Healthy Skin 101 with Dr Noreen - What Every Woman Should Know About Her Skin

0:00 People will say, "Well, I don't know how I have mealasma because I never go out in the sun. I'm sitting in this dark room in front of my computer." And I'm like, "Yeah, that's why you have mealasma." The sun is responsible for 80% of our age. Here's a picture of this person who drove a truck for a living. It looks like a grandfather and his grandson almost. It's dramatic. Today we have Dr. Noren Galaria. She is a dermatologist that has been practicing for over 20 years now. She's an expert in treating people of color. The number one food would be green tea doesn't just prevent sun damage. It'll actually reverse. What causes a wrinkle? The movement. If you could ban one skin care product or ingredient, what would it be and why? It would be the collagen. How much does our collagen really go down? And I read there was about 1% every single year after you hit like 40. If

0:46 your listeners are tuning in for a really good cry, they're about to get it. Actually, it's worse than what you just said. I'm Radhi Dlukia and on my podcast, A Really Good Cry, we embrace the real, the messy, and the beautiful. Providing a space for raw, unfiltered conversations that celebrate vulnerability and allow you to tune in to learn, connect, and find comfort together. Hey everyone, welcome back to this week's episode of A Really Good Cry. Today we have Dr. Noren Galaria. She is a dermatologist that has been practicing for over 20 years now. She's an expert in treating people of color. And her inner glow supplements, which is internal sunscreen, just won an award for excellence in healthcare. And I have to add that she has transformed my skin. I've done treatments with her and um she

1:32 has been treating my skin for mealasma for how many years now? A couple maybe three. For a couple of years, she's helped my mom with hers and it's pretty much gone now. So, she is such an expert and I'm so excited to have her here because I get so many questions about skincare and I feel like you're the perfect person to answer it. So, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Okay, I want to get into it because I feel like what I've learned most from you is about edible skinincare. The idea that we can eat things that is good for our skin. Not only that, but we can protect ourselves from the inside. And so, I want to ask start off by asking you, what should we be eating for good skin from the inside? So, I mean, I really believe in the concept of food is medicine, right? But a lot of people are like, and so I guess

2:18 the first thing I should say is if you could just eat a diet that was so varied in colorful fruits and vegetables, you're probably going to hit all of the major things. But if you were like, and this is what most people ask me in my office, what are like the top four or the top five? Because it's hard to do everything, right? For me, I would say the number one food would be blueberries. So, blueberries are a food that are really, really jam-packed with skin protective properties. And if I can go a step further, I would say buy wild organic blueberries because that thick skin on the outside of a blueberry really packs like a very powerful antioxidant punch. M and if I would choose a second thing, I'd probably say green tea, specifically matcha because

3:05 green tea doesn't just prevent sun damage, it'll actually reverse. So, we even have evidence now that if you have precancers from the sun, it'll reverse those early stages. So, green tea is I mean, some people hate the taste, but if you can incorporate it into a smoothie or I'm not a big fan I put in my smoothies at lunchtime, it really is very very helpful. And the other things I guess would be probably I would say turmeric and ginger are easy to incorporate. Amazing anti-inflammatories, great for skin glow. Um, and probably tomatoes. Oh, really? Tell me more about that because from what I've heard with tomatoes, they sometimes can be inflammatory and then can cause things like rosacea or, you know, skin irritation. So tell me more

3:52 about that cuz So you know like so much of food is medicine. It kind of depends on what you're doing with it. So there's something called lycopine in a tomato that um really has very very good skin antioxidant properties. But it's best when you cook it. Okay. So like if you're going to do tomatoes, do it in a sauce. Do it in a stew or something. But the leycapine is not as strong if you're eating them fresh. Yes. You know, um I've heard there's a little trick that you can do when it comes to tomatoes, especially if you get acidity or it affects your skin. You take off the skin and you take out the seeds. Yes. And it actually But is the lycopine in the skin? Well, no. You can actually get it on the inside, too, which is why the the simmering helps. Yes. So, if you take out the skin and the seeds, it actually reduces the inflammatory properties of it. So, that's a cheap way of kind of

4:38 getting tomato in if it affects you. Yes. Okay. Those are such easy, inexpensive things to add into your day. So easy. So easy. And blueberries, I always say, you know, buy the frozen. I know they're not always in season, right? But that is something like I keep wild organic blueberries in my freezer at all times. And so, yeah, a lot of these things are very accessible. Since you told me that, I my morning smoothie is usually my vanilla protein powder, a t teaspoon of matcha, and blueberries, frozen blueberries. And it's so great. And I do something similar, but I add a kind of a knob of ginger into mine, too. If you can tolerate the kick, you just get that extra punch. That's so good. And what you said about frozen blueberries, my dad actually used to have farms and um they used to he told

5:23 me that when you actually freeze fruits and vegetables from the moment they're picked. Actually, they're often better in nutrient value than the fruits and veggies that we have, especially if they're out of season. So if these blueberries have been grown and picked and then frozen, the nutrient value are far better when they're in season and fresh from the farm than the stuff that we sometimes get. I mean, cuz what you're getting at the grocery store sometimes has, you know, boarded a truck and then boarded a plane and I mean, by the time you get it, it was picked like weeks ago, you know, and so yeah, if you can get something that's frozen, it almost is farm to table, you know, like it really is much fresher. You know what? When you were saying that, it made me think of when I get on a plane and how I feel when I get off one. And I'm like, that's how my blueberries feel

6:10 when they get to me. Okay, so we talked about the good things, but tell me, what are the things that that are unexpected that people probably don't realize they're eating that are actually terrible for their skin? Like, how are people damaging their skin through through what they eat? So, I mean, I don't know how unexpected, but processed foods, right? I mean, they're terrible. Especially in this country, like you're from the UK. I always say Europe doesn't allow in its yoga mat what we in America allow in our food. You know, like the colors, the additives, the preservatives. And so, you know, this whole talk and really whenever someone asks me to talk, what we're talking about is anti-aging by preserving our collagen and preserving

