Dr. Somji Skin.

"If you don't have access to prescriptive azelaic acid at 15 and 20%, Paula's Choice do a nice one at 10 and 15 that you can use, and they're normally available as creams or gels which are really quite nice. Azelaic acid helps with redness but also will help with pigmentation as well, so it can treat that, and in pregnancy you can get some acne as well, so azelaic acid will help that too. It's that superstar ingredient that you can use that will just protect your skin over time."

"A great treatment for getting that deeper pigmentation out is the Cosmelan treatment, which is a natural blend of things like vitamin C, azelaic acid, as well as retinol. It's a treatment that you can do within the clinic. It's a mask that's applied over the face. It's literally like magic. In terms of cosmetic appearance, it gets rid of probably like 80 to 90% of even stubborn melasma, which is really really good."

"With the Face Theory product they probably put a lot into it to be able to put 15% on the label but is it a true 15% that remains to be seen. If I'm looking at things like azelaic acid, I would always say are worth investing in in terms of medical grade product because you're getting the pure ingredient and you're getting exactly what you're paying for and actually you're getting a better delivery mechanism as well."

"There's nothing better for the Skin Barrier than niacinamide and the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% from The Ordinary is quite good. Don't get scared with a 10% because it's almost like a sugar coating on a label, they say it's 10% but really it's not too strong. Most patients don't really irritate from there, but I would still use it sparingly. But definitely to help your skin barrier, to help the way that your skin functions, and to reduce the chances of the sebaceous filaments coming back, then this is a good idea."

"I just picked this up mainly because it's got bakuchiol in there, which is like an alternative to retinol. There's a lot of studies that look at bakuchiol and look at its effectiveness in comparison to retinol, so it does pretty much a similar thing to retinol but doesn't have the sensitivity. Good retinol formulations nowadays have bakuchiol on it because they just take down the concentration of retinol, build it up with bakuchiol, and then suddenly you've got something that you can use all the time."

"The Ordinary have a great hyaluronic acid that you can use which is really nice to just kind of hydrate the skin. Because the superficial skin is a bit more dehydrated with rosacea, it's going to hydrate both in the upper levels of the skin and also the mid layers of the skin as well because of the different molecule sizes that you see within a product, and your body will then draw in moisture to that area so it's going to help with hydration."

"There is actual evidence that rosemary oil can work. As an active ingredient it does a number of things: it reduces inflammation, it promotes nerve endings so it helps repair certain areas, helps with circulation, it also is an antifungal, and it has been proven to block something called DHT, which is dihydrotestosterone. This is a breakdown product of testosterone that is present in individuals that have male and female pattern baldness."

"Topical application of glycolic acids is going to be of minimal concern, so you can use your over-the-counter glycolic acid in things like washes or leave-on concentration products, which is absolutely fine. Just don't overdo it. In face masks and face sheets with all that hyaluronic acid, the concentration is very low and minimal, so I wouldn't really worry about the use of glycolic acid during pregnancy at all."

"You replace that with dermal filler, it with hyaluronic acid, and you get a more refreshed look. Back in even 3, 4 years ago we used to be using more softer gels within the area, so the hyaluronic acid filler used to be soft, light, and fluffy as well as moldable, and the best place to inject it is deeper down on bone so it doesn't draw in so much moisture. But we know as time goes by, because this area moves a lot, the filler can move up to the surface of the skin and then you can get this kind of swelling within that area, and that's what you sometimes see with patients."

"You've got the Vichy Vitamin C, which is a nice example of a serum. It's got multiple different types of things in there as well, so it's got things like vitamin E in there, and it's got glycerin, which helps with the skin barrier, and it's also got a few nice extracts that are going to really help with making sure that you're not getting many breakouts as well. Vitamin C you really want to start about 10%, go up to even 15% in lighter formulations. The ones that I actually like are 15% vitamin C and EGF. I really like this serum. It's so easy to use, lightweight. EGF stands for epidermal growth factor, which is for building new skin cells, but it's a lovely serum that's lightweight that can be applied to the skin and it also helps with the skin barrier."

"The hyaluronic acid serum from The Inky List does exactly what it says in the tin. It's made of hyaluronic acid and is designed to have a thin layer so you want to put probably a 5 pence piece on the back of your hand, spread it over your fingers and then touch into each area of the face. You massage up from the eyes, around from the middle part of the face and then up from the neck as well, and it should rapidly absorb because it's not a thick cream, it's a serum. Once you've got hyaluronic acid within the skin, that's going to help with moisture. If you have an impaired skin barrier, your skin is maybe a little bit sensitive and it can be a little bit dry and fluctuates between oily and dry, this is where hyaluronic acid is normally paired with another serum called niacinamide, which is vitamin B3 and really helps the protective layer on the skin, the skin barrier, that lipid barrier that prevents moisture from releasing."

"I love this product because I know that I'm going to send someone away and they're going to get the results. It really helps to plump out fine lines wrinkles, firming, it's very anti-aging. It's fantastic for hydration and helps to restore the barrier function as well. You've got these bluebell stem cell so it helps prevent future aging, you've got polymorphia sinensis root extract which helps calm and soothe the skin as well as has ginseng extract which helps with elasticity and firmness. If you actually look at the ingredients, yes we've got some silicone in there which is a little bit disappointing, but those root extracts come up a lot more higher on the list so it's a very natural, plant-based growth factor stimulating serum."

