In April, we had to stay at home; When May came, we had to wear masks in the burning sun.

The fight against the pandemic gave us the illusion that time seemed static, but actually, summer has arrived: the sun burns the face into red, and the mask makes the face dry and itchy. What comes together with the summer season is “sensitive skin” and “acne skin”.

It's hard to escape sensitive skin in the summer with masks

To fight against the pandemic, we need to wear masks indoors and outdoors. However, most masks are made of non-woven fabric, which can cause skin irritation, itching and even redness when we speak. In addition, the air permeability of the mask is poor, so the gas generated by our breath cannot be evaporated in time. If the hydration of some parts of the skin is too high, it may make the skin oil outside but dry inside.

In summer, it is even hotter and more humid inside the mask. It is easy for some bacteria, such as propionibacterium acnes, to breed, which can lead to acne and pimple.

Will it be better to take off masks more often and let more fresh air in?

The answer may be no. It’s windy outside in spring and summer, and the air conditioning is on, so the skin is easy to be exposed to wind both indoors and outdoors. When we take off the mask, the small droplets that have congealed on the sides of our cheeks can easily evaporate, leading to chapped skin. If you do not use sunscreen, sensitive skin will more easily be caused.

36% of women in China have sensitive skin

According to the 2017 Chinese Expert Consensus on Sensitive Skin Treatment, 36% of Chinese women, i.e. one in every three women, have sensitive skin. If the scope is expanded to include red blood streak skin, which can easily develop into sensitive skin, then nearly two-thirds of the Chinese population has sensitive skin. These people, when affected by masks, high-intensity ultraviolet radiation, hot wind, are certainly at high risk for sensitive skin.

Check if your skin is sensitive.

✓ Have a prickly feeling when washing face with both cold and hot water.

✓ The skin becomes unstable, dry, itchy, and peels when season changes, having irregular rest, or near menstrual period.

✓ The cheek becomes itchy and red in alternately cold and hot environment or poor-quality air.

✓ Those with atopic or seborrhoeic dermatitis.

If you have two of the above conditions, you probably have sensitive skin and should go to the dermatology department to see the doctor.

How to make the skin less sensitive

Maybe you do not have a “fragile heart”, but have “fragile skin” which easily gets itchy and red and even peels. How to make the skin less sensitive?

First, we need to know how sensitive skin is formed and classified. Experts divide sensitive skin into two types.

I. Damaged skin barrier

Damaged skin barrier is the first kind of sensitive skin, the least severe and the first step of its development. The main reason is trans epidermal moisture loss, which leads to the loss of skin nutrients. The skin surface layer takes off scurf abnormally and turns red. Some shallow nerve endings are not protected, and they are more likely to be stimulated by external substances, resulting in a painful and itchy feeling.

To deal with this type of sensitive skin, we can strengthen the skin barrier through cleaning, hydrating and moisturizing.

1. Cleaning: To keep your skin clean, you d’ better remove makeup and do skin care as soon as you get home. Choose facial cleanser with hyaluronic acid and enough cleaning property but make sure it is gentle, namely weak acid cleanser that is widely known. Avoid using the product with high alkalinity to keep the skin PH from being damaged.

2. Hydrating: After washing and drying your face, dab lotion on it as soon as possible. Try to avoid the products that require cotton pads to help with hydration, to prevent further damage to the skin barrier. If necessary, you can apply cotton pads drenched with clean cold water for about 10 minutes before proceeding to the next step of skin care.

3. Moisturizing: After hydrating, you need to apply moisturizing lotion or cream, otherwise more skin moisture will be evaporated. Choose the cream that is both moisturizing and easily applied evenly, which can help form a skin barrier layer, but not too thick to cause acne.

Doctors of DeltaHealth Clinic have collected “purchase tips of skin care products” for your reference.

II. Skin inflammation, such as acne skin

The epidermis is a micro-ecosystem, containing billions of microbes per square centimeter. They co-exist on the surface of the skin and prevent pathogens from colonizing the skin, thus maintaining the ecological balance of the epidermis. When the skin barrier is damaged and the skin ecology is disrupted, these flora and microbes are reduced.

According to experimental data from experts, staphylococcus aureus, a cause of skin infection and inflammation, is significantly increased in the cheek of sensitive skin, while Staphylococcus epidermis, a “pacifist” resident of skin, is greatly decreased. Therefore, our skin may occur pimple, acne and other inflammatory problems.

How to deal with skin inflammation

✓Use ingredients that reduce inflammation

For example, marigold extract, chamomile extract, sea fennel extract, etc. Or use other medication based on your conditions and dermatologist’s recommendation.

✓Help restore the micro-ecosystem on the skin surface

For example, supplementing prebiotics and probiotics; But this is not what we can do by ourselves, so you had better go to the dermatology department and ask professional advice from doctors.

Advances in dermatological technology

In fact, skin care products and medication are not the only means to solve skin problems. With the development of medical technology, treatment methods with shorter course and faster effect have already be developed, such as photoelectric therapy, the combination of radio frequency and red and blue light.

Let’s look at a recent set of control experiments of moderate to severe acne treatment, in which patients taking red and blue light therapy were cured in a greatly shorter time.

60 patients with moderate to severe acne were selected. 30 of them were treated with traditional skin care ingredients, and the other group were treated with both ingredients and red and blue light.

The results showed that the control group taking red and blue light therapy was cured nearly a week earlier.

1) Blue light: anti-inflammatory; can effectively kill pathogenic bacteria without damaging the skin.

2) Red light: strong penetrability of irradiation; can enhance cell activity, accelerate the inflammation to subside, and also improve facial blood circulation, whiten the skin and lighten spots, narrow pores, smooth fine wrinkles, etc.

Radio frequency therapy has remarkable effect in dissolving sclerotic acne and improving acne scar. Radio frequency is an electric current generated by electromagnetic radiation that is heated from electrodes placed on the surface of the patient’s skin, penetrating the dermis and stimulating collagen synthesis and remodeling, thereby dissolving sclerotic acne and improving acne scar. In recent years, medical practice at home and abroad has confirmed the effectiveness and safety of radio frequency therapy.

“Acne skin” and “sensitive acne” are like a pair of companions; they disturb many people from their adolescence and seem to accompany them for life. Many people have struggled to try various skin care tips but failed to make the situation better. Actually, it’s because they don’t know enough about the treatment methods.

In today’s world with rapidly developing technology, maybe when you make the decision to go to dermatology department, when you step into the hospital, that’s when you really find the solution to your skin problem.