6:55 our elastin, right? And if you are eating a processed diet, especially if it's high in sugar, we know sugar breaks down your collagen and elastin. It's a process called glycation. And that is probably the biggest culprit in diet that is often hidden cuz it's hidden in processed foods. I mean, I love sugar and so it's so hard. I try the sugarfree. I know you recently did like a sugar detox. It's hard and then I go back. But if you can cut at least added sugar and just get your sugar from fruits and things, um it does have a huge impact on your skin. It does. Is there anything else that you've noticed has for people who already have skin issues that when they're eating they're noticing flare- ups or you know issues

7:42 in their skin when they're eating? So it's person dependent. So I will say like I don't want to give like a blanket statement but for some people dairy makes a big difference right and so dairy causes a lot of inflammation in people's skin and especially like for example if you're drinking milk skim milk so if you are like I love milk but I don't know if it's maybe causing acne if you cut it out for a few weeks and you think it is some people can't do skin but they can get away with whole um and I think it's because the fat in the milk maybe binds up the hormones. But I do think that, you know, high sugar dairy can be problematic for a lot of people. And I feel like, you know, obviously you've helped me treat my mealasma. My mom has melasma. It's

8:27 something that I notice is more prominent in skin of color. Yes. Is that true? 100%. Yeah. So, um, anybody can get measma regardless of your skin tone, but the more pigment rich you are, the more the pigment will be affected by your hormones and sun exposure. And are there different foods for people with mealasma? Would you recommend the same? No, I mean, I think I would recommend those things. If you have mealasma, I'm going to say it's really good to balance your hormones, right? So, if you're permenopausal, maybe a little bit of soy. If you're not pmenopausal, I think green tea is still important. But what I think is really helpful is flax seed is really great um because it's hormone balancing. And then spearmint tea. Actually for people with mealasma,

9:13 spearmint tea is really really great at balancing your hormones. Oh wow. Okay. I'm going to change from peppermint to spearmint now. Yeah. Change to spearmint. I think you'll like it. And it's a lot. Like when you're using food as medicine, it's not one tea bag a day, right? Because like that's just not the way food works. Like if you are trying to treat something with a food, you're going to need a little bit more. So like when I've had hormonal stuff in the past, like maybe after pregnancies and things, I will take three organic spearmint tea bags, put them in my water bottle cuz you don't need to brew it and then I'll just drink like that minty water through the day, right? Because what happens is it's there. It's not like an added thing for me to do. I was going to drink that water anyways. And so it is kind of about finding ways to just incorporate it. Yes. What do you

10:01 think are the biggest mistakes you've seen people, especially brown people, do when it comes to their skin? Cuz there's so much information out there. There's so much information and it's really so simple in some ways. I think the biggest mistake is brown people think that their skin is really hardy because it doesn't sunburn. It's so true. I am such a culprit of that. Oh my gosh. I'm like, "Oh, I get the best I get the best." Yeah. So the very thing that protects you from sunburn also will damage your skin. So if you look at somebody who's white skinned versus brown or black skinned, they may sunburn and they may wrinkle and maybe that's not the way we're going to age, right? Because our pigment protects us. But guess what? That pigment when it gets damaged, it will then age us in a different way. So we will get melasma and freckles and

10:48 salow uneven skin tone that's not bright anymore or maybe we become patchy. So, I think people with pigment pigmented skin always feel like my skin is not really that delicate. And that's kind of I would say the one thing that I would want people to take away is, you know, tread with caution. Go slowly. Slow and steady is much better than kind of aggressive treatments because your pigment is made to respond to damage. So, if you overdo anything, you're going to get brown. M what are some of the best preventative mechanisms to if people haven't got me malasma but they know that their mom does or it runs in the family what are some of the best prevention um tips that you have so

11:33 sunscreen you know ideally tinted sunscreen if people take one point away from this I will say that you know the sun is responsible for 80% of our aging wow so if you do nothing else don't do anything just put your sunscreen on you're going to age 80% better than you would have. And what kind of sunscreen? What's So, ideally, I like things that are mineral and I like tinted. So, I think that tinted is nice because now we're all in front of computers and phones, and the tint protects our pigment cells from blue light, which can also cause melasma. That was something that shocked me the most. Wait, I need you to say that again because I don't think people really understand what you're saying. That blows everybody's mind when they come in cuz people will say, "Well, I don't know how I have mealasma because I never go out in the sun. I'm sitting in this dark room in

12:19 front of my computer for 15 hours a day. And I'm like, "Yeah, that's why you have mealasma." So, the blue light from computer screens, from cell phones, can damage your pigment cells, especially if you're prone to melasma. And you know, I feel like whenever I think about the sun, every like, why do we make the sun seem like it's such a bad thing? But I feel like it's not really the sun. It's all the pollution that the sun comes through. Yes. That ends up affecting our Cuz it's not really the sun, is it? Well, it's the intensity of the UV rays. I think now our, you know, there is um we're always worried about how much heat there is on the planet and how much UV, but also, yes, there's much more pollution. We all carry much more stress and so all of that is also free radical damage. We were together yesterday and I

13:05 was like, but my grandma never had to do any of this, like all the treatments, all the products, and she looks so beautiful. She's 91 and she looks amazing. I was like, what's changed? like why do we now have to do so much to maintain ourselves? Do you think we do or do you think that a lot of this is just over complicated? I think it's both right. So I will say that you know since like let's say about 2020 every year has been hotter than the previous year. So like in 2022 we were like hey this is the hottest year ever recorded in the history of the world until 2023 came along and then 2024 came along and now 2025 is projected to be the hottest year on record. No way. So I think part of it is yes there is a

13:50 difference in our climate but then I think it's also expectations. I think, you know, we've got we've never ever had so much visual access to our face, you know, with selfies and you can kind of zoom in and look at your wrinkles and look at your, you know, asymmetry, whatever. And so, I do think expectations have changed. It's so true. I feel like my grandma maybe looks herself in the morning to like do her hair and then she will not look at herself. She doesn't have a phone. Yeah. And she will not look at herself again until maybe when she's brushing her teeth at night. So, she probably looks at herself once or twice in the day. Yes. And if you're in a hurry, not even that. Not even that. And so I think, yeah, you're so right. You end up seeing yourself so much more that you're you're picking at things that you wouldn't have normally if you're not looking at

