What is it about turning 30? To some 20-somethings, it’s an event to be feared. To more reasonable women, it still serves as a turning point, one that often brings with it a newfound devotion to skin care. Yes, there’s the obsessive poring over stray spots and microscopic lines you’ve never seen before, but is it all in your mind, or does your skin actually start to change right when you enter that third decade?
Turns out that once you hit your thirties there’s a whole new set of beauty rules for our skin, hair, nails and well-being. Thanks to skin getting more sensitive, hair often feeling more dry and new surges of hormones, your 30’s can be a time when it’s worth investing in your beauty regime.
According to Dr Kenneth Lee, the first signs of sun damage do generally show up in your 30s, as your skin’s reparative abilities begin to weaken—think mild brown spots, crow’s-feet, and dull skin. But it’s important to remember that those changes are actually a reflection of past behavior. “The damage you do in your 20s is going to show up in your 30s, 40s, and 50s,” he explains. “It’s a cumulative effect; things will come back to haunt you.”
Fortunately, by taking early action, you can make a significant impact on your skin’s future health, Dr Lee explains. “A lot of it has to do with prevention and protection,” he says. “But it’s also about developing good habits to carry you on through your later years.
THEY GIVE BENEFITS THAT SKINCARE CAN’T
When you’re looking to hit the reset button on your 30 year old skin, whether it’s treating the accumulated damage that has cropped up through 30 years of neglect, laser treatments are your best option. And with recent technological advancements, they’ve become even more powerful. If you have pigmentation issues, be it sun spots or melasma, combing skincare with a laser treatment can ensure you not only keep these pesky dark spots at bay, but it gives you the best chance of clearing them as well. Pico Pigment is the latest FDA-approved laser, and the most advanced of its kind when it comes to treating multiple types of pigment issues, including age spots, sunspots, melasma, tattoo removal and uneven skin tone. Plus, it can be used on all skin types and colors, whereas many other lasers exclude certain skin tones due to possible side effects that actually make pigment problems worse.
THEY CAN ACTUALLY MAKE YOU LOOK YOUNGER
Yes, you heard me right. As your skin ages, the precious collagen in your skin depletes with time. Lasers can stimulate collagen production, giving you a more youthful skin age. Pico Smooth is a fractionated version of the Picosecond laser; it creates laser induced optical breakdown (LIOB) in the epidermis. Studies have shown resulting new collagen and elastin production without the side effects and downtime of fractional and ablative lasers as a result. SmartX is a fractionated CO2 laser which can penetrate the skin deeply to enhance the collagen levels in your skin, while providing other simultaneous benefits such as tighter and smoother skin.
THEY ARE AS SAFE AS SKINCARE (IN THE RIGHT HANDS)
The first time I had my laser treatment, my friends warned me about getting burnt. Now a few hundred sessions of laser sessions in, I have not looked back since. Not once have I experienced a skin burn (thankfully). But during this past five years, I’ve had three nasty reactions to facial products, once to an AHA serum, and twice to a facial cream. So much so that nowadays, I rely on my laser treatments to keep my skin problem-free and only use the simplest skin care on a daily basis.
THEY GIVE YOU LOW-MAINTENANCE SKIN
Contrary to popular belief, having a laser regime does not equate high maintenance. It actually treats many skin issues at the root, giving you a more manageable complexion that requires minimal maintenance. Regular fortnightly facials no longer do the trick when you hit the big 30 as the problems go deeper than just clogged pores. Doing facials for issues like pigmentation or acne scars is like spritzing evian at a forest fire. It makes no difference
THEY TREAT ADULT ACNE BETTER
When it comes to pimples in your 30s, the underlying reason is usually hormonal rather than poor hygiene. This explains why meticulous scrubbing does little difference to your acne. Short of taking medication which many thirty-something shun (think pregnancy), lasers such as Vbeam Perfecta not only treats acne effectively but also does double duty, erasing redness of the skin, a tell-tale sign of post-outbreak skin.