"I think it's a fantastic price point. For the price you're getting quite a bit. You're getting the hyaluronic acid, you're getting the three essential ceramides, you're also getting vitamin B5 in this as well. You've got sodium hyaluronate which is fantastic, panthenol which is quite high up, and then you got your three ceramides as well which is great. You got a kind of mild citric acid lower down as well so it just helps remove any dead skin at the same time. It's a nice formulation. It'll spread nicely, it's a nice texture, doesn't need any thickening agents, easily absorbed."

"You can start introducing vitamin C in the AM because that's going to help with the skin barrier. It's also going to help with your inflammation, it's going to reduce inflammation, and it's also going to help with almost as an antioxidant for your skin because if you have rosacea that's untreated the skin is essentially bare, it's open, and pollutants and everything like that damage the skin. So introducing a vitamin C is a very good step."

"If you have sensitivity and you want a little bit more nourishment to that skin barrier and you want to reduce the sensitivity while in your nighttime routine before you apply the azelaic acid, you can use rose hip oil which is fantastic for rosacea. I'm a big fan of oils. You just have to make sure that you're not acne prone within the area and it's more that you've just got kind of sensitivity. You could cleanse the skin, you could use the oil, and then you can use the azelaic acid over the top and you should be absolutely fine."

"The Rhode Peptide Glazing Fluid is quite a simple formulation. It's got baobab seed oil in it, niacinamide which is fantastic for the skin barrier, glycerin, and some peptides. There's not as many peptides as I thought they would be in the product, but it's a nice simple formulation. There's nothing kind of groundbreaking from it, but it definitely will help with hydration. There's no doubt about it with those ingredients. It's actually fantastic. The packaging is fully recyclable, less harm to the peptides because they've got some great packaging from recycled tin materials. Overall it's a nice kind of clean brand with no nasties in it, but again not going to change your skin too much. I love applying this over my toner when the toner is still a little bit damp as well. I just feel like it helps the product absorb so nicely."

"I like to use a squalane product which essentially is the emollient and why do I use squalane because it is probably the best emollient available. It replicates our natural emollient produced by the oil in the body. I put that on top of the hyaluronic acid and I found that it's an excellent hydration and very consistently so as well. The Ordinary actually have a great product, the squalane cleanser which is great for compromised skin, so if you have really dehydrated skin, maybe like psoriasis eczema, squalane cleanser is actually quite a good product."

"Marula oil I actually like this one from the Ordinary because it's at such a good price point compared to the Drunk Elephant marula oil which is marketed as like a luxury marula but they're exactly the same thing. You can use this in the nighttime you might not want to use it during the daytime but you can if you're going to be wanting glass skin you can use this in your regime at the end instead of the SPF at nighttime and is a great substitute."

"It feels nice and smooth, you've got all those glycerins and things like that in there, but it's got a little bit of oil based so we know that it's mainly olive oil and a skin conditioning agent. Now if you put olive oil in your skin it's going to feel like this, it'll feel good. But hey, you are overpaying for this product. You know it's marketed as a polypeptide cream, but the peptides are so low down on the ingredients list that it may as well not be a peptides cream. It's basically an olive oil cream."

"It's super thin so it's easily absorbed, there's no doubt about that, but it's thin. It really needed that thickener. There are better other hyaluronic acids on the market that we've talked about in previous videos. Yes, there's some additional B5, but it's so low down the list that it's not really going to make a difference. I personally don't think that this product's worth it. I think there's other things on the market that can do probably much the same job if not better."

"It's got they've tried really hard here with these active ingredients, I think it's pretty cool with the thermal water as well, but just the addition of the denatured alcohol to make sure that it sits on shelf properly and for a longer period of time without ruining and also paging, and the packaging is not so good and the perfume. If you're going to partially inactivate the vitamin C you lose probably what makes it effective. You can get 10% or 15% vitamin C from The Ordinary and The Inky List, and The Inky List is better than this."

"The prescribed version, the 15% gel, in my opinion is quite an impressive formulation. Azelaic acid is a fantastic ingredient for reducing acne type lesions. It's got the added benefit that is something called a tyrosinase inhibitor, it inhibits melanin production, and therefore for people of skin of color such as me it also helps post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. So when I get a spot I don't go red, I go darker, so it will help all skin types in that whole journey of a spot from the beginning all the way to the end. It can be combined with other skincare ingredients slowly. Don't start too high, start low, go slow, and you can work up. You've got to be a bit careful about maybe not damaging your skin barrier because it can dry out the skin a little bit, so you've got to moisturize afterwards."