14:37 yourself in the mirror 30 times a day, 40 times a day, usually more than that. Sometimes more. Yeah. And you know, I see it in my office where even girls who are 8 and 9 years old are coming in and asking for an anti-aging skincare routine. What? And I think it's just, you know, when you go on social media and you're that young, gosh, you need to do nothing. I'm not even sure you need to wash your face, you know, when you're eight or nine, you're just gifted with beautiful skin. But I think that they are watching 20 and 30 year olds and they get, you know, they get nervous. Tell me about anti-aging products because you me just mentioned that and what are some of the ingredients that you're like this is absolutely not some like you do not need this. Um, and what are some of the ingredients that you think people should be looking for? Okay. So, give me your top three fads in

15:23 anti-aging skinare fads. Yeah. Okay. So, collagen cream number one. Number one. So, collagen is a really big molecule and it just can't get absorbed into the skin, right? So, it's kind of like imagine if you've got like the eye of a needle and you're trying to squeeze an intact grape through it. Okay. Right. It's just not going to go through. So that I think if you're trying to do that, then take that fat and replace it with something like a peptide cream. So peptides are tiny molecules that can get into the skin and they can actually absorb. And there's a ton of peptides that you can buy for like a very good price point. The Ordinary, Polish Choice, Olay, a lot of people have peptide creams now. So if you have a collagen cream, I'm going to kind of say

16:08 get rid of it. Yeah, she made me get rid of mine yesterday, guys. I did. I wanted her to th hers away. But um and then replace it, replace it with peptides because that actually can, you know, go into the inside. And then I will say if you have mealasma, the fad you should be really careful of is red light masks. So yeah, there's a lot of red light stuff right now. It's buzzing, right? And there's evidence that the heat of the red light mask could heat up your pigment cells and create melasma. If you don't have mealasma, you're probably fine. You spent your millions of dollars. you're okay, you know, but if you have mealasma, don't use it on your face. And if you bought it and you're thinking, "Oh my god, what do I do with this thing?" Put on your head. So, there is some good evidence for hair growth.

16:54 Um, but I would say don't put on your face if you're mealasma prone. Another ingredient, I think that an ingredient people are really scared of actually is reta. And that to me is like the fountain of youth. Like I will use retina till the day I die. Really? Yes. Because it gets in, it plumps your collagen, it builds your skin. If you have acne, it prevents acne. And you know what? What happens is when people put it on, you initially get dry and irritated cuz it is getting rid of those top layers, right? And so people are like, "Oh, this is thinning my skin. This is maybe making my skin weaker." It's not. It's strengthening from below, but it will get rid of those top layers. And you have to go slowly. Um but I think that that is something people do

17:40 not give, you know, kind of it's due like respect to. Is this something people can just use every single day? They just have to use different strengths depending on their skin. Yes. So I always say build up. Start with over the counter and then slowly prime your skin to move up in strength. Um so even when people come in, you know, especially people who are my age, right? If you're a little older, you're going to have less oil on your skin. And so I start them over the counter and then I slowly progress up to like a prescription product. One thing that I remember you told me about my mealasma that shocked me was I was doing a lot of hot yoga. Yes. And hot pilates. And you were like, okay, if you are going to do it, you need to cool your skin down after. So, is that linked to heat? It is. So, if you think of your pigment cell as the goal of it being that it's meant to protect you. If you get too

18:26 much sun, your pigment will darken for protection. If you get too much heat, your pigment will darken for protection. If you get too much steam, if you get too much red light. And so it's doing its job, right? It's like poor thing. It's like we're we're like why are we darkening? It's because that is how it protects you. And so if you do do hot yoga or you're steaming or in a sauna, cool yourself down, you know, after you're done just so that pigment cell can, you know, get a little relief. Yeah. And you recommended this really great just hydration spray, like a cooling spray that works really well. So I've I haven't been doing it hot yoga as much now, but when I do, I definitely use that spray. Right? You know, there are so many treatments where you can go to people to get things done, whether it's like facials or micro needling or, you know, all all of the things. There are so many treatments, the vampire

19:13 facial. What are some of the ones specifically for people of color that they should either be avoiding or are there some treatments that you really recommend that people should get done to help protect and maintain their skin? So I think you know when you're talking about pigment rich skin rich skin it's we can do most everything but you just have to tone down the intensity of it because the pigment cells are so responsive to trauma or damage. Like if you think about somebody who gets like a pimple and they've got darker skin you're going to leave a brown spot just from the trauma of a pimple. I did that. I [ __ ] mine. It's on my face and I was like is this gonna is We did an acid peel yesterday everyone. It was the first time I've done it. Is it? Yeah, it's your first one. I was like, "Will this get rid of this little spot that's

19:59 left on my face?" She was like, "No, not that fast. Not that fast." And so I think, you know, we just have to sometimes it's very much a matter of slow and steady wins the race with pigmented skin. And so I think what I would say is I've never had a facial and if you love them for relaxation, do it. Oh, but if you are trying to get a lot of benefit, unless you're maybe extracting or something, I don't think a facial is super necessary. Um, a lot of a lot of things that you see out there are just variations on a theme, right? So, if you've got pigmented skin and you can find somebody who knows how to treat pigmented skin. I think peels are great for people with brown skin. I think micro needling is great. But have I seen

20:44 side effects from both and brown skin? Yeah. in the wrong hands. You know, a little too much trauma, a little too strong an acid will absolutely scar you. So, I do think, you know, tread with caution. Yes. I've noticed that, you know, I've had quite a few friends who've gone to people who aren't used to treating pigmented skin and they use the wrong acids or they treat it a little bit too hard and then they're either got scarring, the mealasma shows up even more, it can be pretty traumatic. So I guess you need to make sure you're going to somebody who has who's expert in specifically pigmented skin. Yes. And same with lasers, right? I've seen a lot of damage from lasers that you know sometimes somebody will come in having had a laser or even a peel somewhere and

21:30 it may take me 9 to 10 months to get their skin not even sometimes back to normal, but to a point where they're kind of happy. Oh wow. That's rough. It's rough. It's scary cuz you're trying to do it so you feel better about yourself and you know, you're trying to do good for yourself. Exactly. I read somewhere, okay, cuz obviously there's all these anti-aging products and so I was researching and I was like, how much does our collagen really go down? Like, do we really lose that much collagen? And I read that it was about 1% every single year after you hit like 40. Truth or lie? I mean, if your listeners are tuning in for a really good cry, they're about to get it. So the truth is actually it's worse than what you just said. So no way after the

