The Best Products And Treatments For Dry Skin According To Dr. Prendergast

Oily skin in the summer and dry skin in the winter. Our skin concerns are constantly changing throughout the year depending on the season. Battling dry skin during these winter months can be extremely taxing on regular skincare regimens, especially if you live in colder regions. Haute Beauty teamed up with Dr. Christie Prendergast, MedSpa expert, to discuss the best treatments and products to combat dry skin this season.

 

What are some common skin concerns during this time of year?

Common skin concerns winter months are typically related to the cold, dry weather conditions. Patients will often complain of dry, flaky skin with texture changes. If you are prone to skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, you may see a flare up of these conditions. Patients may also notice some of the sun damage that has occurred during the summer months like sun spots or hyperpigmentation.

 

What treatments would you recommend to combat these skin concerns?

Winter months are an excellent time to repair the sun damage that the skin has sustained during the summer months and restore skin hydration.
Hydrating your skin starts with ensuring you have a balanced diet and are drinking enough liquids. Facials are the next step in balancing your skin by clearing any dead skin build up. I love dermaplaning to remove dry and dead skin followed by a hydrating infusion. It is also a great time of the year to perform more aggressive procedures with longer recovery time such as a chemical peels or laser resurfacing. The cooler climate makes it easier to stay indoors (and out of the sun).

It is also a good time of the year to re-evaluate your skin care regimen and adjust to your treatment goals. For example, I like to ramp-up more aggressive skin care treatments in the winter months were we spend more time indoors. Pretreatment regimens are a big part of a good result. Adding these products and removing overly drying products will help maintain the hydration and balance the skin needs to heal from more aggressive treatments and the winter dryness.

 

How long do results last?

Having good skin care in all climates is a lifelong commitment! This requires a treatment strategy with a professional. I like to perform periodic evaluations of my patients skin and advance or de-escalate treatments as needed for optimal results. It is also important to collaboration with aestheticians who will be able to provide the more frequent skin care evaluations.

What products would you recommend to maintain results?

Every patient has a different skin type and goal so I do not think that one product fits all. However, the basics that everyone should have a is a gentle wash, scrub, and some type of oil control (toner). From there, if you are trying to address aging skin you want to incorporate a retinol product 2-3x/week. This product however, can cause dry and flaky skin so you want to be care with use if you are struggling with dry skin already. We also want to utilize skin brightening agents to help address any pigmentation from the summer months. This can be in the form of AHA’s and BHAs or Vitamin C serum depending on the patient’s skin type. For patients that are prone to dry skin, a good daily moisturizer is also important (currently loving Alastin’s daily moisturizer).