The Connection between Inner Health and Outer Beauty

As a primary care physician for the past 13 years, I have seen and heard just about everything. As the family doctor, I am given the responsibility to help my patients live better and stay healthy, but what has happened with managed care, is I have less and less time to spend with each person. I have five minutes, may be 10 minutes max to see someone, which is barely enough time to address their top concern, so the things that I believe can make the most difference in your life-wellness and prevention are never addressed.

I have become so dismayed with the whole process, that I have opened up a medical spa and wellness center to deliver the the philosophy I believe in: The integration of inner health and outer beauty. Your skin is a manifestation of what is happening internally. To treat skin well, both the inner and outer aspects need to be addressed. This blog is to help you understand the various skin conditions, the treatments available, as well as how your inner health can be affecting your outer beauty. Furthermore, different skin types have different concerns that need to be addressed and treated accordingly.

One of the most important things that I have learned in medicine is to make things simple. The more simply it is stated, the better people understand it and are more likely to understand how to take care for it. This is by no means to make anyone feel disrespected, but I just think doctors are so caught up in the technical lingo that they have forgetten how to explain things to people.

So, to begin with skin health, the most common reasons people come in to our center are for acne, spots, scars, saggy skin, wrinkles, and unwanted hair. (Wouldn't it be great if we could just get rid of all of these problems?) These skin concerns can be grouped into different categories that offer various treatment options depending on the severity of the condition. Severity is defined by
1. Mild-affecting 1/4th of the face or less
2. Moderate-affecting 1/2 of the the face
3. Severe-affecting more than 1/2 of the face

The five categories are:
1. Acne-there are different types and can affect the body anywhere, which we will discuss in the future.

2. Red skin-this includes rosacea, sensitive & dry red skin, "erythematous skin"-just a fancy term for people who have no skin problem
but just alot of red undertones and easy flushing, psoriasis, broken capillaries

3. Brown discoloration-from scarring, acne, melasma, sun damage,
age related changes to include the most common causes of brown spots and patches

4. Wrinkles-whether they are fine or deep, caused by movement or
are always present;the treatment will vary.

5. Other-are all other things that cause lumps, bumps, and
concerns. After we evaluate these, these can be treated or referred on for
further treatment.

I will break down each of these categories in more detail so you can learn more about them as well as the different treatment options. Yes, people can have multiple combinations of problems together as well! There are many other problems out there but I just wanted to discuss the most common concerns that I address daily and what can be done from them.