22:15 age of about 25 or 26, we lose 1% of our collagen every year. Wow. And so it's kind of like a movie, right, where we push play. So from 25 or 26 until, you know, the end of our lives, we're kind of going to lose 1%ish a year. And if your diet is poor and you smoke and you get a ton of sun, well, guess what? it's going to go faster. And everything that we do in dermatology is meant to kind of temporarily push pause right on that collagen loss. And if we're lucky, maybe even push rewind. But, you know, that journey is part of aging. And it's part of the beauty of also having life experiences. And so, I always say I think when people really run into

23:01 problems is when they're really trying to get back to 25. Exactly. We don't get there. You know, like I can make you look great for your age or maybe even a little younger than your age, but I'm not going to get you back. Like I will never look 25. I'll look crazy if I do too much, but I won't ever look 25, you know? It's so true. So, I think that that's and and it's okay. I mean, it's the beauty of, you know, the growth and the journey, too, right? It is. Yeah. I've been talking about this a lot with friends and well one thing I will say you have this little technology that you used on me the first time you saw me and then yesterday when I've been practicing taking the inner glow sunscreening protecting my skin doing some of these treatments my skin had actually aged backwards and so my skin was younger

23:46 than it was the last time you saw me and younger than I actually am you know in my actual age my actual age and so I thought that was really interesting not that I'm trying to look like I'm 20 again, but that you that these small little things that you do, whether it's the blueberries you're eating, whether it's protecting yourself from sunscreen, you told me to tint my windows if you can. You know, if you're spending a lot of time in the car, tinting your windows, you mentioned, and I did that with my car recently, or even on Amazon, like if somebody doesn't want to, you know, go and spend money on the tint, you can buy like tint just for your driver's side, like a like a roll basically. It's always actually if you if anybody's listening and they look at their face for me I have a lot more pigmentation on my left side which is towards the window of the car than I do on my right side and so you really

24:32 notice you know if you look at it in that way you really see the difference of the sunfacing side versus the knot which is incredible. It's incredible and in general in America because we're you know leftsided driver's side people age about 20% faster. Wow. On one side on one side. And I'll I'm going to send you a picture. There's a picture of this person who drove a truck for a living that gets passed around between dermatologists. It looks like a grandfather and his grandson almost because you know pre-tinted windows. It's dramatic. Okay. It's dramatic. Tinting windows. Yeah. You can get this the cheap ones off Amazon as well, can't you? Are the foods for collagen boosting the same as the ones that you mentioned earlier? Are there any anything else specific that you recommend? So definitely if you're trying to boost your collagen, you're looking at, you

25:18 know, berries, nuts, leafy greens. If somebody is pescatarian or eats fish, then definitely fish or especially the skin of the fish is very high in collagen peptides. If you're vegetarian, I would say then you're looking at things like probably let's see, flax seed, um things with high omega, yes, seaweed, yes, avocados, you know, even soy is very helpful. And then, you know, there's a couple of specific things. So, one of the things that is in our innerlow age defense is a bark that comes from a tree in the south of France. It's called picnogginal. And this um it's this like pristine little forest in the south of France that doesn't have herbicides and pesticides. And when they test that bark from that forest, they see that it actually will

26:04 um not just protect your collagen, but help build it back. Wow. And it's very good for measma. So, we've seen that actually it can help to even treat melasma. That's one of the ingredients we put into our inner glow age defense cuz it's hard to get. Yes. And then likewise, there's a fern in there called poly podium which um actually South Americans used to brew as a tea for you know thousands of years because they lived on the equator and they needed sun protection and you know they didn't have sunscreen right and so we know that people who take this in it's like they get this internal sunscreen. So, you know, I will never say use this instead of sunscreen, right? I will always say pair it, but um there are benefits to taking the fern that are beyond what sunscreen does because it'll undo free radical damage. It's so beautiful that

26:51 nature just has everything that our body needs. Like whenever I hear things like this, I'm like in France, in South America, all these plants and barks and all these things that have been around for thousands and thousands of years that obviously people are now hearing about again, but they've been around for so long. They've been around and, you know, it's more about just kind of discovering how people in certain areas use them. Like we were in the Galapagos recently and in the high altitude, you know, they chew on cocoa leaves. Like I think that's what cocaine comes from. Oh, really? And they were like, "Oh, miss, if you're feeling a little lightheaded, you can chew on this." And I was like, "No, I'm okay." But um I said to my husband, I was like, "You know what's fascinating is that this plant naturally grew in a place where

27:37 people would get altitude sickness or like this fern from South America, polyodium, you know, it grew at the equator. Like it just it's really beautiful, right? It is. Even if you think about Indian culture and the spices and the heat that that is there, whether it's turmeric you were mentioning. Yes. Or ginger like all of these things. Yeah. They exist in the place that they need to. I even remember when I would go in forest walks with my family and you'd get stung by something, there was these thing called duck leaves that used to live next to it. And it's like there would literally be the weed that can harm you and the plant that can heal you next to it next to each other. And I like it's just it's beautiful. It just reminded me of that. I was like, "This is beautiful." Nature never fails to amaze me every single day, especially when I hear things like this. And it also reminds me that we don't actually

28:23 need so much more than what nature provides. You just have to learn the qualities of the food that you're eating. Like, who knew that? Yes. We knew that blueberries had antioxidants, right? But if you take time to learn about each ingredient that you're eating, you'll notice what defense it's creating for you in your body, what it's healing in your body. Yes. And I and you know and I think that's a really good point because the things I recommend to one patient based on what they need to heal, right, is different from somebody else. So for example, if somebody comes in and they have trouble managing their sugar, well, I'm going to recommend a lot of cinnamon because we know that cinnamon is really good for blood sugar control, but if they have hormonal issues, maybe I'm going to recommend spearmint tea. And if they're really sunsensitive, maybe this poly podium, right? So, I do think there are some

