Wrinkle Free Face

Here is another acupressure exercise you can try to reduce the appearance of fine lines and to create a wrinkle free face. Be sure topPress on the point with gentle to medium pressure using the tips of your fingers for at least 15 seconds. After treating one side, be sure to treat the other.  

Heavenly Pillar

This pressure point can be found about a thumb-length from the bottom of each ear lobe, and a half-inch below the base of your skull. It is excellent for reducing the appearance of swollen eyes, too.

 
Chinese Medicine is based on the belief that life energy (chi) energizes all the cells and tissues of the body. The places where the energy surfaces on the skin are called acupuncture points. When the energy flow stops or is blocked, the corresponding internal organ system manifests symptoms of disease. Stimulating the points on the surface of the skin by hand pressure, or acupressure, can correct the flow.

Interestingly, you can use acupressure to restore facial beauty and create the appearance of wrinkle free skin--and what woman doesn't want a wrinkle free face!? Press on the points with gentle to medium pressure using the tips of your fingers for at least 15 seconds. After treating one side, be sure to treat the other before moving on to the next point.  

Acupressure Exercise #1: Facial Beauty 

This point is located at the bottom of each cheekbone, directly below your pupil. It helps with sagging, poor complexion, and blemishes.

Crow's feet. No woman likes to hear that term--and no woman likes to see them around her eye area. Fortunately, red light therapy can help reduce these fine lines around the eyes and create the appearance of wrinkle free skin.

Red light devices have been shown to stimulate the repair of the collapsing collagen scaffold by helping to remove broken-down collagen debris and increase collagen production. I recommend a handheld device called the Omnilux new-U, which is the first FDA-cleared over-the-counter device for the treatment of crow’s feet. The new-U uses patented technology to bathe the skin in alternating red and near infrared light. The result is the appearance of a wrinkle free face. In fact, clinical studies have demonstrated improvements in skin tone and clarity.

Think tanning beds are safer than laying out in the sun? Think again!

Just because you’re not actually out in the sun when you go to a tanning salon, the risks are just as real. The truth is, ultraviolet radiation is ultraviolet radiation, whether it comes from the sun or from a tanning bed, and there is no such thing as a “safe tan.”

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, “The use of indoor tanning beds before the age of 35 has been associated with a significant increase in the risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Yet, more than 1 million Americans—70 percent of whom are girls and women—visit a tanning salon each day.” And new reports now state that the risk of melanoma from the use of tanning beds increases by an unbelievable 75 percent!

I know that most women believe that having “a little bit of color” makes them appear healthier. But the paler you are, the healthier your skin actually is…which means less risk of wrinkles (and who doesn't want a wrinkle free face!), premature aging, and skin cancer. I dare you to challenge the standard belief that tan=healthy. I encourage you to feel comfortable in your own skin and appreciate the natural tones and hues that make you so distinct.

The final step in creating wrinkle free skin around the lips is to use laser treatment. 

For seriously damaged skin that needs more invasive therapy, I recommend getting treatments with the GentleYAG laser, a 20-minute procedure in which a laser beam is passed harmlessly through the skin to the junction between the outer epidermis and the actively proliferative dermal layer. There, the light generates heat, which triggers the cleanup of collapsed skin scaffolding and increases fibroblast production of collagen and elastin. It’s significantly less uncomfortable than other office techniques, quite a bit more affordable, and boasts equal or better results—including tighter, thicker, smoother, clearer, and more lifted skin. You can find a local practitioner at Candela.

Step 3 for Wrinkle Free Skin Around the Lips--Hydrate and moisturize.
Dehydrated skin causes deep, abundant creases, while plump, moist skin resists folding and keeps its shape. In conventional dermatology, lip line “ditches” are filled with painful injections of fillers, such as Botox. But there are luxurious, top-quality moisturizers that re-plump affected skin. The result is a smoother, fuller look than the somewhat fake appearance produced by injections.

One of my favorite products that creates excellent results is Trilane, which nourishes with premium squalane from olives, plus jojoba esters, both of which are virtually identical to a woman’s own skin oils and do what most moisturizers do not: They penetrate.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2 for Wrinkle Free Skin Around the Lips--Eliminate UV Damage

The sun’s ultraviolet radiation is the most destructive factor in the premature aging of skin. In conventional dermatology, resurfacing procedures such as microdermabrasion, harsh chemical peels, and laser burning temporarily stimulate new skin production, just as a physical wound temporarily stimulates new tissue growth through the mechanism of inflammation. In my experience, however, there are ways to start filling and erasing the lip lines of sun damage without the pain of recovery.

