Healthy habits are the fundamentals in having great luminous skin.
Apart from a good skin care routine, a good night sleep, regular exercises, yoga and meditation, drinking plenty of water, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, avoid smoking and alcohol and a less hectic lifestyle also play a very important role in maintaining good skin.
What is a good skin care routine?
First and foremost is to keep your skin clean.
Wash your face twice a day with a good cleanser, follow with a toner to remove fine traces of oil, dirt, and makeup you may have missed when cleansing.
However, toner has been regarded as optional in some skin care range (especially the medical brands), because an overuse leads to excessive drying of the skin, unless the skin is extremely oily.
Next is to follow with a good moisturizer geared toward your skin type — dry, normal, or oily.
The last layer to apply (before your make-up), also the most IMPORTANT step, is a good sunblock. In Malaysia, as our weather is very hot all year round, we really need a good sunblock with at least SPF 50, more so if you have just undergone laser or peeling treatments. As immediately post-treatment, skin in the recovery stage are young and supple, so they are more vulnerable to the damaging UV rays. A wide-brimmed hat to block off excessive sun-rays is also recommended.
Sometimes, my patients find that using multiple layers of different skin care and prescription treatment cream can be very confusing.
I have found a good chart which shows this layering method clearly.
* Targeted treatments are the pigment spot cream, acne spot cream, PIH prevention cream etc.
Written by Dr. Tan WW