29:09 really good general guidelines, but then if you're trying to use food as medicine, treat the thing that you need to treat, right? Because I think a lot of times the mistake people that a lot of people make is just they're kind of listening to what somebody else is using and it may not be ideal. No, exactly. And I think that's a responsibility that we have to take ourselves to learn our body and then learn the foods that we're putting into our body and that relationship that we have between the two. I want to go on to Botox because um obviously living in LA Botox order it every day. Tell me what it really does and how why it's seen as a preventative. Okay. So Botox is a tiny little purified protein that we take out of of a bacteria. Okay. And that bacteria is the

29:56 same bacteria that causes botulism. Yes. Right. Which is why people are so afraid of it, as they should be, because nobody wants to inject botulism. You know, it's a neurotoxin, right? Yes, it's a neurotoxin. But if you take this little purified protein out and you put it specifically into a muscle that is creating a wrinkle, it will temporarily decrease the activity of that muscle. So, for example, if you're always frowning and you've got these lines, well, if I put a little bit of Botox into the, you know, we call the belly of the muscle right there, what it will do is it will kind of weaken the action of that muscle so that it's not strong enough to make the lines anymore. And so, that's really what Botox is doing. It lasts for 3 to 6 months. So, you know, the problem with Botox and the

30:42 reason you're always hearing about it is it's not like a I don't know, like a facelift where somebody goes once and they're done, right? People are going in several times a year to their dermatologist to get this done. And there is evidence that if you stop the excess movement of the muscle, then you won't get those etched wrinkle lines. So, it's preventative just because if you can get it before you have wrinkles, then you don't make the wrinkles the same way. Oh, of interest because obviously you've been seeing patients for over 20 years now. This is genuine question. I'm just intrigued. Do you notice um excess of obsession over their looks for people who are trying to get a lot of these treatments versus someone who isn't like the people who are fixated on getting those things done regularly or like

31:27 trying to fix the aging on their face? Do you notice, you know, a trend in happiness, satisfaction, contentness, all of those things when you when you meet them? Cuz obviously as dermatologist you talk about so much when you're on the chair. Yes. Yeah. I mean, and you know, and as we're doing stuff, we talk, you know, to our patients. So, especially over 20 years, you really get to know them. I mean, I think in the older people, like if people are starting a little later in life, they're genuinely, you know, just trying to age gracefully, right? And I love when people come in and they say to me, okay, what would you recommend? Because a lot of people come in and especially the younger subset will sometimes come in to me and say, "Okay, I need and it's like a laundry list, right?" And that can get dangerous

32:14 because I do feel like, you know, I've got four teenagers, so I see it in their subset too where there's really this focus on kind of the outward beauty at the expense of inner beauty sometimes, right? Like so, you know, my kids will sometimes say to me, "Mom, like what is my aesthetic?" Like, "Am I like, I don't know, clean girl or cottage core, you know, and I and I'll be like, okay, describe that to me." And they'll say like, "Well, clean girl aesthetic is like, I don't know, you carry a Stanley and you, you know, work out and you don't wear very much, you know, jewelry or makeup." And I'll say, "Well, what about the inside?" Like, "What about like are you altruistic? Are you empathetic? Are you, you know, what's your self worth like?" Right? And so I will say we're one of the practices that

33:00 do sometimes, you know, really discourage people from getting a lot of procedures because I don't want someone to think a procedure will make them happier, right? It won't. You have to do the selfwork. And I think people who are like, well, if I was just a little more this, like if this was just a bit this or this was just a bit that, I would be so much happier. Those people always find that that's not true, you know? So, I think I want to make people look and feel their best and sometimes, you know, sometimes that ends in me saying, "Hey, why don't we talk to somebody about X, Y, or Z, and then let's circle back to this." You know, that's a really good point. No, I appreciate what you shared on that actually cuz I think there's such a fine balance between it. It's like, okay, I'm going to get this done and it's going to be out of sight, out of mind, but then am I watching for it

33:45 to like leave my face or the next time I have to do it? and it can sometimes become a cycle that I've seen people get into. I think there's a there's a fine balance between the desire to upkeep but then the desire to continuously like look a specific way and it can really it can really take over and find somebody also I will say to your listeners who will say no to you because you don't want somebody who's like okay okay because here here and here yeah no problem you know because that you know really trusts the expertise of the person doing it you know sometimes people will come in and they'll say Well, I really don't like this line. And I'll say, okay, well, I'm not going to fill that because actually what you really need is you need some filler up here cuz your face is falling

34:32 or it's sagging, you know. And so, I will say find somebody who you trust enough to trust the process, right? Yes. Agree. I had a question about hair removal because obviously there's laser hair removal, micro dermiplaning, all those things. What are the best ways for people to remove hair without damaging their skin? So, I think if you're, you know, if you're looking at temporary hair removal, right? Then I think, um, waxing, threading, uh, dermiplaning are okay again, in the right hands, right? If you're prone to melasma, well, wax that's too hot can create melasma, you know, and also I've seen people come in because they have these superficial burns cuz the wax goes on and when it comes off like you're burned, you know,

35:18 and dermiplaning can remove kind of a protective layer. So, if you're going in the sun, you can get more melasma, but they're all in the right hands great temporary methods even like bleach like you know the kind of it's a cream bleach that people use for their for their upper lip. Um, laser is more permanent hair reduction. We don't say hair removal because if you your hormones change, you get pregnant, you get on birth control, well, that can stimulate more hair growth, right? But if you're going to do it, there are, you know, there's tons of different types of lasers, but there's kind of two main crystals or two main types of light we use. And the one I use on white skin, I never use on brown skin. So, with lasers, they're very safe in the right hands. But if somebody has one machine and they are cranking out all their hair

36:05 removal with that machine, well, ask which one it is. So like the short form of it is there's an Alex laser that's great for white skin. There's an NDAG laser, that's the name of the crystal that's great for brown skin. And so like I would say if people are listening, they come under a lot of brand names like tissue could be Kleenex or Puffs or Scotties, right? But you're looking for probably an NDA laser and make sure the person that you go to knows how to treat brown skin and can treat you with that basic crystal. That's so useful to know. I feel like Yeah, that's something I think many people probably wouldn't know to ask when they're walking into getting hair removal. I don't think that people do. They'll just kind of go in and you know, like we have, for example, multiple machines with both, right? Because we're treating many skin types. And you know, a place that does a lot

