Skin Advice Derms Give Their Own Kids
Imagine how awesome it would be to have a dermatologist for a parent—someone you could talk to or text, day or night, about all things skin. Well, it turns out, derms’ kids are no different than anyone else when on the receiving end of advice from their parents: “My daughter’s eyes kind of glazed over the first time I started telling her what to do about her acne; I had to remind her that people pay me for my opinion,” laughs Peterson Pierre, M.D., a dermatologist in Thousand Oaks, California who has a daughter, 20, and son, 18. “But once she got that the advice was coming from a dermatologist, not ‘dad,’ she started following it.”
To give you the best of both worlds—the expert, insider advice without the parental opinion or commentary baked-in—we asked four skin gurus-slash-guardians about the most important wisdom they’ve handed down to their teens and 20-somethings.
1. Wash your face every. single. night.
Do not go to bed with a dirty face! Period. “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t wear a stitch of makeup; your skin needs to be cleaned of all the impurities it encounters during the day,” says Deanne Mraz Robinson, M.D., a derm in Westport, Connecticut with four kids. Otherwise, the dirt and bacteria, along with excess oil can cause breakouts.
Each derm we talked to gave different advice for what kind of cleanser to use. Dr. Pierre told his daughter to use a plain, gentle cleanser for her sensitive skin since acne-fighting ingredients can be irritating if overused. (He’d rather she reserve ingredients like salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide for more targeted leave-on products.)
Sonic cleaning brushes are another option for sensitive skin. “They came out when my daughter was 13 and let her exfoliate her delicate skin well without harsh acids,” says Debra Jaliman, M.D., a dermatologist in New York City.
However for her acne-prone teens, Leslie Baumann, M.D., a derm in Miami, said salicylic acid cleansers were the right choice. “They didn’t like putting a lot of stuff on their faces, so this helped keep their pores clear,” she says. Another key tip: “In the shower, wash your face after rinsing off hair conditioner, since its ingredients can cause acne.”
2. Moisturizer is super important. Yes, even for oily and acne-prone skin.
“The more moisture you give skin, the less it makes on its own,” explains Dr. Mraz Robinson. “Moisturizing actually helps [oily] skin self-regulate.” All our parent-derms recommend choosing oil-free, non-comedogenic lotions or creams formulated with ingredients that strengthen or repair skin’s barrier function—namely ceramides and niacinamide, which you’ll see on ingredients lists.
3. Be smart about how you use acne treatments
There are a lot of different ingredients that effectively clear and prevent breakouts. One reason they work so well: They’re strong, and if you’re not careful and smart, they’ll leave skin even more red and irritated than pimples can, Dr. Pierre says. “The more irritation, the less you’ll want to use the treatment, so you’ll just be back at square one with your acne.” Here’s how to safeguard skin:
If you use Rx topicals
Dr. Baumann recommends starting up with a barrier-repair moisturizer prior to beginning use of a prescription acne treatment. The stronger your skin’s barrier function is, the less likely it is to be irritated by potent ingredients. When you do get the Rx, start sloooooowwww so skin can gradually get used to it. “Use only 1/8 teaspoon at night and wait three days. If skin doesn’t get red, apply it every third night for two weeks,” she says. “If skin tolerates that, move up to every other night. After two weeks and no redness, apply every night.”
If you use OTC retinol
Dr. Pierre recommended over-the-counter retinol for his kids’ mild acne because it’s anti-inflammatory (and therefore cuts down on zits’ redness), reduces oil production, helps refine pores and banishes blackheads and whiteheads. As with Rx treatments, start retinol slowly, applying only every few nights to start. “And apply moisturizer on top to deal with dryness,” he says.
If you use benzoyl peroxide
Although a killer acne-fighter (literally—it kills the bacteria that cause zits), BP can leave skin extra dry and it can bleach your clothes. So Dr. Pierre made sure his kids knew to get dressed before applying. Dr. Baumann also suggests that if your skin gets red or dry after using BP, apply barrier-repair moisturizer first. That gives skin a buffer, helping it better tolerate the treatment.
4. Do not sleep on acne bacteria
“Acne bacteria [spawns] baby bacteria every 12 hours, so using treatments once a day at night is not enough,” Dr. Baumann says. Because the ingredients can be irritating, however, many are too strong to double up on. She recommends using your big guns (i.e. an Rx, retinoid or BP) at night, then the next day, around mid-morning, a milder OTC treatment. Her fave: a salicylic acid spray with colloidal silver, which lowers the pH of skin and makes it less hospitable to bacteria.
5. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen—for everyone and every skin tone
Every day, rain or shine, clouds or sun, whether you’re going to school, to run errands, to play sports or to the beach or park. “My kids have known this since preschool; I’ve scared them straight with stories from my youth [of getting burned] and with the cases of skin cancer I see at work every day,” Dr. Mraz Robinson says. “So applying SPF 30+ is part of the morning routine for our entire family.”
SPF is important not only for preventing skin cancer, but also wrinkles and other signs of aging that will come to haunt you years down the road if you skimp now. And if you think you don’t need it because your skin’s melanin will protect you, listen to Dr. (Dad) Pierre: “My kids are black, and there’s this misconception that skin of color doesn’t need sun protection. While melanin does provide some inherent protection, it is not 100 percent—you still need sunscreen,” he says. “Plus, skin of color is prone to discoloration, and dark spots will get darker when exposed to the sun if you don’t wear protection.”
Both Drs. Pierre and Mraz Robinson recommend mineral-based products (look for zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide on ingredient lists). “They do the best job blocking out UV radiation, they’re mineral-based and so won’t irritate skin, and you can find really good zinc-based products that rub in completely and don’t leave any white residue behind,” Dr. Pierre says.
6. Treat mild rashes with cortisone and moisturizer
“My daughter would get little rashes occasionally due to stress, a product reaction or changes in weather,” Dr. Pierre says. “Cortisone deals with the inflammation and redness, but it works better if you put moisturizer on top.” The moisturizer helps prevent moisture loss from skin, which exacerbates the reaction, he explains.
7. Keep your hands off zits
“I always say, ‘Don’t touch it, let me get it!” Dr. Mraz Robinson says. But if you don’t have a professional pimple-popper living with you, she’s a big fan of wearing pimple patches with “micro-darts” and salicylic acid to help drain whiteheads, clear out the clogged pore and reduce redness.
8. Do your best to pick up healthy-skin habits now
“The habits you develop when you’re younger are the ones you keep throughout your life,” says Dr. Jaliman, who has seen it firsthand with her now 29-year-old daughter. The two most derm-advised habits to make a forever part of your routine: nightly cleansing and morning sunscreen.
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