Category: Our Blog

There are plenty signs of aging we see all the time, like attending your baby cousins’ graduation, receiving an invite to a high school reunion, and watching your 401(k) mature. And when it comes to your complexion, most of us are on the lookout for the telltale signs: forehead furrows, crows feet, and undereye bags. But according the experts, there are a few lesser-known and more subtle signs of skin aging that are good to know about. Take what follows as a friendly info session, not a stern admonishment. The more you know about taking care of your skin, the better it will look. Click here to learn what are some of the signs of aging skin.

Credit: allure.com

We’re down to clown with half of Hollywood claiming their lips are injection-free. But we draw a line at the bogus skin claims. No one has ever slept her way out of acne (or hyperpigmentation, or rosacea, or dry skin). Here are three things celebrities always say they do that are big, fat lies.

The lie: “I drink 400 bottles of water a day to hydrate my skin and flush out toxins.”

The lie: “I sleep ten hours a night, which is why my skin looks so good.”

The facts: OK, there’s some truth to this one. When you don’t sleep, your cortisol levels stay raised, which can mess with your hormones and promote acne, says Zeichner. But that doesn’t mean that a few nights of shut-eye will leave you looking like Cate Blanchett on Oscar night. Sorry.

The lie: “I cut out [insert food group here] for a week, and my acne completely disappeared!”

The facts: Nope. Just nope. Assuming you have no food allergies, “eliminating one thing from your diet won’t regulate your hormones or hair follicles or oil production, especially in as little time as a week,” says Mona Gohara, an assistant professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine.

Credit: By Chloe Metzger, allure.com

When it comes to knowing what’s popular and what’s officially passé in the world of aesthetic enhancements, no one knows better than the doctors performing the treatments and surgeries themselves. When asked which trends they believe are about to make it big in 2018, here’s what they had to say.

Click here to find out the list of procedures and treatments suggested by skin specialist.

Credit: newbeauty.com

Although sunburns are highly preventable, they are still responsible for tens of thousands of expensive visits to U.S. emergency rooms each year, according to a recent analysis.

The total tab in 2013 for sunburn-related emergency room visits was $11.2 million, researchers report in The American Medical Association’s journal Dermatology, with the great majority of cases among people under age 30.

“High rates of sunburn, especially among young people, show that people are either not aware of sunburn risk, or aren’t taking steps consistently to prevent it,” said lead author of the research letter, Gery Guy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

In the short-term, sunburns can be painful, and can cause nausea, dizziness, dehydration and fainting. More severe blistering burns can also lead to infections.

Long-term, sunburns increase risk for skin cancer, which may be deadly. Read the full article here.

Credit: Reauters.com

Using a tanning bed, booth, or sunlamp to get tan is called indoor tanning. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays while indoor tanning can cause skin cancers including melanoma (the deadliest type of skin cancer), basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma.

Applying sunscreen can be quite the ordeal, especially when it comes to rubbing it in so you don’t have any white streaks left over. But since sun protection is obviously important, we suck it up and do it anyway.

However, there’s one company who’s trying to make putting on sunscreen a breeze with hands-free application that only takes 10 seconds. Called SnappyScreen, the sunscreen booth is supposedly “the world’s first touchless sunscreen application system.” Click here to check it out.

Credit: fashionmagazine.com

“We’ve all been there: sticking out our chin and pressing our tongue against the roof of our mouth in pictures. Popping the occasional collar. It’s a stubborn problem, that double chin, one that’s un-suck-in-able, un-cover-up-able, and un-Instagram-filter-able. But everyone deals with it eventually. “Your skin begins to thin in your 20s, and then you start losing bone, fat, and muscle in your jaw around age 50—and these changes to your facial structure make your jawline sag like a loose blouse on a wire hanger,” says Jeannette Graf, a dermatologist in New York City, who has no problem telling it like it is. On top of that, your jaw is one of the three areas on your body that “gravity is working against all the time,” says Amy Wechsler, a dermatologist in New York City.”  Click here to find out the types of face-liftiing methods that are currently available.

Credit: Allure.com

Who hasn’t pinched an inch here or grabbed a handful there? How many times have we looked in the mirror and thought “if I could just get rid of this bulge here, I would be happy”? How many of us have worked out, eaten healthy and finally found a good weight only to be stumped by that one area that won’t seem to get any smaller?

Here at Toronto Dermatology Centre we offer CoolSculpting, a non-surgical way of eliminating fat cells in specific areas of your body without affecting other areas. Unlike liposuction this procedure requires no needles or surgery, and there’s no downtime, or potential side effects, CoolSculpting is able to kill fat cells and eliminate them from your body.

Scientists in the 60’s noticed that children that sucked on popsicles frequently lost fat cells in the side of their cheeks. Fortunately children are resilient and they were able to replenish the cells without complication naturally. Over time scientists developed a technique called Cryolipolysis, a way of killing fat cells through slowly freezing the fat and without damage to the surrounding cells.

Cryolipolysis is based on the principle that fat cells are more vulnerable to cooling than surrounding tissues. A non-invasive applicator is attached to the targeted procedure area to slowly freeze the underlying fat tissue, while protecting the skin, nerves, muscles and other tissue. The cooled fat cells undergo apoptosis (controlled cell death) and are gradually eliminated, reducing the thickness of the fat layer.

With Coolsculpting, your initial consultation would include a full explanation of how Coolsculpting works, what you need to know before and after the treatment and a full treatment plan. We may mark the areas to be treated and decide how many sessions would be required for full benefits. For example, if you wanted to target the abdominal area and the love handles, you may want to tackle one area first and come back for the other area. Most areas require 1 session, but 2 may be required for a better sculptured appearance, depending on the amount of fat in the selected areas. As well the assessment will help to determine if you are a good candidate for the treatment.

(*Images are for informational purpose only. Results may vary from person to person)

Coolsculpting is targeted for the abdomen, upper, low and mid (for women), flanks (love handles), inner and outer thighs, arms and chin fat. Not all types of fat will work with Coolsculpting. For example, visceral fat, found below the muscles, cannot be treated. As well, if there is not enough fat to fit into the Coolsculpting treatment zone, the area won’t freeze properly and results won’t be as effective.

Although there is no downtime, some temporary side effects may include tenderness, swelling, redness, occasional bruising and a “pins and needles” feeling as the nerve endings begin to unfreeze. Results can be seen in as little as 3 weeks and full results seen in 2-3 months. You can resume your daily regime immediately after treatment. A compression garment is not required as it is with liposuction, but if treating the abdominal area, patients found that using one, even a mild form such as Spanx, decreased discomfort post treatment.

Today’s intelligent women and men are opting out of surgical procedures when it comes to improving their appearance. With the cost of liposuction, increased chances of serious side effects, downtime and scars, it doesn’t seem feasible that one would choose this more aggressive procedure over Coolsculpting; today’ s patient knows the best way to treat unwanted fat is only a few hours away.

Come in for a complimentary consultation to see if you’re a good candidate for CoolSculpting.

~ Sheri Roselle, Medical Esthetician at Toronto Dermatology Centre