36:51 will have both. But you just want to make sure they know which one to choose for you. Yes. Okay. Tell me about your skincare routine because you are such like the epitome of the example of what anyone would want their skin to look like. So you need to tell everyone what is the ideal skinare routine in terms of layering skinare and also the products you need cuz there are too many out there and people don't know what they're doing with them. All the niaidomide and yes there's all the things. There's so many products. So, yes, I will tell you what I do. And I will start by saying I'm not a big believer in spending a ton of money on things like your moisturizers, your sunscreens, your cleansers. A cleanser is on your face for like 10 seconds. So, you're literally like if you buy like a $100 cleanser, you're literally washing that

37:37 money down the drain, right? So, do you think the ingredients differ though a lot between the cheaper ones and the more expensive ones? So, for active ingredients, yes. And so if you're doing a moisturizer, a cleanser, a sunscreen, buy the drugstore variety. If the place to put your money is into your active ingredients. Could you explain to people what active ingredients mean? Yeah, absolutely. So like for example, for me, I wash my face with Dove soap. I've done Dove soap for like I don't know since I was probably in my teens and it worked. I just never left it. But any drugstore cleanser like a cetaphil or you know whatever and they make different ones, right, for oily skin or for dry skin. So, I wash my skin with Dove. I put a vitamin C serum on my face every morning. And to answer kind of the second part of your question, when you're layering things, you want to go

38:23 from thinnest to thickest. Okay? So, vitamin C serums tend to be thinner. They absorb first. So, I put my vitamin C serum on and then I do a sunscreen on top. If I'm doing that morning routine, I will not spend money on my cleanser and I won't spend money on my sunscreen. It won't be expensive. But my vitamin C, I'm gonna get a really good quality one. Okay. So, I use the one that we have in our office and I rotate summer and winter depending on the thickness. But, you know, I'm going to look for something that is a really high potency vitamin C. And the process that you have to go to go through to really stabilize and extract vitamin C, it's expensive. And so, you know, your active ingredient, your vitamin C, for it to be for it to be really potent. I mean, start with over the counter, especially

39:09 if you're in your 20s or your 30s, but when you get to 50, I mean, you know, that's when you're probably going to splurge on your good quality vitamin C, right? Is there a percentage that people should be looking? I like 20. I think over the counter, there's a lot of 15s that are really good. 20 is kind of, you know, 20 20 plus is what you're getting often in, you know, kind of higherend skincare. Okay. Okay. So, you get your cleanser, your vitamin C. Mhm. And my sunscreen. And then I take the inner age defense every day. Um because I can't get all those antioxidants in, right, on a daily basis. And there's some like we talked about like the bark and stuff. I'm just not going to get that on a daily basis. So, I know that gives me not just the antioxidants I need, but the building blocks to build good skin. And then the evening, I wash with Dove again. And then I put on a retina and I

39:56 put on Cetaphil body cream, okay, on my face. And so that's kind of my base routine. If I'm if it's at the end of summer and I notice a lot more freckles or I notice, you know, pigmentation changes cuz obviously pigment rich skin at the end of summer, you're going to see it. Then I will rotate in different things. So might I put in something like nyinomide or kic acid or, you know, other lighteners just to help? Yes. And I will then layer those in at night usually. Um, but that's, you know, my base routine that you'll always see me doing is this and then, you know, I'll tweak it. And that is how I treat my patients too. Like we kind of have a summer routine and we have a winter routine sometimes and you've seen that in yourself. Yeah. Wait. Kic acid. It's something that I recently bought. I bought the kic acid soap. Tell me about it cuz I feel like I'm seeing it go

40:42 viral lately and I'm intrigued about what the why it's going so viral. So it's a it's a lightener. Um, it's, you know, part of a lot of discoloration serums. You actually have it in some of your products already. I think that, you know, everything has its moment on social media, right? And so, in and of itself, is it amazing for your skin? No. It's part of the process. So, might I put it into something, you know, along with nioinamide and along with a couple of other things like there's um a dermatologist who's recently made a very nice discoloration serum, um manipolation serum, and he incorporates a lot of different ingredients into it, which I like. So, if you're using something like that, you know, in the winter months to lighten discoloration, that's great.

41:29 Okay. But I think it's it's part it's, you know, it's it's part of the process. Part of the story, not the full story. Hyaluronic acid. Do we need it in our products? Cuz I feel like lots of things are Yeah. So, I think the reason hyaluronic acid had its moment is because it's a great moisturizer. But when we use filler, filler is hyaluronic acid. So, Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. So, we would can inject hyaluronic acid into people's skin. So, the reason people try to put into skincare is the same reason people are trying to do collagen in skincare. Hyaluronic acid will absorb. It'll plump your skin. It'll make you look good. But at the end of the day, it's just a moisturizer. Oh, okay. Fine. Good. So, do you need a hyaluronic acid plus would you use a serum plus the moisturizer plus another moisturizer or would they kind of be the same thing? Sometimes the same thing. It

42:14 depends on your skin. So, if someone's really oily, for example, or doesn't need a lot of moisture, sometimes a hyaluronic acid alone is sufficient. If someone needs kind of layers of protection or layers of, you know, prevention for dryness, I'll sometimes layer them. Oily oils. Uhhuh. Oils on your skin. Do we love them or do we hate them? Depends. Okay, go ahead. So, I think again this is like choose what's right for you, right? So, if you're really dry, well, you're going to love like rose hip oil or marula oil cuz it's really moisturizing. But if you're oily, guess what? That's going to break you out. So then maybe you're going to choose like squaline or hoba. So yeah, I mean oils are great. They're a moisturizer like hundreds of other moisturizers we have. But again, pick the right one. Yes, I was using oils a

43:01 lot and then suddenly when my skin started changing, I noticed my pores were getting a lot more clogged and I was noticing breakouts in certain areas and I was wondering why and I was like, "Oh, maybe it's the thick layer of oil that I put on my skin at night to like deep fry myself before I go to sleep." So I reduced that and the spots around my nose and stuff started going away. So it's so true. It's just like anything else. You really have to adapt as you see. Like you can't do the same thing for your whole life. You really have to change. As we change, I think we have to change our skinare. And it's not one sizefits-all, right? Are there any cool DIY like at home masks that you ever make? Are there? Cuz you know what? That's another trend that's so popular is like DIY at home masks. Any that you really love that you think people should be putting into their masks if they're making them at home? So, you know, masks