First and foremost, if you are going to be outdoors for an extended period of time, use a sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of 15 or more. You can also rejuvenate your skin’s youthful cellular activity level using infrared radiation (IR). Unlike the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, which can be aggressive and destructive, its IR is healing and rejuvenating. IR can penetrate tissues to a depth of more than nine inches without burning them.  My favorite IR therapies to rejuvenate aged facial skin include the DPL Therapy System. Use it for half an hour every day.

While I like to believe that lip lines (or wrinkles around the lips) are a distinctive part of a woman’s beauty, I certainly understand that it can be upsetting to see those fine lines around your lips. If your lip lines are bothering you, I encourage you to try what complementary dermatologists call combination therapy, which is based on two facts: 1) A woman’s skin rebuilds itself constantly, and 2) The aging of a woman’s face results from a multitude of factors, each requiring a different therapeutic approach. By combining gentle therapies that target the different processes that cause lip lines, you can significantly reduce those lines without side effects, exorbitant cost, or the need to hide for weeks while you heal from painful cosmetic procedures. Better yet, the effects are cumulative over time. 

Step 1 for Wrinkle Free Skin Around the Lips: Relax Your Lips
Skin, like bone, reshapes itself according to the forces that it is chronically exposed to. The predominant force that shapes your lips is the orbicularis oris muscle, which forms a pursestring-like ring around your mouth. Contracting this muscle causes your lips to “purse” and pulls the surrounding skin into radiating folds. With repetition, the folding creates creases in the skin’s deeper layers. This causes new layers of skin to accommodate and deepen that crease. Sucking on a cigarette, drinking straw, or similar object encourages this process. In conventional dermatology, Botox injections paralyze the culprit muscle fibers, but the same result can be had by simply not smoking or using drinking straws, and by not engaging in similar actions that contract the orbicularis oris muscle.

Along with providing your skin with important nutrients, proper female hormone balance is essential for healthy, moist, and resilient skin, particularly because of the action of estrogen on the skin. Estrogen is responsible for the deposition of fat under the skin, which gives rise to the soft and fine-textured skin that many women enjoy during their younger years. Estrogen also keeps the skin looking and feeling plump and healthy.

During your active reproductive years, your body produces enough estrogen to properly support the structure and texture of your skin. But when you enter the menopausen, your estrogen levels start dropping, which causes your skin to become drier, and the underlying collagen connective tissue, muscle, and fat tissues that give skin its support also begin to shrink, leading to more apparent creases and wrinkles.

While that all sounds like doom-and-gloom, keep your head up because there are plenty of nutrients you can take to rebalance and restore your hormones levels naturally, resulting in plumped up and moisturized skin. The following nutrients either create estrogen-like activity in your body or help you to produce more of your own estrogen. They also slow down the metabolism and excretion of the estrogen you do produce, thereby raising your own estrogen levels. You can use as many or as few of the following nutrients as you need to achieve your desired level of hormonal support. 

• Boron is a trace mineral found in apples, grapes, almonds, legumes, and dark-green leafy vegetables. There is some evidence that boron enhances estrogenic activity. In one study, when women on estrogen therapy supplemented their normally low-boron diet with 3 mg of boron, their blood levels of estrogen were significantly elevated. Based on this research, I suggest taking 3 mg of boron per day.
• Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) is a fat-soluble B vitamin necessary for the production of folic acid. It helps to safely and effectively impede the breakdown of estrogen in the liver. I recommend taking 400–500 mg of PABA a day in divided doses.
• Wheat germ oil is rich in vitamin E, which has mildly estrogenic properties. In fact, wheat germ oil contains the fatty acids and other nutrients that your body needs to support and produce hormones such as estrogen. I recommend taking 2,000–2,400 mg of wheat germ oil in capsule form a day, in divided doses.
• Cobalt slows down the excretion of estrogen, thus allowing you to better maintain your own production of estrogen. It is able to do this by stimulating the production of heme oxidase. This, in turn, promotes the breakdown of cytochrome p450, a substance that normally metabolizes and detoxifies estrogen. By breaking down this substance, cobalt helps to prevent estrogen metabolism and excretion. I suggest taking 400–500 mcg of cobalt a day. To further improve your cobalt status, you can also take 100–500 mcg of vitamin B12 a day. Research shows that cobalt is supplied in your body by B12. If you have adequate levels of B12, you likely have adequate amounts of cobalt, as well.
• Black cohosh is an estrogenic herb that was often prescribed in colonial times to treat a variety of menopausal symptoms. I recommend taking 40–80 mg of a standardized extract of black cohosh twice a day. This dose should contain 2–4 mg of the active components (triterpenes, calculated as 27-deoxyacteine). 

