budget-friendly or skin-friendly for certain patients.
Like vitamins and supplements, you shouldn’t use cosmeceuticals unless you’re sure they’re right for you. Your pharmacy can review your personal skin situation and suggest which cosmeceuticals and how to use them properly to treat everything from aging to skin spots and even autoimmune skin conditions.
5. Skin Care Compounding
If you’re one of the few patients for whom numerous allergies, conditions, or sensitivities prevent the use of both cosmeceuticals and commercial products, your local pharmacy may still have an answer: skin care compounding.
We often think of compounding in terms of medication, but that’s a very limited view of the possibilities. Truthfully, pharmacists use compounding on a daily basis for everything from medication adjustment to customized skin care products.
Skin care compounding can come in many forms. It’s as simple as removing an allergy trigger by re-creating a formula from scratch, or as complicated as creating topical formulas from standard medications (e.g. steroids). Pharmacists who use compounding for skin care products are providing you with more of what you need, and less of what you don’t.
When you can’t tolerate other products, compounding your skin care products may be the best answer available.
Need a personalized skin care solution? Your local pharmacy is standing by to help. Stop by for a consultation or call for informed advice on how to handle all of life’s most frustrating skin struggles. From acne to vitiligo, you deserve answers and a skin care regimine that respects your individual needs.