"Ozempic is approved as a weight loss drug but sometimes it's prescribed to individuals that are already at a good BMI but just want to lose a little bit more weight. It's naughty because people that need the drug are not getting it. What happens is if you lose vast amounts of weight in a short period of time you lose the facial fat within the face, and it seems to be the case that people that are on Ozempic or similar drugs are losing fat in their face at a faster rate than you would normally. If you lose fat in your face you end up with Ozempic face, which is a face that's a lot more aged, has more fine lines and wrinkles, and can even get droopiness in that face as well. The fat pads within the face are what hold everything into place. If you suddenly start losing fat in those compartments things start coming down and you almost have a skeletonized appearance. If you lose that volume you end up getting descent, and any skin deterioration is going to be a lot more visible when you've lost that fat. One of the tips to avoid Ozempic face is to lower your dose of Ozempic because if you're on Ozempic you're going to be on it for a very long time."

"Bakuchiol is a plant-based ingredient that basically mimics retinol and gives you the same results but on a slower pace. When you look at comparative studies they always say it's just as good. I don't think it is just as good once the retinol gets higher, but what's really there with bakuchiol is that it doesn't cause that kind of retinoid reaction so the redness and sensitivity, which is quite nice. It's a nice mimic."

"Sofwave is FDA approved for brow lift, face lifting, and neck lifting. The reason why it's so safe is that it only targets down to 1.5 mm so you're really safe on that fat layer. It stimulates collagen in the skin layer so you'll see this natural plumping effect which is similar to what you can get with very subtle fillers, and you also get a nice tightening effect too. It uses ultrasound, a very specific type of ultrasound that uses something called parallel beam technology, basically meaning that the energy is released parallel almost like in a circle, so normally traditional devices go perpendicular and the energy can get spread from 1 mm to 2 mm and it loses its effect."

"One recent one is Restylane Silk, which is designed to not attract as much water to that area. I've seen patients that I've treated 10 years ago and I've even still seen the filler in that area, so for some reason around the eye area the filler doesn't break down as much. It's really important to start low and go slow. I always inject a small amount of filler in that area at any one time, knowing that it accumulates over time."

"The first time I looked at it I was like, you know what, I can't put this on my face because it is way too thick. I'm pretty much acne prone in terms of very thick creams and this was just way too thick for me. On using it, it moisturizes pretty slowly, it's a little bit tacky. I don't necessarily like the smell of this. It almost smells like too sparky to me. When I was using it for a good couple of weeks, I noticed that my elbows and knuckles, which normally get a lot drier, were a lot more moisturized and the skin barrier was a lot better. It's got a thick base of pure plant oils and beeswax, and beeswax is fantastic."

"Vaseline is not going to help take off your makeup; it might help keep it in because it's a barrier. There's no evidence to show that putting Vaseline on eyelashes and eyebrows helps grow it. It just gives you a little bit of coverage on the hair follicles and hair shaft, giving you the illusion that it's a little bit thicker, but it's not actually going to thicken the hair. That said, it can make things feel quite nice, and especially if you've got dry sensitive skin around the eyes and you suffer from perioral dermatitis, then applying Vaseline over that area can help the skin barrier repair. On the other hand, you have to be careful with putting Vaseline around the eye area because where it blocks and forms a protective film that blocks the skin, you can be at risk of getting things like milia, which are little milk spots around that area."

"The Inky List, The Ordinary did they smell very placid but that's because there's very few ingredients in there and what you're getting is not you haven't got any good ingredients to really mask. As soon as you start putting proper ingredients many different types of ingredients within a product they react with each other and what you get is kind of sometimes not a nice smell."

"Softwave releases energy parallel so you don't get any damage to the fat layer, which is a worry. If you look at some of the before and afters, you can really lift the eyebrows. Even our ocular plastic surgeon at the clinic sometimes combines blepharoplasty with a Softwave brow lift because he knows it's going to be fantastic. Brow lifts sometimes are not so successful, they involve quite a big scar in that area, and Softwave is a great alternative to a brow lift and a blepharoplasty. If you have somebody with very loose skin around the eyes and a drop, you can do a couple of Softwave treatments to lift the brow and maybe even do some CO2 around the eyes and get a really good result. You can see results straight away with gradual improvement as new collagen gets remodeled. Because of the initial coagulation of proteins and skin contraction, you can often see results straight away. In fact, sometimes we do one side of the face so you can compare and see the lift that's been achieved, knowing that you will get more of a lift as months go on as the collagen is rebuilt."

"There are some energy based devices that can actually target this region so they're ultrasound based devices, so high frequency ultrasound devices. One of the most famous is Ultherapy. It has to be used in the right way. If you go to someone who's not experienced with Ultherapy you can end up breaking down a lot of fat during the time period and you can actually look a lot worse. We want to target the SMAS layer, which is the muscular layer within the face, to cause contraction within that area."

"CO2 lasers are fantastic. You can do it for example around the eyes for around £900 a session, sometimes as cheap as £450, but if you're going to go stronger the session prices may be a little bit higher. Generally you only need like two or three sessions with CO2 laser and it works very well for patients with looser skin, especially above the eye area, which is called the Madonna eye lift. CO2 is very ablative and it can leave with pinkness, redness, swelling around the area."

"The Morpheus8 is a radiofrequency microneedling treatment. Small pins go down into the fat layer and it helps shrink those fat cells back together. One of the advantages that you have with the Morpheus8 is that it'll target the skin layer too. So if you don't want a laser and just want one treatment to treat your skin and the fat, Morpheus8 is great, it's got two in one, targets two layers, so you get a better result."