Do you ever wonder if what you think are menopause symptoms really are menopause symptoms? Well, by answering the following questions, you may be able to know for sure. If you answer yes to most or all of these questions, then you are likely entering the menopausal phase of your life.

• My last period was 6 months or longer ago (real menopause)

• My periods are lighter, less frequent, and of shorter duration (late perimenopause)

• I'm 46 or older

• I'm having hot flashes

• Intercourse is painful

• My desire for sex has faded

• I have difficulty achieving orgasm

• I have frequent vaginal infections

• I leak urine when I laugh, cough, sneeze, exercise, or wait too long to void

• I've lost my zest for life

• I have difficulty sleeping through the night

• I'm frequently tired

• I'm anxious and irritable

• I forget small details

• My skin is drier, thinner, and more wrinkled

• My muscles are losing their tone

• I'm gaining weight

• My joints and/or muscles ache

• I have itchy, crawly skin

• I sometimes feel as if electric shocks were going through my body

Visit my Web site for all natural solutions to help calm and alleviate the unpleasant effects of menopause.

While there aren’t many natural, topical skin care options for treating age spots, there are a few nutrients that have been shown to help reduce their appearance.

First is vitamin A. Research has shown that high vitamin A intake can significantly reduce the appearance of age spots. Dr. Lark suggests 2–4 heaping teaspoons of spirulina (a greens food) a day. (One heaping teaspoon provides 10,000 IU of vitamin A.)

Next, vitamin E has been shown to help with hyperpigmentation, such as age spots. Dr. Lark recommends taking 400–1,600 IU of vitamin E as d-alpha tocopherol per day. If you have hypertension or are taking insulin, start at 100 IU.

Lastly, boosting your collagen production is always the best natural skin care tip out there…and age spots are no different. You can increase your intake of collagen-building vitamin C (mineral-buffered) either with supplements (500–1,000 mg one to three times a day), or by eating foods such as cantaloupe, oranges, mangoes, blackberries, broccoli, and cauliflower.

For more great advice on natural anti aging skin care, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.

When it comes to treating age spots, it’s difficult to find a natural anti aging skin care plan. Case in point: most physicians recommend a cosmetic bleaching cream for treating age spots, but many of these creams contain either monobenzone, an agent that inhibits melanin, or hydroquinone, a white crystalline substance that is also used in film-developing chemicals.

While these substances may be effective at bleaching the surface of the skin, they actually can damage deeper layers of skin and even cause white spots.

There are a few vitamin creams on the market that do change the appearance of the surface of the skin to some degree. However, they have not been shown to have an effect on the deeper layers of skin.

Other medical approaches include laser surgery, burning with electricity, freezing, or Retin A-induced peeling—none of which are great options. Rather, your best bet is to treat age spots from the inside and work out.

Try these natural remedies:

• Combat free radical damage that can lead to age spots by eating a diet high in the antioxidants that scavenge free radicals, especially foods rich in beta-carotene, such as kale, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, mangoes, cantaloupe, apricots, carrots, and cabbage.
• Stop smoking. It hastens the aging of your skin and contributes to free-radical damage throughout your body.
• Use sunscreen, at least SPF 15, whenever you go outside.

For more great advice on natural anti aging skin care, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.

A common problem among women with menopause problems is age spots. Sometimes referred to as liver spots, age spots are flat, brownish marks—usually round or oval in shape with irregular edges—that typically begin to show after menopause. They are often the result of free-radical damage throughout the body, often caused by exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, heat, trauma, radiation, or heavy metals.

The occurrences also affect the formation of melanin, the dark pigment in skin, which hastens the formation of age spots. So when you look at an age spot, what you’re actually seeing is an accumulation of debris in your skin’s cells.

Poor eating habits—namely a diet based on dairy, red meat, and saturated fats—can also contribute to age spots. According to Chinese medicine, these foods congest the liver, blocking the chi (or energy), and preventing the liver from purifying the blood.

One easy to prevent the formation of age spots? Avoid these foods, opting instead for whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables.

For more great advice on natural anti aging skin care, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.

Dr. Lark has written several times about the benefits of olive oil for your skin. In particular, she raves about squalane, and has even created a squalane-based skin care line.

But while olive oil and squalane get all the attention, their lesser-known “sister” is largely ignored. And wrongly so.

