10 Things that are ruining your skin.

14, Jul, 2010

“As the crow flies” is usually welcome news. Except when those avian feet head straight for your face and leave their telltale tracks around the eyes. But if aging is inevitable, its pace definitely isn’t. As for breakouts, dryness, and general epidermal malaise? Here’s what’s wrecking your skin—and how to turn it around:

1. The Kate Gosselin Effect. We’re talking about overexposure—solar, in this case.(If we’d called this one “Sun,” your eyes might have glazed.) From wrinkles to cancer, photoaging is “the single biggest cause of damage to the skin,” declares Skin Care & Repair, a new report from Harvard Medical School.

Skin Fix: You know the drill—sunscreen that’s least SPF 30 and protects against both UVA and UVB rays. (Men, don’t forget behind the ears and neck). Consumer Reports’ top-rated product this year is Up & Up Sport Continuous SPF 30 from Target. Most dermatologists aren’t concerned about retinyl palmitate, which controversial research suggests may actually cause cancer, but if you are, Alba Botanica Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 doesn’t contain the ingredient (see Environmental Working Group for others.) You can also wash your clothes with SunGuard for an extra SPF kicker.

2. Worrying About It: Stress wages chemical warfare: Pro-inflammatory neuropeptides make the skin more reactive (worsening acne and psoriasis, for example), while hormones like adrenaline constrict your blood vessels, depriving the tissue of nutrients, explains Rick Fried, MD, PhD, a dermatologist, psychologist, and clinical director of Yardley Dermatology Associates in Pennsylvania. “Long-term stress,” he says, “can cause the production of cortisol, which potentially leads to thinning of the skin.”

Skin Fix: Guided imagery, mindfulness meditation, hypnosis, biofeedback, exercise, yoga, and tai chi are all good ways to manage stress and help improve your complexion, says Fried.

3. Being Picky: Squeezing pimples and picking blemishes are not winning strategies for anyone. “But this is the top wrecker for brown skin,” says Susan Taylor, MD, director of the Skin of Color Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. “Just about any manipulation—especially if the skin is already inflamed—will result in hyperpigmentation (discoloration), which can last months to years and is very difficult to treat.”

Skin Fix: If your skin is inflamed, see a dermatologist ASAP. A steriod injection, for example, can make the problem go away quickly without leaving marks.

4. Cheating Sleep: A candle may be a girl’s best friend (what lighting is more flattering?) but don’t burn it at both ends. “Stress hormones are at their lowest during sleep, while the anti-inflammatory molecules are at their highest,” says New York dermatologist and psychiatrist Amy Wechsler, MD, author of The Mind-Beauty Connection. “So the less you sleep, the worse for your skin.”

Skin Fix: “The studies say you should get 8 hours, but it’s hard,” Wechsler notes. “Start by adding 30 minutes, and see if you can tell the difference.”

5. Drying Out: Alcohol, cold weather, washing diligently in hot water—they can all dehydrate the skin.

Skin Fix: Jenny Kim, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and dermatology at ULCA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, recommends using moisturizers with ceramides, but says any will do. Based on her own research which was published last year, she says, “There’s no evidence that taking vitamins A and C orally will improve the skin, but in topical creams they seem to be anti-aging.” The operative word, she stresses, is “seem.” More research is needed. In the meantime, she says, “stick to companies that have tested their products and will show you the data.”

6. Lip Balm: “Ironically, many lip balms contain phenol, which dries out your lips like nothing else,” says Wechsler. “It feels good when you put it on, but soon you need more.”

Skin Fix. Read the ingredient list. Carmex has phenol; Burt’s Bees doesn’t.

7. Tattoo Remorse: Studies suggest that about 20 percent of inked clients are unhappy with their tattoos. For those who decide to get them removed, the process is lengthy, costly, and very painful—a nightmare, says Wechsler, and the skin never really looks the same.

Skin Fix: There’s a new encapsulated ink called Freedom2 that can be removed in one or two treatments as opposed to 8 or 10—much less traumatic to the skin.

8. Tanning Salons: You might as well call them “cancer booths.” A University of Minnesota study published in May found that people who logged 50 hours or more in tanning booths, had up to three times the odds of developing melanoma, the deadly form of skin cancer.

Skin Fix: Get your bronze glow from self tanners—spray, lotion, gel, or wipes.

9. Combo-Creaming: A common mistake among the acne-prone is thinking: The more creams, the better. “People use 3 or 4 products at a time, and end up just drying their skin out,” says Wechsler. “And that just makes them break out worse.”

Skin Fix: If you can’t find one over-the-counter product that works, see a professional. “Acne is not just from the oils. It’s also from irritation and inflammation,” Wechsler says.

10. Cigarettes: Aside from lung cancer, they cause wrinkles and are clearly associated with destroying skin elasticity. “Damage,” says the Harvard report, “occurs with every cigarette smoked.”

Skin Fix: There are all kinds of aids to help you quit—support groups, nicotine-replacement products, and drugs like Zyban and Chantix.

At the end of the day? Ask someone whose career depends on keeping her complexion stunningly pristine: “I’m not an expert,” says 36-year-old model Kate Dillon (featured in the April issue of Vogue), “but I think you can enhance the vibrancy of your skin by drinking water, eating avocados and salmon with omega-3s, and being active.” She stops for a moment, and laughs. “Good genes and a forgiving light, help too.”

- http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-skin-1959395/

Antibody kills up to 91% of HIV Strains

13, Jul, 2010

U.S. government scientists have discovered three potent new antibodies, one of which can neutralize up to 91 percent of all HIV strains. These discoveries were published online July 8 in Science and were reported by The Wall Street Journal. Though the scientists acknowledge that their findings represent a hopeful step forward, they caution that it will take a lot of time and effort before they can be translated into something that will prevent or treat HIV infection.

Antibodies are a key element in the immune system that our body uses to defend itself from bacteria and viruses. Antibodies kill these microbes directly or flag the foreign invaders for destruction by other immune cells. Unfortunately, HIV’s outer surface is so easily changeable that antibodies—most of which can neutralize only a few strains—fail to keep it in check. This has made designing a vaccine, which works by provoking the body to produce antibodies, such a frustrating endeavor.

Following a string of failures in vaccine science, researchers have turned in recent years to a search for broadly neutralizing antibodies, which can kill multiple strains of HIV. Several have been identified, but none have been able to neutralize more than 40 percent of HIV strains, and all were quite difficult for the body to produce naturally.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, “The [new] antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known in the scientific literature as Donor 45, whose body made the antibodies naturally. Researchers screened 25 million of his cells to find 12 that produced the antibodies.”

It’s not yet clear whether or how these new antibodies can be used to prevent and treat HIV. Researchers will focus on several possibilities. One approach entails giving the antibodies directly to people, specifically in cases to prevent transmission from mothers to their babies. Other approaches range from building traditional vaccines with the antibodies, to the developing gene therapies.

Whichever strategy is most promising, it will likely take some time before it is available. Gary Nabel, MD, PhD—one of the leaders of the studies and a director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland—told the Journal, “We’re going to be at this for a while” before any benefit is seen in the clinic.