"If there's one that I sort of recommend in terms of retinol, I'd probably recommend this because this is not going to desensitize your skin as quickly as some of the other formulations. Definitely a brand that delivers results. But I would never use this brand by yourself. I would always have some professional skin professional to point you in the right direction because you need someone that knows skin to be able to say, well, stop this, use this, use this just once a day, alter it, or just stop using this altogether and replace it with this. It requires an innate knowledge of absolutely everything going on. I always say with ZO Skin Health you learn something new every day."

"When I'm looking at the ingredients list, niacinamide is very high up but salicylic acid is quite low down, so I actually don't think it's that effective. You can get a nice niacinamide serum from The Ordinary or The Inky List and it'll pretty much do the same thing without irritating the skin. This is quite expensive, it's about £20, so you're paying £20 just for some niacinamide and some silicone really and very small amounts of salicylic acid. I don't know whether it's worth the money, and it's a very small amount, it's like 40 mls as well. It's a nice idea but I think that it needs more. You can't say that niacinamide is going to stop you having pigmentation; it's not a true pigmentation product."

"The preferred one is Restylane Lift and the reason why I inject this product is because it has what's called a high G Prime, that means it's got a high resistance to any form of deformation. So any pressure that's exerted onto it, it retains its shape, and that's exactly what you want in a nose. You want something that when you inject it there, it's going to stay there and it sticks together as well, so it doesn't spread. It just has what we call enhanced tissue integration, so it just integrates into that area. This is the reason why you can get some good longevity and results."

"One of my favorite products is Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. When you look at the ingredient list, it's water-based with caprylic triglycerides in there, so derived from coconuts, fantastic for helping the skin barrier. Cetyl alcohol, which is one of the main ingredients of Cetaphil, so it's a really calming, really soothing formulation that's also got hyaluronic acid in there that's going to help retain the moisture. The reason why we're using NMF as opposed to anything like active or acidic for acne is because most of the time when you have acne you've got an impaired skin barrier. If you've got an impaired skin barrier that basically means you're losing a lot more moisture than you should be, and as a result of that loss of moisture you're overproducing sebum, i.e. oils within the skin. If you produce too much oil you get too much bacteria. If you get too much bacteria you get inflammation. If you get inflammation you get red spots. So if you repair that barrier you stop that chain of events."

"CeraVe are also fantastic just to help with the barrier. Set of ones in particular quite nice because they got nice ingredients which helps with a barrier. For example the CeraVe, so what would you use as a base layer if you're going to be doing this, a good base layer would be something like squalene, squalene maybe a squalene hyaluronic acid mix. The one from the ordinary is pretty cool. You can use a squalane cleanser which I think is really nice, you can make the cleanser maybe a little bit more gentle so you can use like this cream one from CeraVe."

"If you're using prescription based retinoids, even third generation retinoids like tretinoin, then probably you want to stay clear. The role of topical retinoids in these cases is still very controversial. There are prospective studies that have examined the use during the first trimester of pregnancy with 96 and 100, 106 women that did not find an increase of major malformations or evidence of retinoid embryopathy, but just looking at 96 and 106 women in two separate studies is not high enough in terms of case reports. You need larger cohorts to really be encouraged that topical retinoids are safe."

"It's great because it helps with dryness even within your moisture barrier within one week. It's a niacinamide base, it's got panthenol, vitamin E, these are things that are great for the skin barrier to make sure that your skin is nourished. Ceramides are really important as well, and CeraVe is a great brand for ceramides, it contains the three essential ceramides for function of that skin barrier so you don't lose moisture and your skin is a lot more calmer as well."

"It's the hero product in the range. It's something that we both use in everyday life. Personally I use it for dry traps particularly in the winter but after treatments in clinic particularly I use it after lasers and certain radio frequency treatments when the skin barrier has been broken and the skin is very inflamed. It's the perfect, literally when someone's bleeding from a laser you put it on as a barrier layer. It's protective and also seals in the moisture so you don't continue to lose moisture. Particularly when you do lasers you lose that protective barrier. When I do use that I like that ointment. It's very well tolerated and it calms the skin down as well. You can definitely use this post treatment or if you've got very dry skin or chapped knuckles."

"The CeraVe Healing Ointment is like an inclusive dressing that you can apply to the skin when you want that little bit of repair. It can be put on dry, cracked areas, so if you've got dry, cracked skin, especially if you're someone like me that washes your hands like 50, 60 times a day, it's really really useful for those rough kind of areas. It's formulated with petrolatum, which is basically very similar to petroleum jelly or Vaseline. There's also the addition of hyaluronic acid as well as ceramides, so a true CeraVe formulation. There's nothing in the ingredient list that I can see that is comedogenic, so it's good for all skin types. It's fragrance free and lanolin free, so it's not going to irritate anyone. If you've got minor cuts or grazes, all those sort of things, you can actually use this quite nicely on there."

