Let’s be honest – getting married is stressful business and those of us who are prone to breakouts know that stress can exacerbate the problem even further. Rest assured that once you take action, ideally 5-6 months before your wedding day, there is ample time to get your skin under control and at its radiant, blemish-free best. Catherine Hollywood from River Medical is here to help you battle those breakouts.
Book a consultation
The first step is really to visit a medical expert who can assess your skin and from there make a recommendation that really can make a dramatic difference to your skin. Very often it’s a combination of non-invasive but medically-proven treatments to get your skin condition under control and thereafter, either the odd maintenance treatment or even just good homecare, but they’ll talk you through it, step by step.
How long will it take?
With acne-prone skin, you can expect to see a real difference after 3-4 months. Ideally it’s best to start six months out from the wedding, which give your practitioner time to get to know your skin and also enable them to make any tweaks to your treatment plan.
What’s the best treatment for breakouts?
Sometimes it’s a combination of various treatments that will achieve the best result.
For example, Isolaz delivers deep pore cleansing by decreasing the number of acne spots, removing blackheads, oil, and debris and reducing pore size appearance.
The Vit-illume treatment also deeply cleanses and exfoliates, but also super-hydrates and revitalises the skin using a tailored combination of meso vitamins and potent peptides. LED light therapy then works to renew, plump and tighten as well as calm the skin.
Intense Pulse Light (IPL) works by destroying the most common bacteria that causes acne, without pain and without downtime.
What about at-home remedies?
It’s important to make sure you are using the best products for your skin. I would recommend the PCA Skin range, which is exclusive to River Medical in Ireland. The first stop is most likely to start you on the facial wash for oily/problem skin.
There’s also an actual acne gel which has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. It’s excellent for speeding up the recovery and also relieves pain. It can be used as a spot treatment twice per week, and can be applied in a thin layer to the entire face and slept in. It contains 2% salicylic acid, which is a safe but effective amount. It also contain 5% Azelaic acid, which helps decrease post-inflammatory pigmentation, i.e. that pink/red mark left when the spot has healed.
Don’t skip the moisturiser
Don’t be tempted to skip moisturising, if you are suffering from breakouts. This will actually cause excessive dryness and an increase in oil production. A good moisturiser I would recommend is PCA Skin’s Clear Skin moisturiser, which contains 4% niacinamide which is excellent for hydration, Vitamin A, which helps unblock pores and exfoliates, and other anti-inflammatory ingredients.
Whether you suffer from frequent breakouts or just the odd flare up, make sure you have a plan for your skin ahead of your big day. River Medical offer free consultations and you can book one by calling 01 6629106 or email [email protected]
- Catherine Hollywood, Nurse at River Medical