What Skincare Products Don't Treat

Skincare products today do really amazing things for your skin. They can make it look younger, healthier, and more beautiful. They can help prevent and control acne. And they can even help prevent sun damage, including both premature photo-aging and skin cancers. But modern skincare products also have their limitations and there are three very common problems that they just don't fix.

First, while persistent skin redness can improve by itself, there is no product that permanently fixes it. Many skincare products improve it temporarily for a few hours, but then it comes back just as if nothing were used. And when topical cortisone is used on an ongoing basis, it can cause a lot of harm including increased redness from broken capillaries and thinning of the skin, not to mention cortisone induced acne. Skincare products don't fix redness. Period

Second, products cannot help depressed acne scars. These are ice pick or crater shaped depressions in the surface of the skin caused by previous inflamed acne cysts. While there are several ways to fix them permanently either with surgery or lasers or temporarily with fillers, no skincare product fixes or even helps them. Period.

Last are lines and wrinkles. Yes I wrote a book called "It's Not Just About Wrinkles," and I passionately believe and espouse that younger looking skin is not about lines and wrinkles. In fact, what almost all skincare products do to help you look younger and better is from their effect on the color and texture of your skin making it smoother and more even toned... not on wrinkles. While skincare products that chemically exfoliate your skin like glycolics and retinoids can improve fine lines permanently, and plumper and tensor products can improve fine lines temporarily, no skincare products will permanently fix lines that are deeper than very fine lines. Period.

Yes I'm a big fan of the importance of hope springs eternal, but skincare products just don't fix redness, acne scars or meaningful wrinkles. So the next time you see an ad for a skincare product that claims to cure redness, fix depressed acne scars or remove meaningful wrinkles, just save your money and remind yourself that skincare products can not and do not fix these very common problems.

Period.