"I really like it. It's a salicylic acid based smoothing cream for dry rough and bumpy skin. If you get those bumpy little bumps, that you see with keratosis pilaris, salicylic acid washes in the shower and then using something like the SA smoothing cream is going to be really really useful. You've got urea, you've got glycerin, you've got cetyl alcohol. A lot of people talk about cetyl alcohol and say that's bad, but actually if you look and speak to most experienced people that formulate products there's nothing bad about cetyl alcohol. It's not harmful to skin. High up is niacinamide which is fantastic, but the main thing is it's a skin barrier. Because you've got an acid here, if you remember salicylic acid is quite drying, and the fact that you've got nice niacinamide in this really helps."

"The Clinique Moisture Surge is an interesting product. It's got a lot of silicone in there, so if you're acne prone layering too many silicone products is probably not going to be a good thing. It has some green tea extract just to calm down the skin, some aloe vera, as well as a few acids such as citric acid just to make the skin feel a little bit more moisturized. It may reduce the cases of sensitivity secondary to retinoid."

"It doesn't leave any residue, gets quickly absorbed within the skin, but I think that's because you've got a good formulator here. It feels nice as a product, but there's nothing in these ingredients that are going to do anything for your skin. The ingredients are probably not going to change your skin. It's all about the price you're paying. If you're going to be paying high street prices, these are great formulations, but these are the same prices as some of the things that I stock in my clinics, and my patients would kill me because they'd say my skin hasn't done anything."

"It goes on quite smoothly, it's not drying, it's not sticky, it's not tacky, it's a neutral smell, smells very silky. There's silicone in there, which is not bad for the skin. You've got some nice sheer butter in there, glycerin, a little bit of cocoa peptide which is a trending ingredient, sweet almond oil, oat brown extract, all of these things are pretty good. You've got some citrus and orange peel extract in there which helps balance out the smells. Overall it's not a terrible product, it's full of kind of nice moisture-boosting ingredients, but what I noticed is that after about 5 to 10 minutes it doesn't feel moisturized. I feel like I need more. So I think that there's some great ingredients in here but they're probably not, there's a lot of ingredients in here but I don't think it's enough for the skin barrier."

"Aquaphor has mineral oil, it has panthenol for extra soothing, it has glycerin which is a great humectant and a great moisturizer, and it also has urea which is another soothing ingredient which is really great, and it also has something called lanolin which is a super hydrating ingredient. I actually used it on my breast when I was breastfeeding to heal the cuts in my skin because it was so so sore and I actually used it on my lips too and I still sometimes use it on my lips when they're chapped because it's just so so moisturizing and it's super thick and creamy and it stays on there for such a long time."

"The Cetaphil moisturizing lotion is great to almost lock in that moisture. It's a lower version of slugging in that you're just layering lightweight stuff and the thickest thing you're going to put on is probably a moisturizing cream. If you're seriously breakout prone and you've got compromised skin, this is not a bad option and it's better and safer than slugging if you're worried about breakouts."

"If you wear makeup, micellar water is fantastic as that first cleanse. I've got the CeraVe Micellar Cleansing Water which obviously contains the three essential ceramides and niacinamide to help with your skin barrier. This is fantastic you can massage this into your skin with a cotton pad or even with your hands to really give you that first step clean and sometimes for some people that's enough."

"If you have combination skin or oily prone skin, you can use a product like the Cetaphil Gentle Foaming Cleanser because this not only adequately cleans the surface of the skin so you get that nice clean look, but also what it does is it supplements your skin barrier so it gives things like humectants to the skin so it doesn't over strip your skin. When I use this because I've got that sort of combination oily, sensitive skin, my skin feels kind of nice and soft, really clean afterwards, and it also controls the oil production as well, which is fantastic."

"I do love this jelly based cleanser from Drunk Elephant because it's got that nice kind of gel based cleanser but it also kind of purifies and melts things, so it incorporates a gel based cleanser and a more almost like a balm type effect as well. It's got salicylic acid, lactic acid, and glycolic acid within it, all botanically derived. It's got a nice blend of surfactants and makeup dissolving emollients and it leaves the skin feeling very soft but without damaging the skin barrier. With water as a top ingredient, glycerin in there which is great for the skin barrier, a few leaf extracts and surfactant things that melt things. It removes all traces of makeup, excess oil and pollution. It's really kind to my skin without damaging it. I actually bring this on holiday with me because it's a nice small formulation. This is really strong though, so I actually say to patients just use this once a day and maybe just use micellar water maybe at night or your cleansing balm because I worry about patient skin barriers."

"A lot of my patients actually like the Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm. They say it helps really remove makeup. The Clinique cleansing balm has got some interesting ingredients: you've got safflower seed oil, caprylic triglycerides which are great for the skin barrier, and some vitamin E as well. So essentially it's just a fatty acid cleanser that helps with the skin barrier. It's amazing that it was able to take off a lot of heavy makeup."

"I actually thought it was really really nice. The foam didn't turn into water and it stayed quite a thick consistency and got absorbed into the skin. It was really nice. The main ingredients are water, coco glycinate, betaine, cocoate glycerin, these are all things that going to help the skin barrier, so not drying things out. We got caprylic glycol as well and some citric acid, so you're going to get some exfoliation from this. It's not going to cleanse as well as you want it to cleanse because I would have wanted to see, especially from a foaming wash, maybe some nice acids in there, AHAs, BHAs, a little lacking in that point of view. And then you come up with fragrance. Unfortunately they've added fragrance into this, so for sensitive skin types, people prone to sensitivities or reactions, that's a concern."