With all the talk about olive oil, did you know that olives only contain 15 to 20 percent oil? More than 50 percent of an olive is juice…and that juice is a very rich source of polyphenols, amazing antioxidant compounds that have a wide range of therapeutic advantages, including protection against heart disease and cancer.

Until now, olive juice has been a mere byproduct of olive oil production. In fact, disposal of the juice has been costly for the industry. After all, 80 to 85 percent of all those olives is an awful lot of waste to dispose of.

Meanwhile, all this time, suppliers have been throwing away a more concentrated source of the very polyphenols that are responsible for the health benefits of olive oil! The principal polyphenol, hydroxytyrosol, has been shown to have the highest free radical-scavenging activity ever reported for a natural antioxidant.

As fascinating as this is, what, you may be asking, does this have to do with skin? Glad you asked.

Turns out, animal studies have shown that supplementing with olive pulp extract helps prevent UV damage to the skin, and helps keep skin in its normal, healthy state. Beyond its antioxidant capacity, several studies have also shown that hydroxytyrosol inhibits one of your main inflammatory pathways, thereby helping to reduce inflammation and puffiness in the skin.

The effect for you? Tighter-looking, glowing skin. Now who doesn’t want that!

Dr. Lark’s favorite brand of olive juice/olive pulp extract is Olivenol. It is available at most health food stores and supplement retailers like Vitamin Shoppe. Dr. Lark recommends 300 mg two to four times daily.

For more wrinkle free skin care secrets, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.

For years, we’ve heard that cranberry juice can help treat and prevent urinary tract infections. But did you know that this little berry has other reasons for being a woman’s best friend?

Hidden within the cranberry seed is an amazing oil that has the perfect blend of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. Without the ideal amount of essential fatty acids, you could be looking at dry, cracked skin.

Fortunately, cranberry seed oil not only provides your skin with these EFAs, but it is the only oil with a naturally balanced 1:1 omega-3 to omega-6 profile, which is critical for absorption and utilization of essential fatty acids in your skin.

Cranberry seed oil also allows you to get important omega-3 fatty acids into your diet without becoming rancid quickly, which can be a problem with flaxseed oil. Cranberry seed oil is also unique in that it contains natural antioxidants (tocopherols and tocotrienols) that keep it fresh for two years.

And, as if that weren’t enough, cranberry seed oil provides powerful protection against UV rays and free radicals, helping your skin maintain its youthful appearance.

So, keep drinking that cranberry juice to fend off that “other” problem. And start using cranberry seed oil as part of your natural anti aging skin care regimen. Trust me…you’ll be glad you did.

For more wrinkle free skin care secrets, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.

Did you know that November is National Healthy Skin Month. Yep, you can’t make this stuff up.

So, in honor of great skin everywhere (and those of us who strive for great skin), I thought I’d focus on all things skin this month. I’ll share some little known natural skin care ingredients, a few natural skin care recipes, and even a few of my favorite best natural skin care products.

Let’s start with krill oil. This essential fatty acid complex is derived from tiny shrimp called Antarctic krill.

This unique marine oil is not only a rich source of omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9 fatty acids, but is also a rich source of phospholipids and naturally occurring antioxidants, including vitamins A and E and astaxanthin.

These last three nutrients give krill oil an antioxidant advantage over other “fish” oils because of its free radical-scavenging ability. In fact, the ORAC score (or antioxidant capacity) of krill oil has been shown to be 300 times greater than vitamins E or A alone and 48 times greater than other fish oil products available!

Plus, krill oil’s fatty acid and phospholipid content makes it an ideal choice for delivering moisture and hydration to the skin. A clinical study conducted with krill oil showed that supplementation with krill oil had a positive effect on skin health and appearance, helping to reduce wrinkles by improving skin hydration.

And, as an additional benefit, animal studies suggest that krill oil has photo-protective benefits when taken orally. A controlled animal study has shown that krill oil even helps to protect your skin from UV-induced skin redness!

Source Naturals makes a good krill oil product, as does Dr. Mercola. Take as directed.

For more wrinkle free skin care secrets, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.

I love green tea. It is one of the best natural remedies for weight loss, and it's a great natural anti aging skin care gem, thanks to its high levels of antioxidants that help prevent ultraviolet light-induced inflammation, dryness, and damage to your skin.

And now, green tea's benefits extend to your ovarian health. A recent Australian study of nearly 3,000 women has confirmed that drinking tea reduces the risk of developing ovarian cancer. And, based on the cancer-fighting compounds in green vs. black tea, investigators estimate that one cup or more of green tea per day reduces that risk by 40 percent. 

