Expert advice on how to keep your skin looking healthy all year round

There’s no denying that winter is harsh on our skin, with its bitter winds and endless rain but it’s important to keep your skin looking healthy no matter what time of year it is. The question is how do you make sure your skin stays healthy and is properly protected from the elements?

Well, it just so happens that November is Healthy Skin Month, so in order to celebrate your skin and answer all your skin care questions we've got dermatologist Dr Emma Edmonds, from the British Skin Foundation and nutritional therapist, Sanna Anderson, joining in for a live webchat.

When you look and feel good about yourself, by leading a healthy lifestyle, this really shows through your skin. Healthy Skin month, supported by skin health experts Sanex, is an awareness campaign to get people thinking about how their lifestyles can impact the health of their skin.

Emma and Sanna will be giving you some top tips on how to take the best possible care of your skin from the inside and out. So, if you have any questions for our dermatologist or nutritionist regarding your diet or lifestyle and the impact on your skin, then please get in touch.

Dr Emma Edmonds and nutritionist Sanna Anderson join us live on Tuesday 6th November at 12:30 to discuss skin care.

For more information visit www.healthyskinmonth.co.uk

H: Lis Speight, host
E: Dr Emma Edmonds, British Skin Foundation
S: Sanna Anderson, nutritional therapist

H: Hello and welcome to the Healthcare Show, I’m Lis Speight. Now did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body and everyone’s skin is different, so whether you’re young, old, black, white, male or female, there are certain sure fire tips to help keep your skin healthy, and because November is healthy skin month, supported by Sanex, we’ve called in the experts just for you. So I’m pleased to say that joining me here in the studio we have dermatologist Dr Emma Edmonds from the British Skin Foundation, hello Emma, welcome along

E: Hello, thank you

H: And also joining us is Sanna Anderson, who is a nutritional therapist

S: Hi

H: So you’re dealing with everything from the inside that affects our skin on the outside?

S: That’s right

H: Now Emma and Sanna are going to be talking to us about how to keep our skin healthy, and also they’ll be dealing with any problems that you might have with your skin. Now this is a live show and interactive show, so if you have any questions for our experts about your skin, then get them in to us, all you have to do is type your name in the box that’s on the screen, and your question, press submit, it will come through to us here in the studio and we’ll try to tackle as many as we can during the course of the show. Now then, let’s get cracking talking about skin. Starting with Emma first of all – why do we have skin, why is it so important?

E: Well people tend to forget that skin is actually an organ –

H: Well I didn’t really know that, it’s surprising

E: It is the largest organ of your body and it has, obviously it has many roles. We concentrate on the cosmetic because that’s what we see

H: Yes

E: But also it is a good against UV sunlight exposure, it protects our skin from sunlight, it’s involved in vitamin D synthesis which we need for strong bones. I mean it keeps our organs in –

H: Yes. It keeps us all together!

E: So it’s a very important organ and people tend to forget that, so that’s why it’s very important to look after your skin

H: It’s quite an intelligent organ as well I suppose isn’t it – temperature and –

E: It as, absolutely, it’s involved in temperature regulation and we – you know skin is very important psychologically as well because if our skin isn’t looking good, it can make us feel sort of a bit down

H: And if your skin isn’t looking good, moving onto Sanna – is that to do with your lifestyle?

S: Well it can be and obviously, you know I’m looking at skin from the inside –

H: Yes

S: Perspective in a sense, you know making sure that nutritionally you’re giving it the right nutrients, because at the end of the day you know every single cell in your body is made off the foods that you eat, so you know it’s important to give it the right and good ingredients, and obviously avoid some of the more harmful ingredients

H: And just briefly tell us what they might be then, what’s really good, healthy skin stuff and what you don’t want to touch with a barge pole?