"If your skin is dry, you want to put a cream-based cleanser on, and the gold standard is Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser. Cetaphil is in the name: cetyl alcohol, which is wonderful for the skin barrier, highly moisturizing, and it's also got some nice ceramides. This is a cream-based cleanser I tend to use when I go to sunny countries, maybe my skin's a little dry and hot and bothered, and maybe my skin barrier is impaired if I haven't been very good with my SPF. It's fragrance-free, it doesn't clog pores, and it can be more moisturizing for the skin. In this product we've got glycerin, panthenol, and niacinamide. Niacinamide is fantastic for the skin barrier, just to help boost it, and it's part of nearly every single skincare ingredient nowadays. The one caveat is you may not be able to clean all your makeup off with something like this, so you really need to think about double cleansing."

"If you have oily skin, a company like Cetaphil actually shows exactly what you need. You've got the oily skin cleanser, which is essentially a foam cleanser. This is going to help minimize pores, reduce sebum production, but without stripping the skin. If you look at some of the ingredients, it's got exactly the things that you need in a cleanser. It's water-based, it's got glycerin that's going to help with your skin barrier. Too many cleansers don't include things like glycerin, so look for glycerin, look for like coconut extract as well, which just helps build that skin barrier and not strip the skin. If you strip the skin with too aggressive of a cleanser, then you could lead into problems. So if you got oily skin, foam cleanser is going to be the right thing."

"This retinol from ZO Skin Health is a retinol skin brightener but it's a good quality retinol and if you're going to use your A, vitamin A, C and E, maybe you want to spend a little bit more money on it. Having formulated my own skincare, there's different levels and grades of retinoids. So even retinols, there's so many different grades of it you can get, encapsulated retinol, etc. Sometimes the higher price point means that the actual complex of the retinol as well as the delivery mechanism is much better."

"Much later on, even after about 6, 7 even months, maybe just maybe once or even twice a week you can use the lowest strength retinol that Ordinary has because there's significant evidence showing that small amounts of retinol help thicken the skin and help with your barrier over time. If you introduce this retinol too soon then you could just reverse all of the effects that you've got because of a retinoid reaction and the fact that your skin is going to be a lot more sensitive, so I would really wait a number of months before introducing it very, very slowly."

"The Ordinary do a great retinol range. I don't recommend starting a retinol until you've done previously with what I discussed with the AM and PM, mainly because the addition of things like AHA acid for a 4 to 6 week period before starting a retinol reduces one of the potential side effects of starting a retinol, which is a purge of acne. So if you start the retinol too soon you're going to worsen your acne and that can be quite demoralizing. This is the reason why I hold off the retinol at probably anywhere between 4 to 6 weeks after starting, and then you can introduce the retinol slowly. You wouldn't use the retinol on the days that you use a salicylic acid and the AHA acid. You could just use it once or twice a week and use a lower concentration. I like to use a 0.2% in squalane, which is what I recommend, and then slowly uptight that concentration as time goes by."

"You can probably afford to start with something maybe a little bit stronger like a 0.5 in squalane from The Ordinary. If it's just general anti-aging and a little bit more benefits of mild acne then you can use over the counter retinols. I think that's going to be quite nice. I wouldn't bother with any retinol esters and things like that because they're just too weak retinoids and they're not really going to change, especially doing skin cycling where you want something a little bit stronger because you're only going to be exposed to it for a short period of time."

"Retinoids include retinol, tretinoin, isotretinoin and they're commonly found in anti-aging products and acne products. This includes things like retinol night serum such as Differin Gel. While they're effective ingredients for various skin conditions, they're best avoided during pregnancy as high doses of vitamin A have been known to be associated with birth defects. The amount of drug absorbed from the skin when you're using the product is actually very low, but there are four independent published case reports of birth defects in literature associated with topical tretinoin use. If you're on 0.025 or 0.05 or 0.1% tretinoin and other things that are higher like tazarotene, then you really want to be a little bit careful."

"This is the Inky List retinol serum, which is a good starter serum. I would always start with retinol rather than anything a little bit stronger. You can use this on the face quite nicely. I would not use this in the daytime because it can sensitize the skin, and if you sensitize the skin and then expose it to UV you could cause some damage to your skin. So if you're going to use retinol you want to use that at night."

"The Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion was previously another product that has both the granactive retinoid in it and retinols in it, so it's more for patients with oily skin. It's creamier in texture and it's better for beginners, that's what I would start as a beginner. If you're a fan of squalane and you've had squalane before and you know you like the benefits that squalane gives and you've got an impaired skin barrier, then I would start up with Granactive 2% in squalene, and that doesn't have any retinol in it, it just has a granactive retinoid in it. Because the granactive retinoids are more close to retinoic acid, it's much more likely that you will get a better result with the granactive range than you would with the retinol range."

