Despite best efforts to mind SPF, treasured days spent in the salty sea and under a blazing sun takes a toll on skin. And while most want to take on summer’s final victory lap, it’s also a good time to pause, evaluate, and make a plan for damage control. “Sun damage is a cumulative ongoing process throughout life,” says Manhattan-based dermatologist Dr. Elizabeth Hale. “It’s important to protect yourself [to] prevent against future sun damage in the form of pre-cancers and skin cancers.” Thankfully, a number of over the counter and in-office treatments are targeting everything from dull complexions to wrinkles, dark spots, and even precancerous lesions. Here, a comprehensive guide to fighting the signs of summer from every angle.
Target Your Efforts on the Cellular Level
When it comes to taking your post-sun skincare regime to the next level, Hale turns to a new crop of DNA repair creams and serums that mend the effects of UV exposure. Formulas like Neova’s triple enzyme serum can help “reverse some of the skin mutations that cause cancer and aging,” says Hale. By replacing sun-damaged cells with a new, non-mutated base, products like this can improve your internal health as well as erase visible signs of photoaging. Hale also recommends a late-night application of bio-advanced products made by the likes of DNA Renewal, which is packed with enzymes, peptides and botanical actives, because your body naturally restores its DNA when you are asleep.
Look to Antioxidants for Help
The body only has so many lines of defense in the fight against free radicals, which include wrinkle- and sag-inducing molecules generated by UV exposure. One way to fight this is through the production of antioxidants. Odacité’s Ac + R serum, which is driven by a combination of rose oil and a high concentration of cold-pressed antioxidant-packed Acaí, interrupts free radical reactions in the body, as does the blend of ferric acid and vitamin C in Hale’s favorite C E Ferulic serum by SkinCeuticals.
Trust, Don’t Rush, Retinol
Hale often prefers to improve post-summer skin quality and outward appearance through retinol. “It can help with brown spots and fine lines,” she says of the vitamin A derivative’s ability to supercharge cell turnover and stimulate collagen production. It’s important to slowly introduce products like AlphaRet and the ultra-gentle retinaldehyde-driven Avène RetrinAL 0.1 into your routine, says Hale. “[Patients] get so excited and use too much of it that it causes them to get dry and irritated, leaving them worse off than where they started.”
Consider a Variety of Laser Options
For major impact with zero downtime, Hale suggests giving Clear + Brilliant laser treatment a try. “It evens out pigmentation you may have gotten from over the summer and helps get rid of some of that sun damage,” she says of the treatment that, through heat that helps create fractionated wounds in the skin, causes a reaction of increased collagen production and overall healing across the skin’s surface. Even better, the “low energy” treatment involves little to no recovery period, she says, with the only side effect being dry skin. “You can go to work and function normally.” That said, it may take multiple monthly sessions to reach the same results as the similar but more powerful Fraxel treatment, she says. While this recovery period is about a week, during which patients may look sunburnt and experience peeling, in the long run the semi-invasive treatment provides “evening out of texture and fine lines, and improvement of overall sun damage.”
To zero in on brown spots, Q-switched laser treatment has the ability to target groups of melanin by using a pulsing light to shatter and release the buildup of dark pigmentation. Afterwards, the pigment is naturally disposed of by the body. And for those facing precancerous lesions, Hale recommends photodynamic therapy, also known as PDT, which can treat the entire face or chest in one fell swoop. After a photosensitizing agent is ingested or applied to the skin, the light causes the drug to react with oxygen, forming a chemical that eradicates cancerous cells.