43:47 again something that if you love them, do them. Um, if you're doing great skinare, like do I do masks? No, I don't. But do I have any issue with masks? Not at all. So, when people ask me, what do I like for DIY masks? I like turmeric and yogurt masks. I think they're great at brightening. They're great at moisturizing. They can really soothe irritated skin. I also like Manuka honey um because it is antibacterial. It's anti-, you know, it's uh anti-inflammatory. And if you're choosing Manuka honey, see if you can get the UMP certified manuka, right? It's just a little more, um, authentic, I'm going to say. And so, uh, yeah, I like those as masks. Um, at home tools, tools. So, wands, rollers, gouacha, all

44:33 of that. I think that it's not really building collagen probably. Okay. But what it's doing is when you do that, it's essentially like massage. So you are improving your circulation. You are improving lymphatic drainage. So I think it has its place depending on what you're trying to accomplish. Okay. Yeah. I really find it helps with the lymphatic drainage. I think that's the biggest thing. Yes. you really notice if you're a bit puffy, if you've woken up a bit puffy. I find I leave some of my rollers in the freezer and I'll kind of roll them out and it does brighten and just give you a bit of a tighter feeling in the morning. For sure. Yeah. And I think if somebody wants kind of another DIY tip, a really great tip is um you freeze green tea into little ice cubes

45:18 and if you roll those on your face, not only does that depuff, but it's great for under eye circles if you've had a long night. And the caffeine in it actually will decrease puffiness. Oh my gosh. I'm going to do that from now. You can just freeze them into ice cubes. Maybe even like little ice lolly or ice would be amazing. Yeah, if you could do an ice lolly. Yeah. Okay. I'm definitely going to do that. I'm going to do the I'm going to try that. Green tea popsicle. Yeah, the popsicle for your skin. Okay. I'm going to go into some questions that people have been asking cuz I basically put it out there to everyone. Um if they had any questions for you. If you had to pick one skincare product that every brown person should have, what should it be? sunscreen. Tinted sunscreen that Okay, I get a point for that, too. That's right. How to reduce dark circles around your eyes.

46:04 That's hard, right? So, dark circles have so many causes. Um, it can be genetic, it can be aging. Allergies are a big cause. And then just lifestyle like smoking, stress, lack of sleep. If it's allergies, we can do wonders with things like allergy medicine because you can get rid of kind of that blue purple coloration for the rest of it. I think discoloration serums are important. Vitamin C's are important. I think people who have a lot of dark circles really benefit from seeing a dermatologist to be honest because I can mix up things that are just not available, you know, over the counter. And so there and but if you've lost a lot of volume, maybe you need procedures then, right? Yeah. I um I feel like I used to have them, but then when I

46:49 started using I don't even know what took them away. I definitely had darker circles when I was younger. Maybe I'm just getting more sleep now. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe I'm just getting better quality sleep. If you could ban one skin care product or ingredient, what would it be and why? It would be the collagen. I just feel like that's Stop taking people's money. Stop taking people's money. Exactly. What does clean skinare actually mean? Like when you see clean skinare, what are they actually trying to tell us? Okay, so that is kind of a marketing term. There's no real definition. So I'm going to tell you like when you go if I took you to I don't know CVS or something, right? Clean can mean I am vegan or it could mean I just am made of sustainable

47:35 ingredients or it can mean I don't have chemicals or it can mean none of it. It's whatever definition the maker wants to give it. No. So is there no regulation? Zero regulation for clean. So do not pick up a product cuz it's clean cuz somebody might be taking your money. Not always, right? Some some people are really trying to tell you, hey, we've worked hard. We have sustainable, eco-friendly packaging. We are free of chemicals. We are vegan, cruelty-free. But there's no definition. There's a lot of stuff out there that is none of that. And they're labeling it as clean. Wow. I did not know that. There's no regulations for that. And so I will say focus on ingredient transparency, right? Take a look at the ingredients and see what's in it. And you know and it is about being an informed consumer

48:20 because this is one thing I learned is you know I'm using certain things because I was trained in this but when I see my patients I see that you know a lot of people are really being prayed on. Yeah definitely and it is it's it's frustrating every industry. Yeah. But especially I feel the skincare industry and especially women in especially women and especially young women like you know women who are in their 20s are being made to feel like boy if you don't start A B and C now like there's just no hope for you know all right so clean is not clean guys that was a shock for me I asked you this already is expensive skincare really better than drugstore ones for active ingredients for active ingredients what's worse for your skin fast food or alcohol

49:05 Okay. So, okay. They're both bad, right? I will say fast food is much worse in the short term. So, it's going to dehydrate your skin. You're going to be puffier. It can lead to inflammation like all those high glycemic index foods, right? You can get foods the night before and you wake up, you know it the next day. Your skin will be telling you. It'll tell you. But in the long run, alcohol is much worse. So, alcohol will break down your collagen much like sugar. So what'll happen is over the years if you're, you know, drinking, we not only know that speeds up your aging, but also there's some really good evidence now it causes a lot of cancer. So yeah, I mean I would say if you were going to only try I mean moderation and everything, but alcohol is worse. If I was spending 30 days to

49:53 clear my skin and get glowy skin, what should we eat? All the things that we've already spoken about. Yes. And I will also say, you know, people come in all the time like, I'm getting married in 30 days. I've got prom in 30 days, whatever. Like, what do I do? And I'm like, oh god, can you give me 45? You know, so I will say our entire skin replaces itself about every 45 days. The older you get, like maybe you're replacing at 45, maybe I'm replacing closer to 70 because the older you get, the slower your skin renews itself. But if you have about 45 days and you do everything we've talked about, you one thing we didn't talk about actually is you do strength training cuz strength training is really good at building collagen, but you do all the antioxidants. You take the supplements

50:38 and then maybe we're renewing your skin from the top with certain products, you will absolutely see a difference. 30 days, no sugar. No sugar. Lots of blueberries. Lots of green tea. Yes. Exercise the sun. Exercise. Sleep. Sunscreen. I mean, the stuff that's good for you on the inside, guess what? It's also good for you on the outside, right? So, the skin is really truly the window to the inside. And so, whatever we're doing on the inside, I think it often shows first in our skin. Always. And so, if I've had one full day of hydrating myself really well, I'll see. Yep. Mhm. And if I have one day, even half a day, where I haven't drunk enough water, I will see it on my skin straight away. Your skin tells you so fast whether things are working or not working. What's the best anti-aging trick that