"It's the strongest one out there in the whole ordinary range. It's got squalane in it which is going to help with the skin barrier, but you have to exercise caution when using this retinol, especially if you're going to be using other chemical exfoliants within the range as well. You can start at 0.2, 0.5, and then slowly go up to 1%. That might take you a year to do, that might take you about three months to do, but it all depends on your skin type. The oilier your skin type, the more higher up the ladder you can start. You get some really good results from it, especially for anti-aging."

"If you're a fan of squalane and you've had squalane before and you know you like the benefits that squalane gives and you've got an impaired skin barrier, then I would start up with Granactive Retinoid 2% in Squalane. That doesn't have any retinol in it, it just has a granactive retinoid in it. Because the granactive retinoids are more close to retinoic acid, it's much more likely that you will get a better result with the granactive range than you would with the retinol range."

"Retinols are fantastic, they belong to a family of ingredients called retinoids and they're mainly available over the counter. If you've got post acne scars I would go for more of a sensitive retinol so I wouldn't go high up in terms of concentration. Concentrations in retinols are really confusing so you're going to have to look on the label on pack. Just remember if you're starting a retinol after having scarring acne scarring you can get a purge in acne for the first 6 to 12 weeks."

"There's actually niacinamide in there and niacinamide is great for all sorts of things: reducing redness, reducing pigmentation, reducing acne, well absolutely everything. So if you're going to put it in a product, fantastic. They've got their encapsulated ceramide MVE technology which they always talk about and it's kind of behind most of their success, which is fantastic. Using this retinol when I've tested it on the back of my hand, I think it's fantastic. It's something that can really help. They talk about dimethicone and the use of it, and it's a silicone that helps with skin softness and coverage without making things heavy, which is what makes a product feel quite nice. They really justify their use of it. I will always say it's not bad for the skin and it's definitely in so many other skin products, but if you're going to be building it up, limiting the amount of dimethicone in your layered skincare is going to be important. Also there's the impact on your environment. So the dimethicone is definitely not bad, but if you care about the world maybe don't use it so much, and if you're layering a lot of products you just have to limit the amount that you're using because you're going to gather debris, especially if you're acne prone."

"It's at lower concentration so you're very unlikely to damage your barrier unless you're using this not according to the instructions that are written on the pack and you're overusing it. You can use this product according to the pack daily and it's very difficult to ruin your skin with this. Stuff in the High Street is at lower concentration and that might be better for you if you've got sensitive skin types because medical grade products might be too strong."

"If you've been using this regime for 2-3 weeks or 3-4 weeks and you're seeing improvement in pigmentation but you want that to move faster, then you need to be using a chemical exfoliant. You can use the AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution 2 to 3 times a week after cleansing. You want to use 5 drops of the serum, spread evenly around the face, making sure that you only leave it on initially for a few minutes and then slowly progress to a little bit longer. Then you cleanse that off and continue your routine. You want to do that 2 or 3 times a week because you want to be peeling those layers, especially if your pigmentation is deeper. If you press down on the pigmentation and it doesn't go, that means the pigmentation is deeper and you need to be using these exfoliants so that you can slot it in quite nicely within your regime really easily. Always check for conflicts on The Ordinary website in terms of mixing those things, but you can use it directly after the cleanser and then cleanse it off and then you can continue with your other products."

"The Water Sleeping Mask is mainly made of silicon, glycerin, and a few extracts. Glycerin is an amazing ingredient for skincare that helps with the skin barrier and makes things feel nice. However, fragrance is quite high up in the formulation, and it also has essential oils such as linoleic acid oil, which can sensitize the skin if left on. Since this is a leave-on product that you're using overnight in a thick layer, if you have skin sensitivity, this could be the reason why you're experiencing sensitivity. You might want to look for something that's fragrance-free and allergen-free instead."

"The caffeine solution 5% plus EGCG, which is normally used for pigmentation and puffy around the eyes, can be used in these little cheek areas over here where you can get redness and it's quite a good tip to use. Because it's a water-based product, you can either use this after your hyaluronic acid or you can actually use it just before your azelaic acid in nighttime, so you can either use it a.m. or p.m. and if it works really well for you, you can basically do both a.m. and p.m. and it's a great upgrade and a top tip that you can use for your rosacea."

"I really like using this product because I suffer with a lot of dehydration so it's very hydrating and very hydrophilic. I find that it just plumps out my little fine lines and wrinkles, it's great for anti-aging. It's also good for dark circles because you've got that lymphatic cooling tip on it. It's really nice because you can just do some little lymphatic drainage as you're applying it as well. The neuropeptide in there is going to give you a mild botox effect so it's going to relax the wrinkles, and patients that have botox use that and it just enhances the results. It's got sodium hyaluronate in there which fills those creases and plumps it up. It's got to be one of the most sophisticated formulas out there. You've got the silicone in there which helps with smoothness, and you've got a glycerin base so that really helps with the barrier."

"Hydroquinone is a skin lightening agent used to treat hyperpigmentation. There are limited studies that suggest it may have potential risks during pregnancy, so it's better to avoid it during this time. It's clinically used as a depigmenting agent for things like melasma, which tends to pop up during pregnancy, and that's why a lot of people are drawn to it during that period. It's actually estimated that anywhere between 35 to 45% of it is systemically absorbed when used topically in human beings. There's a single study that's been published involving the use of hydroquinone during pregnancy that said there was no increase in adverse events, however the sample size of pregnant women was very small within that study. Even though there were a few people that said it was safe, the available data shows hydroquinone during pregnancy doesn't appear to be associated with an increased risk of major malformations or adverse events, but because of those absorption studies where 35 to 45% is being systemically absorbed, I think to be safe it's better to avoid it."

