With the vast array of high-tech ingredients and the plethora of skin care brands from which to select, it is easy to be overwhelmed by all the choices. Lately skin care formulations are looking more like a supermarket or health food store. The spa market has clearly embraced formulations that are based upon food ingredients or nutraceuticals. Alongside all of these products remain the AHAs that…

We are constantly in search of the elusive "Fountain of Youth" and the answer to a common question: what causes the skin to age? While we have yet to find the one magic antidote or fix-all, today we have more insight into what ages our skin and it goes beyond skin deep. There are two primary culprits of skin aging, intrinsic and extrinsic agers. Intrinsic…

Everyone’s skin ages in its own unique way. Much of the inevitable part of facial aging is driven by a person’s DNA and is considered intrinsic. Fortunately, 85 percent of the visible signs of aging can be directly attributed to extrinsic causes that are preventable, and can often be corrected, even if the damage has already been done. Making informed decisions about sun exposure, diet,…

They are the chemical messengers that control nearly every aspect of the human body. Without hormones, growth and development, metabolism, reproduction, mood control, digestion and other necessary functions would not be possible.Small changes in hormones can cause big changes within the bodyand the skin. Hormonally induced skin conditions, like acne and melasmacan be frustrating, asfluctuations in hormones are unpredictable and often not easily detected, even…