S: Well good, healthy skin stuff, it’s kind of general good stuff anyway, so you know plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit because you’ve got lots of vitamins and minerals. Especially good for antioxidants like vitamins A, C and E because obviously our skin is exposed to lots of pollution, the sun rays, those all create what we call free radicals, so those vitamins then kind of help soothe and quench those, and obviously there are also things like good fats, because I think people get so worried about fats nowadays it’s actually very important to make sure you have some fats in your diet, from things like the oily fish

H: Right

S: Which has the Omega 3 fats, makes your skin cells nice and – sort of plump and able –

H: Supple sort of thing

S: Able to hold moisture in and you know make them supple and less likely to wrinkle

H: And there are some sort of old wives’ tales aren’t there about what you eat and how that affects your skin. Does chocolate give you spots? Is that a controversial one? Come on someone dive in!

E: Well from a dermatology sort of medical perspective, diet obviously a healthy diet is very important, but there is definitely a genetic aspect to - predisposition should I say to spots

H: Right. That’s a bit depressing isn’t it?

E: It is a little bit depressing

H: So if your parents have had bad skin, you’re probably likely to get it as well?

E: Well you’re more likely than somebody else who hasn’t had parents with spots, but I think it’s very important that you need to look at the whole of you, and obviously a healthy diet is very important. I don’t think that there are certain foods that are definitely associated with spots

H: Right

E: So I think maybe chocolate is a bit of a –

H: So things to avoid would be an overdose of too much sugar for example?

E: Absolutely, absolutely

H: Right. What would you say Sanna –

S: Yes I think chocolate, poor thing gets kind of picked on –

H: Yes, yes

S: But I think it’s probably more from a nutrition point of view I would think it’s more the sugar in the chocolate –

H: Right

S: So it’s not just the chocolate, it’s the cakes and the sweets and you know adding sugar to your drinks that can be quite harmful as well, and disrupt your – first of all disrupts your gut bacterial balance, which means that you’re not digesting your foods as well and not getting all the helpful nutrients out of them, so you know you need to perhaps look at a little bit more of the wider picture

H: And what are the real enemies of skin then Emma?

E: Well the main one is sun

H: Right

E: And I think that’s something very important –

H: We’ve become more aware of that in this generation haven’t we?

E: We do – we have indeed and your skin has a very long memory, so what you do in childhood may affect you as you get older

H: Right

E: So skin ageing, particularly wrinkles, fine wrinkles, sun spots – and of course skin cancer which is very important because some skin cancers as you know can kill people, so it’s very important to protect yourself from the sun

H: And what else?

E: Smoking, I’m afraid to say, is one of the main enemies of the skin, and particularly from an ageing point of view – I’m sure you’ll agree as well –

S: Absolutely

E: You can tell if someone smokes, maybe not in their 30s but certainly in their 40s, particularly around the mouth, the eyes, the fine wrinkles – so those are the two main enemies of skin from my point of view

H: So you can do something to help yourself with that then, can’t you Sanna? What would you advise people to do – should we be wearing sun factor every day?

S: Well absolutely I mean I think Emma you probably know more about the sun factors, but it’s something that I would recommend as well, and obviously again from the nutrition point of view, make sure that you do get those, you know helpful antioxidants in your diet which are all sort of rich, colourful, bright coloured vegetables and fruit –

H: Right

S: So you know peppers, sweet potato, oranges, anything that has really bright, vibrant colour then you know that they’re rich in antioxidant nutrients

H: It’s going to be good for you, inside and out

S: Yes, pack them in

H: Ok. Well we’re rolling along actually, but let’s have some of your questions that have been coming in – Helen Irving has sent one in and she wants to know “my skin is very dry in the winter. Is this best cured by products or by the food I eat?”

E: Well I think it’s probably a combination of both to be perfectly honest. In the winter the atmospheric moisture drops, which is why people notice that their skin gets drier

H: Right

E: And also central heating dries your skin out, so there are things that you can do from sort of an outside point of view, you can put a bowl of water near a radiator –

H: Right

E: That works very well

H: Is that not going to make condensation on my windows?