It is important not to use water that’s too hot when brewing green tea. Boiling water not only accentuates tea bitterness, it destroys the protective catechins in the tea. For the best green tea, both for good taste and good health, pour the boiling water into your cup or tea pot and let the vessel absorb the heat until the water is no hotter than 185º F. Then, add the tea leaves, brew for two minutes, and enjoy—with gratitude for the protection the tea gives to your ovaries, and the benefits it provides in your natural weightloss efforts and anti-agin skin care regimen!

To learn more about natural weightloss and women's health, visit my Web site.

In the October issue of my newsletter, I wrote about ways to achieve wrinkle free skin in your neck area.

To prevent unsightly sagging skin and neck jowls, one of my top recommendations is to use a 3-percent gel preparation of dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE) on your neck. Studies have shown that doing so increases the neck's firmness, smoothness, and youthful appearance.
And in another 16-week study, results showed an 11 percent improvement in skin firmness in those who used DMAE. Investigators believe that the firming, wrinkle free benefits of topical DMAE are due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and its anti-aging properties at the cellular level.

 

DMAE gel is available online and at some health food stores. Apply a pea-sized dab twice a day to the skin of your neck and lower face, since tightening in the face can also tighten the neck. Ten minutes later, apply your favorite moisturizer, since gels can be drying. I personally love all-natural Trilane.

For more tips on how to achieve wrinkle free skin naturally, visit my Web site.
 

Lately, my husband and I have been staying up later, playing chess or watching a movie and just enjoying some quiet time. I’m loving this new tradition, but trying to figure out how to continue it and still get my eight hours of sleep, as morning still comes bright and early, and with it…puffy eyes. Then add on to it eight to 10 hours of staring at a computer screen all day, and, well, I give up.

Once again, I headed to Dr. Lark and acupressure. She has a wonderful acupressure exercise to reduce the appearance of swollen eyes.

Using the tips of your fingers, stimulate the pressure point just below the base of your skull, a finger-width away from the spine, with gentle to medium pressure.

For eyes that are overworked and overfocused, she also recommended using another eye exercise to promote the relaxation response within your eyes and the tissues surrounding them, which helps support the beauty of your eyes safely and naturally. (I love that!)

Over time, this exercise (adapted from Paul Scheele's groundbreaking work on Photo Reading) will also help to soften the fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes.

1. Close your eyes and rest your arms at your sides.
2. Touch your eyes gently with the tips of your fingers. See if your eyes feel tense or even hard. Are you noticing a feeling of tightness or tension in the muscles that surround your eyes? If so, you need to soften your gaze.
3. Take several slow, deep breaths.
4. Open your eyes, but instead of gazing intensely at the fine print of the page or monitor, soften your gaze by widening your field of vision to focus on the entire page or screen. You should be able to see all four-corners of what you are looking at. Look at the white space of the margin and the areas between the paragraphs. As you do this, you will begin to feel the tension in your eyes melt away. You can also do this step if you are watching television by looking at the empty spaces on the screen.
5. Close your eyes again, continuing to breathe slowly and effortlessly.
6. Open your eyes. Repeat the process of softening your gaze while looking at the white spaces on the page.

For more tips on how you can reduce puffy eyes and tips for wrinkle free skin, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.

I looked in the mirror this weekend and saw new lines near my eyes. “Smile lines” my friends said. Um, yea. Or wrinkles. Sigh.

I immediately started looking at ads for Botox or those fancy filler procedures where they inject synthetic spheres into your face. No and no. But I still wanted an anti aging, anti wrinkle solution.

Then I remembered some acupressure points that Dr. Lark had written about in the past.

With roots in Chinese medicine, acupressure is similar to acupuncture in that it stimulates the flow of energy to promote healing. But unlike acupuncture, acupressure uses touch rather than needles and can be done by a novice like me.

Dr. Lark recommends three specific points for enhancing beauty:

• Facial Beauty: This point is located at the bottom of each cheekbone, directly below your pupil. It helps with sagging, poor complexion, and blemishes.
• Heavenly Appearance: This is the indentation found directly below each ear lobe, just behind your jawbone. It helps to balance your thyroid gland, which in turn increases the luster of your skin.
• Heavenly Pillar: This pressure point can be found about a thumb-length from the bottom of each ear lobe, and a half-inch below the base of your skull. It is excellent for reducing the appearance of swollen eyes.

Press on these points one at a time with gentle to medium pressure using the tips of your fingers for at least 15 seconds. Acupressure should be performed bilaterally, so if you treat a point on your right side first, treat the same point on your left side before moving onto the next point.

For more tips on how you can enjoy wrinkle free skin, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.