Facial Skin Care
Skin Enhancement and Maintenance
At the Chow Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, we recommend regular use of products that serve to protect, maintain, revitalize, and enhance your skin. Any of a large selection of brands may be successful in accomplishing the goal of healthy and beautiful skin. These generally fall into major categories, and several are mentioned below.
Sun Protection
Protection from exposure to ultra-violet radiation is a life-long process. Sun-damaged skin is not only more likely to develop deforming and life-threatening cancers, but is also more likely to age prematurely. This results in wrinkles, color irregularities and dark spots, as well as changes in skin texture and thickness.
Therefore, choosing a sunscreen that is right for you--AND using it daily--is a must. The SPF of any sunscreen determines its length of activity rather than its strength. In order to know how long a sunscreen lasts, divide the SPF number by four. For example, a sunscreen that is SPF 16 will last four hours. For this reason, Dr. Chow recommends applying any sunscreen that is SPF 16 at least twice a day, or every four hours. Ideally, any sunscreen that is used will have an SPF of 32 or higher, which generally lasts a full 8 hour day with sun exposure. In order to increase your sun protection, Dr. Chow recommends finding and using a sunscreen with either titanium dioxide or zinc oxide in it to reflect even more ultra-violet radiation from the sun.
Skin Care Regimen
Most of those who consult with Dr. Chow already have a specific skin care regimen. The goal at the Chow Center for Facial Plastic Surgery is not to replace those products you feel are effective, but rather to design a complementary skin care regimen that will achieve your goals, whether they are to reduce wrinkles, even skin tone, brighten skin, increase collagen content, treat acne, or fight premature aging.
To do so, Dr. Chow spent over three years searching for products that contain naturally occurring active ingredients whenever possible and have been proven to be effective. What he has discovered is the Vivite line of advanced skin care products, which are medical grade and work together to promote the production of hyaluronic acid, collagen, and epidermal growth factor, all essential components to the integrity and health of skin.
The core system consists of four products: The exfoliating facial cleanser, the daily antioxidant facial serum, the night renewal facial cream, and the revitalizing eye cream. Each works with the others and is based on exclusive GLX Technology that combines a glycolic compound with natural antioxidants to form a formula matrix that deeply penetrates skin to help maximize skin health. Other ingredients include peptides to tighten skin, exfoliating microbeads to remove unproductive skin, retinol to exfoliate pigmented and discolored skin, as well as antioxidants to trap free radicals and prevent further skin damage. Botanical ingredients include fruit extracts, green tea to block UV radiation and prevent damage from free radicals, plus chamomile, which acts as a soothing moisturizer.
Vivite Exfoliating Facial Cleanser
This is designed to be complementary to your daily facial cleanser, and is used 2-3 times a week. It loosens the unproductive surface layers of skin so that they may be scrubbed away to reveal your fresh, new skin. A combination of exfoliating microbeads and a 15% glycolic compound first loosens, then dissolves, dead skin cells that have accumulated. Should you need a daily facial cleanser, there is a Vivite daily facial cleanser which is a multipurpose formulation mild enough for regular use.
Vivite Daily Antioxidant Facial Serum
This provides antioxidant protection to prevent premature skin aging and promotes well-hydrated, healthy skin. This is best used once daily (in the morning) under any moisturizer, sunscreen, or makeup.
Vivite Night Renewal Facial Cream
This is a richly formulated skin care product which promotes overnight maintenance and repair of skin tissue. It can be used every night before bed.
Vivite Revitalizing Eye Cream
One of our more popular products because it "just works," this is specially formulated to help reduce fine lines and wrinkles around the eye while also minimizing the appearance of dark circles. Interference pearls diffuse light and brighten dark areas below the eyes. This is most effective when used twice daily, in the morning and the evening.
Brightening Skin & Evening Skin Tone (Getting Rid of Dark Spots)
Traditionally, only prescription products such as hydroquinone have been used in skin care products that brighten and even skin tone. However, Vivite Vibrance Therapy is a restorative, antioxidant-rich cream that helps reduce uneven skin tone even as it aids in protecting, calming, hydrating, and rejuvenating skin. It has quickly become one of the most popular skin care products at the Chow Center for Facial Plastic Surgery.
Perhaps most importantly, Vibance Therapy is hydroquinone-free, and relies on natural ingredients to produce similar results. In fact, a clinical study comparing Vibrance Therapy to hydroquinone, which is the most common chemical skin brightening agent, showed similar improvements in reduction of uneven skin tone, reduction in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and reduction in skin roughness. As with many skin care products, Dr. Chow recommends the use of an SPF 15 or greater sunscreen to prevent an increase in sun sensitivity when using Vibrance Therapy.
Other Skin Care Products
Other Vivite products that we are often asked about include the daily facial cleanser, which is a multipurpose cleanser mild enough for regular use, and the lip plumper, which also acts as an excellent moisturizer and can even be used after Juvederm lip enhancement.
