This is the question I have been hearing it a lot lately maybe because we are now past holidays season and some of that celebrating took a toll on our skin

Well, if you only listen to the dermatology, cosmetic and plastic surgery advice you will end up with a multitude of cream and potions and procedures.

I take a different approach. What if I tell you the secret to have a beautiful young-looking skin is about what you put in your body and about how you nourish your body. Things like food intolerance, toxins and nutrient deficiency will affect your skin!

That does not mean you should not take care of yourself from the outside-there are great products that I recommend to my patients. But that’s not going to ultimately going to solve the problem especially if you have acne, eczema or psoriasis for example.

So, for today I am going to focus on nutrient deficiency!

Our skin requires vitamins, glucose from healthy carbs, ceramide, fatty acids to heal, perform and look good.

So, what are the most important vitamins for the skin?

Vit A and C – will help skin retain moisture and hydration. Vitamin A also helps the skin make new collagen so make sure it is s present every day in your diet. Collagen is the matrix that holds our skin together from inside so cannot forget about this one.

Vit D – helps with healing and has anti-inflammatory effect not to mention the important role in autoimmune illnesses like psoriasis. Soaking up the sun is the way to get it but do not get fooled-it takes a good amount of time being outside to achieve that and most of us are not doing that frequent enough.

Vit E – healing, you know when you have small ulcerations or small skin cracks? that’s the one that might be missing!

Vitamin B deficiency can mess up your skin bad too – flaky skin, cracked lips, wrinkles …and let’s not forget we are talking about 8 different types of B vitamins.

Copper Increases skin thickness and elasticity so that’s something we always check as well with a blood test.

Zinc and selenium have antimicrobial activity and prevent photodamage aka sunburn.

And these are just few of the ingredients our skin needs!

So, what do you do?

We diagnose the imbalance, address the causes first and then help the body repair and regain balance. The body’s natural ‘’healing’’ intelligence takes care of the rest.

Testing for all those vitamins and minerals is easy and it is a finger pricking blood test. Once we get the results, we can build a regimen that is meant for you instead of a plain multivitamin that might not cover your needs.

If you have struggled with skin issue, what strategies did you use to make it better?

To your health and amazing skin,

Dana Neacsu, MD

Learn more info at www.mcimatlanta.com and Share this with someone who needs it!

I know now that true rejuvenation is possible in skincare with advancements in technology and breakthrough ingredient formulations.

But in order to achieve true rejuvenation, a good mix of science and nature is  indispensable because the renewing process is not just skin deep.

As a functional skin care practice, we teach patients about their own unique skin physiology as well as the proper combination of skincare ingredients that will give them the best results.

I also know firmly believe that the parasympathetic nervous system (our “rest and digest”) is important for our skin health and not only for digestion and relaxation. A balanced nervous system facilitates absorption of nutrients to our tissues and promotes skin rejuvenation, detoxification, and overall renewal.

We must allow our skin to do its’ job so say goodbye to overwhelmed skin!

It was widely believed that the more products we layered on our skin the better – turns out your skin might feel overwhelmed by it all! Use few smart skin products and let your skin strengthen its natural barriers. Your skin is going to thank you for giving it a bit of a breather. 

Skincare is an inside job:

Any beauty routine starts with good nutrition, lifestyle practices and addressing underlying health issues. It involves healing the gut with dietary changes, sleep, exercise, stress management, supplements, hormonal balance, and focused elimination of environmental toxins.

Functional Medicine tests:

Going beyond the basic testing that a primary care doctor or even dermatologist do, will assess the drivers of skin inflammation and aging: test for hormonal imbalance, food allergies, toxin load, gut imbalance.

Using Functional Medicine protocols, one gets to the ‘why’ of the matter or the ‘root cause’ of your skin problems. Once we know the root cause, we can then form a patient-centric personalized skin-care regimen, that will be a permanent cure and not a symptomatic, treatment.

 Skintelligence (love this word!)

Equipped with skintelligence, you can confidently adapt your skincare program to your ever-changing skin needs. Each product contains ingredients that will promote healing like probiotics and CBD oil for anti-inflammatory effect.

Advanced yet noninvasive technology:

Using micro needling with exosomes and the latest technology Advatx laser to rejuvenate the skin and heal the dermal collapse we see with age. After these treatments you will see in the mirror a younger looking reflection of you instead of the ‘’artificial’’ result many other techniques produce. 

 Working only on the superficial skin layer with various other techniques will only leave you at the end with a thin, unnatural look of your face.

Functional Facials

 Specifically tailored to your skin’s needs in order to support the skin on its quest to function at optimal vibrancy and wellness.

We target the lymphatic drainage, the collagen production, and the muscle strength with various techniques like Gua-Sha, acupressure and Kansa wand massage using amazing skin products. Working on each layer of the face  and not just the superficial layer is the key to maintaining strength, shape, and glow.

 Functional Facials, as a cornerstone of your personal skin care, can help to revert and reset the effects of time, stress, and environmental factors.

In the end we provide our patients with a true glow that shines from within!