Did you know the skin care routine you adopt can help with scar healing? It’s true. From eating right to staying hydrated to regularly washing your face, you can do your part to heal scars faster and easier. It’s important to treat your skin with great care, which means you should give it the time it needs to heal properly.
Here are some tips to getting happier, healthier skin – all over your body:
- Eat nutrient-dense food: Avoid highly refined sugars and carbs, grains and glutens, refined vegetable and seed oils, and any artificial sweeteners. Fruits and vegetables should make up the bulk of your diet, especially ones that are rich in anti-oxidants.
- Stay hydrated: This will reduce the appearance of fine line and pores, helping to rectify the dullness of your skin.
- Wash your face twice daily. Use gentle scrubs and exfoliators, or even some simple and pure soap and water.
- Increase intake of:
- Vitamin A: This is critical to the skin’s repair process, especially as it pertains to sun damage and damage from toxins. Vitamin A also boosts the thickness of the epidermis which is the top layer of the skin. You can get Vitamin A with eggs, cod liver oil, yams, kale, collard greens, orange and yellow vegetables and fruits, and sources of beta carotene such as broccoli and spinach.
- Vitamin D: This contributes greatly to the process of skin cell metabolism and growth. You can take it orally and apply it topically, or you can get out into the sun for short periods of time. Vitamin D, in addition to helping with scars, also helps alleviate psoriasis, scaling and itching. Good sources of vitamin D include sunshine, salmon, sardines, tuna, milk, and eggs.
- Vitamin E: This is a powerful antioxidant that works to reduce the effects of sun exposure to the skin. It also minimizes the effects of dangerous free radicals. Deficiency of Vitamin E has been linked to increased cases of acne. Avoid polyunsaturated oils, such as vegetable oils. Instead, go for sunflower seeds, virgin olive oil, pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, avocado and asparagus.
- Get more zinc into your diet: This is an essential trace element that many people simply don’t get enough of. It plays a big role in cell division and regrowth, helping you to develop new skin – essential in wound healing. Zinc also helps you produce adequate oils in your skin, transporting vitamin A in your blood as well.
- Eat adequate healthy fats: These are known to moisturize your skin from the inside out, plus they are precursors to hormone production. Hormonal imbalances can result in breakouts and acne.
- Moisturize your skin: Use moisturizers that are appropriate for the season. They’re not all created equal. Summer moisturizers contain SPF and tend to be lighter, while winter moisturizers are more thick and heavy to combat against the dry skin that comes with cold weather. For your face, don’t use heavy, petroleum or oil-based formulas. Rather, reach for the formulas that contain lipids. For those with extremely dry skin, an emollient moisturizer designed to lock in moisture is best.
- Try not to take long, hot showers or baths because hot water, along with soap, will dry out the skin and slow down healing. That’s because it’s blocking essential oils from penetrating your skin.
- Perhaps the best advice to slow down scar growth and speed up healing? Apply Scarfade on cuts and burns as directed. Keep a tube or two by your bed or in the bathroom to moisturize into the affected areas day and night.