51:24 isn't Botox? Retina. Retina. Yes. Okay. Truth or myth? Using banana peel on your face brightens and lightens dark spots. Okay. Truthish. Okay. Okay. So, elaborate. Um, it So, there's some antioxidants in it. There's potassium. There are certain things that may brighten your skin, but it's going to be really slow. So, could you get much faster improvement with like a vitamin C serum? Yes. Okay. Flax seed masks. M truth. Yeah, they work. They've got lenins in them. They moisturize. They soothe irritated skin with the omega-3. Yeah. Okay. We like them. You already said it's a raw manuka honey mask. Yes. Yes. Uh, drinking

52:11 chlorophyll water can clear up acne. Eh, no, not really. Okay, tell me why chlorophyll water is a thing. I think that it has some benefits for gut health. Yes. And so, and so people feel like if you clear the gut, you know, the gut skin connection is real, right? And so, I think that that's where that comes from. But I've seen a lot of people try it and if they really have a lot of acne, we need to do other things. Yes. Uh, seamos. Um, also good. Yes. Yeah, I like seamos. Me, too. I've been taking actually just like a tablespoon in the morning. And I think it's a mixture between gut, vitamins, minerals. Like it's such a nutrientdense. What do you think of the taste? I mean, it's horrible, but I have one I have one which has like berries and blueberries put into it and you just

52:58 take a tablespoon of it and I just gulp water afterwards, but it is so rich in vitamins, minerals, amigos. It's just like it's got a lot going on. You can shrink your pores with certain skinincare products. So pore size is genetic. So technically, no. But if I can give you certain things like AHAs, retina, I will clean out your pores and I will tone them so they look tighter. Okay. So you're born with your pore size, guys. I'm sorry to say, but but you can improve it. You can improve the look of it. Good to know. Natural skin care products are always better for your skin than synthetic ones. What does that mean? Okay, that is also kind of like clean skinincare, right? So again, focus on ingredient transparency. And I'm a little bit wary of natural because

53:45 sometimes natural means not tested, right? Or not scientifically proven. Like I'll give you an example from my own life. When my kids were young, we used to use a lot of lavender on the girls. For example, everyone was like, "It's soothing. It, you know, you give it to you put on them in their bath. You put on them in their creams. It's really good for sleep." We used a ton of lavender. And now we know that lavender in a baby boy, for example, increases breast size. No. So sometimes natural things, if they haven't been tested, they can do harm, right? Cuz all of nature does provide medicine. And if you don't know how you're using it, tread with caution. It's exactly the same as using medical grade things. Like if you don't know how to use the natural Yeah. You have to learn how to use it. Yes.

54:32 Okay. So this is random thought that I just had. What if someone was using like just olive oil on their skin for their whole life versus, you know, obviously protecting themselves, but what if they were using everything that nature provided like olive oils, avocados, like that kind of thing on their skin versus using products? So, I think that some of that will depend on is there a problem to treat, right? Like if you have acne, that's not going to work for you, right? If you are really dry and you need the hydration, that might be a great routine, right? And sometimes the benefit of a scientific ingredient is it's kind of like the banana peel versus vitamin C, right? How fast are you really going to get improvement and what improvement are you looking for? Great answer. Um, facial exercises can prevent

55:18 sagging and wrinkles. Okay, that's kind of a myth, guys. Is it? Yes. Because imagine what causes a wrinkle. The movement. Movement. So, if you're like, I'm going to work out my, you know, my 11s. Well, they're going to be deep by the time you're done. Oh, okay guys. So, just sit there with zero expression. If you want to prevent, you're just gonna have to sit there and do not laugh. Do not cry. No. Like, just sit in darkness. Well, but what like we were saying yesterday, isn't it beautiful to see like, you know, the laugh lines and the crows feet like it is. I mean, it you you see people have lived a great life. It's so true. But that's so funny. Yeah. You see all these people doing these wild exercises online. So, they're trying to build their muscle and that might help, but we don't really need like to build muscle in our face, right?

56:04 We need to protect our skin from wrinkles. Yeah. We don't need bicep cheeks. Um, what can someone with psoriasis do to heal their skin and gut? Is it a skin thing or more of a gut thing? It's both. It's both. Psoriasis is a very much a full body thing. Um, diet-wise, I always say that there's, you know, there's certain things you can do. High vitamin D. Okay. Makes a big difference. Cutting out alcohol makes a difference. Omegas and probiotics make a difference. But I will also say in dermatology, probably the fastest growing field is psoriasis treatment. So if somebody has psoriasis, um, come in and see somebody. Yes. Because there's so much we can do. There's so much we can do now. How to get rid of blackheads. So do I mind extractions? I don't. Um,

56:51 you know, done carefully. If you don't, if you're, you know, like we were saying, if you squeeze, you might get a dark spot, but things like AHAs and retina actually help a lot. Great. Does icing the face actually reduce swelling? It can. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Help for rosacea. What What is rosacea? Where does it come from? Rosacea is often genetic, but also comes from the sun. So, rosacea, unlike mealasma, rosacea is what more fair people get. And that's because their skin is so fair that their blood vessels below are getting sun damage. So you'll see the blood vessels will open up. These are people who are flushers and blushers and the blood vessels can actually come to the top of the skin surface and you can see them as lines sometimes. And so with rosacea,

57:38 alcohol is a big no no. And then there's certain things that will flare different people. So sometimes spicy food is bad for certain people, sometimes hot foods. But again, it's a sun-induced condition often other than genetics. So, protect your blood vessels the same way you protect your pigment cells. Great answer. Why do my pores some days look large, super enlarged, and some days I can't see them? I mean, that's probably lifestyle. Okay. Lifestyle and maybe uh different mirrors. Yeah, different mirrors. Yeah. Do you have your magnifier out? Oh, do you really need SPF 50 or is 30 enough? 30 is enough. So actually we're trying to get um you know ingredient labeling to just say 30 plus right because people will be like oh my god doc I use like

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