"The Ordinary 7% glycolic acid toner is really popular on social media. It claims that it doesn't have any fragrances in there or anything that harms the skin. It's good for patients that maybe are lighter skin types that want that little bit more of a cleanse. I know that skincare by hm has really discounted this product mainly because of the Rosa damasa within there, which is a fragrant essential oil. It's a little bit higher up on the ingredients list but not many patients would report a lot of sensitivity with it. But again, if you do have rosacea and you do have sensitive skin, you don't want to be using glycolic acid anyway."

"While this smells nice and feels nice, a significant proportion of people have had problems with this. I've got so many comments from people saying this is the reason why my skin has suddenly gone bad. It's got fragrance and alcohol in there, and if you're using this every day as a leave-on, you're going to be really increasing your chances of sensitivity. It even has color in there, which I don't think is good for the skin. You don't necessarily need this. You can use a glycolic acid serum instead without all the nasties."

"The Inky List Polyhydroxy Acid Toner is a product that's worth using. PHAs are different from AHAs and BHAs, they're a lot milder. It contains a product called gluconolactone, which is a mild exfoliant that's a little bit more gentle in terms of its exfoliation so it doesn't damage the skin and can be used by all skin types. What's really nice within the ingredients is that they've included niacinamide, which is a skincare favorite, and it's got glycerin in there as well. This is a clean formulation that can be used as a nice toner, a far cry from old astringent toners which had alcohol in there. If you want to include a toner, this is something that I really do recommend. The Inky List Polyhydroxy Acid Toner is definitely something that you should use for all skin types."

"Salicylic acid is a beta hydroxy acid, which is commonly known as a BHA, and it's generally used for acne treatments and it's used in exfoliating products. While low concentrations up to 2% are considered safe, it's also advisable to avoid using higher concentrations of these for prolonged use during pregnancy, as that can also be absorbed into the bloodstream and potentially affect a baby. Topical salicylic acid is an ingredient that's pretty much in everything, so you have to be careful about layering products. There's been a number of large studies examining the outcomes of women who've taken low dose oral salicylic acid during pregnancy and there was no increase in baseline risk of adverse effects such as malformations, preterm birth, or even low birth weight. However, there's been no studies conducted in pregnancy on topical use. As such a relatively small proportion is being absorbed through the skin, it's unlikely to pose any risk. If the oral study with oral salicylic acid was fine, it's very unlikely that topically is going to be a problem. I think the advice that we generally say is that anything up to 2% or in a wash is probably generally safe."

"I was trying this for 7 days, my scalp is seriously sensitive, and I used it in conjunction with Minoxidil so I did Minoxidil in the morning and this at night. My scalp flared up, and I looked at the ingredients and there's two things in there that would cause that: Polysorbate 20 as well as castor oil. So people use castor oil a lot for hair loss but it actually irritates the scalp a lot as well. So if you've got a sensitive scalp I would actually stay away from this product. But if you've just got hair that maybe you've heat treated too much, you've got split ends, it could look a little bit healthier, fuller, and you don't have male and female pattern hair loss, then this product is good. If you've got male and female pattern hair loss, like Yours Truly, then stick to what you're using that's FDA approved for hair loss and you can use it as an add-on just to improve the health of your hair. That's how you should be using this product. I think it's got some decent ingredients in there, nothing really too strong. I would probably not use this myself because for me, Minoxidil and my one tablet a day have stopped my hair from going further back."

"The medication that I always prescribe and I find to be the most effective for fungal acne is ketoconazole. It's available as a cream based formulation in the UK and also a tablet based formulation as well. So if it's spread into areas such as the back, arms, which are also very common, chest area, I prescribe both topical ketoconazole as well as oral ketoconazole in the form of tablets."

"Botox is natural, it's actually one of the most natural treatments available in medicine as a whole and certainly in aesthetics. That is because botulism toxin is a natural toxin from a bacteria. In massive doses botulism toxin can be quite toxic to the system, now we're using it in micro doses to paralyze a muscle, which is actually its toxic effect to paralyze a muscle, but only where we injected. We are paralyzing a muscle to soften wrinkles. Botox sits between your nerve cells and blocks the stimulation so you want to contract it but you can't."

"Sunscreens are used commonly to protect the skin from the sun's harmful rays and have been found to cause very little toxicity. The products have very limited dermal or systemic absorption. Sunscreens have been used in pregnancy to treat or prevent melasma and adverse events have not been reported. Your skin is generally more sensitive during pregnancy and you're prone to things like melasma, so not using sunscreen is terrible. You should be using sunscreen on a daily basis anyway, and I think it's really important to continue using it during pregnancy. Even if you're at home and sitting near a window you should always wear SPF, and even halfway throughout the day you should try and top it up, especially when you're pregnant because you are more prone to getting melasma. If you're outside every hour as well, it's really important."