E: Well –

H: That’s another problem isn’t it? Good skin or good windows?

E: Exactly. The other things that you can do are – you can change your moisturiser, you can change your moisturiser to something more oily

H: Right, in the winter

E: Which is better – in the winter – which is better at keeping the moisture in. Other things are avoid very hot showers and very hot baths, because they can actually get rid of the moisture. So there are a few things that you can do

H: Right. And as far as diet goes Sanna, would you say, in the winter should we be eating more oily fish, that sort of thing?

S: Well that can be helpful, and just really at the simplest level, again making sure that you drink enough just plain old water, you know keep the moisture coming in from – you know – from within again, so you know a good tip is to – if you’re working in an office you know have a bottle - a litre-and-a-half bottle of water at your desk and just sip through it throughout the day and just make sure you’ve finished it at the end of the day

H: And does that really make a difference do you think?

S: It can do yes, because you know we – you know just sitting in the office and having the air conditioning, I mean you know we’re losing moisture through our skin all the time

H: It’s being sucked up – goodness knows where it goes

S: I mean it’s not just we kind of think when you sweat that you’re obviously – that’s when you’re losing moisture but just by sitting here you know it’s happening all the time

H: Yes

E: Breathing. And an important thing to say about moisturiser is they keep the moisture in but they don’t put the moisture back in, so you need to drink to keep – to put the moisture into your skin, and the moisturiser keeps the moisture in the skin

H: So maybe putting moisturiser on when your face is a bit wet, does that make sense – a little bit damp?

E: Sort of, yes that can sometimes lock in, that can lock in the –

H: Yes

E: The moisture

H: Ok well I hope that’s been of help to you. Moving on and we’ve had a question from Frank, and he wants to know “I know that men’s face products are supposed to be fashionable, but I still get embarrassed about going into the shops and buying them, let alone asking questions about them. As a bloke with dry skin, especially in the winter and when I ski, what can I do?”

E: Well I would suggest a good quality dermatologically tested moisturiser

H: Right

E: And something that’s been, as I said, pH balanced is also quite good because you’re much less likely to react to that, but a lot of men use moisturisers

H: It’s nothing to be ashamed of Frank

S: And there’s men’s ranges now so you don’t have to go for anything pretty and girly necessarily

H: No and maybe pick it up when you’re in the supermarket and then you can have a bit of a look at the men’s shaving product and there’s probably something around there that would suit you. Yes you don’t need to get something that’s pink do you? So Frank I hope that’s been of some help to you. Now we have another question in from Lara, and she says “sometimes after a night on the vino I wake up with really greasy hair and skin. Is it related to the alcohol intake?”

E: I’ll let you answer that one

S: Interesting. I would say the greasy hair would probably be you know, you’re out and sweating and – sort of –

H: Right

S: More from that point of view. I mean in the long term I think alcohol, it’s going to – it’s actually going to be more drying on your skin because it dehydrates you so you know after a night out and you know if you’ve had a few glasses of wine, again not just for the hangover but for your skin health as well it’s quite important to drink plenty of just good old-fashioned water

H: Yes

S: To kind of bring the moisture back in

H: And how important is it to take your make-up off before you go to bed girls?

E: I think it depends once again on the type of skin you have

H: Right

E: I think if you have very dry skin you can probably get away with it, very occasionally, but I think with people who have got greasy skin who are more prone to get spots, I think that it’s very important to get your moisturiser on and cleanse before you go to bed

H: Right. And as far as cleansing, toning, moisturising goes, when should we start doing that? I mean is that something that we should all be doing?

E: I think it very much depends on your skin type

H: Right

E: And I think once again if you have oily skin you do need to cleanse slightly more often, you need to get rid of those bacteria, the dead skin cells which can block up your pores and blocked pores lead to spots

H: Right

E: If you have dry skin you may need to concentrate on moisturising it more than cleansing and toning, you know most people start in their late teens and 20s, but it very much depends on the type of skin you have

H: And talking about how our skin changes through our life, are there sort of different phases in your life where you might notice that your skin’s more dry or your skin’s more oily, I mean children don’t get spots, they’ve all got lovely skin and it all goes a bit wrong doesn’t it when we get into our teenage years?

E: Unfortunately that’s puberty, and you produce more – something called sebum which is the oily, oily product on your skin and that leads to spots basically, so that’s why people tend to get spots as teenagers

H: And does that tend to settle down as we get older? How does your skin change as you get older through life?

E: Well your skin gets drier and thinner actually as you get older, so generally people notice that they get fewer spots, but obviously there are always exceptions to the rule. Skin definitely gets drier as you get older so you may need to moisturise far more often, the older you get

H: And if you’ve had a good diet through your life and you’ve drunk lots of water, would you say Sanna that you can really see that, if you see a 50 year old – someone that’s had a good diet and someone that hasn’t, can you really see that in your skin?

S: Absolutely, I mean I think you certainly can, I mean obviously you have to think of all the other lifestyle choices that we’ve made

H: Yes

S: Like smoking and you know –

H: Stress

S: Sun tanning and all that, but you know keep bringing in the good nutrients and absolutely your skin will have a lot more of the right ingredients to stay healthy and radiant looking

H: Yes, ok. Radiant, we like that word don’t we? Now we’ve had quite a few questions in actually about sort of spots and acne, they’re the bain of our lives aren’t they, I know we’ve all had them haven’t we? Well I did anyway. Lucy asks “if I get spots that are whiteheads, should I squeeze them?” Thanks for that one Lucy! Should you pick your skin? It’s very tempting isn’t it?

E: These white spots are called comedones and comedones are whiteheads or blackheads, and what the whiteness is just a blocked pore, so you can sometimes squeeze them –

H: Just to clear it?

E: Just to clear it, but you know make sure that you obviously have clean hands and – because you don’t want to get your skin infected

H: No. It’s very tempting to have a good old pick at your face though isn’t it?

E: I know

H: But it’s probably not the best thing to do because you can scar it as well can’t you?

E: You can scar it, absolutely

H: And how long does your skin take to regenerate itself, because it’s constantly regenerating itself all the time – can it repair itself? You were saying it has a very long memory, can it sort of repair itself over time?

E: The top layer of your skin which is called the epidermis, which is what we see, it takes about 42 days to go from – to regenerate, so from a – so that’s quite important from a nutrition point of view that your skin is always growing, but from a sun damage point of view, unfortunately the damage does last a little bit longer, and that unfortunately doesn’t go

H: Right so if you’ve damaged your skin as a child in the sun, then you’ve just got to cope with the consequences of it really?

E: I’m afraid so, which is why it’s so important to look after your skin from a very young age

H: Ok and Sanna – lastly from you, just a few top tips really to try and keep that skin looking healthy?

S: I’d say keep drinking water, that’s a very simple, easy one, you know keeps clearing any toxins from your body as well. Emphasise those good fats, so oily fish, nuts and seeds as well because I think there is always a risk, especially for us girls to get a little bit fat phobic, and then really go for a variety of you know vegetables – berries also actually are great, great super food, because for their size they’re absolutely packed with nutrients, so use them on your breakfast cereal or as snacks – and frozen as well they still retain their nutrients very well so –

H: Delicious and good for your skin

S: Yes exactly

H: Can’t be bad can it? Well that’s about all we’ve got time for on this show, so thanks very much Dr Emma Edmonds and Sanna Anderson for coming in to talk to us about skin. And if you want any more information about how to keep your skin healthy, if you’ve got spots or if you’re worried about a rash or something you’ve got, then you can go to the website which is www.healthyskinmonth.co.uk and there’s plenty of top tips there about how to keep your skin in tip top condition. We’ll see you next time, bye bye

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