Does living in a big city affect your skin?

Smog. Garbage. Cigarette smoke. These are the inescapable realities of living in a big city. It’s bad enough that you have to encounter these annoyances whenever you take your morning commute or take your dog for a walk down the street — what’s worse is that they follow you home. You might find that all of that city pollution starts to affect your skin.

How does it affect your skin?

Signs of Aging

Air pollution from things like cigarette smoke and car exhaust can penetrate your skin. These free radicals encourage oxidative stress and accelerate the skin’s ageing process. Your skin will develop wrinkles, fine lines and deep grooves faster than it should. And your clear complexion can change, too. You could be left with age spots, broken blood vessels and an uneven skin tone.

What Can You Do:

Wash your face with a gentle soap every night to remove any air pollution clinging to the skin. Then apply a Vitamin C serum to neutralize the free radicals.

Rosacea Flare-Ups:

If you’re living with rosacea, you’re familiar with triggers like alcohol, stress and extreme temperatures. But, did you know that air pollution can be a trigger, too? Air pollution makes your skin dehydrated and damaged, which leaves it more vulnerable to inflammatory conditions like rosacea.

What Can You Do:

Many experts recommend that people living with rosacea use an anti-pollution skincare regimen, using products rich in antioxidants, gentle cleansers and effective moisturizers. You should also visit a professional laser clinic in Toronto to help you reduce the long-lasting effects of your flare-ups like visible blood vessels and a ruddy complexion. A few sessions with a VBeam Laser can reduce the redness and drastically clear up the skin.

Acne Breakouts

While you’re worried about crow’s feet and forehead lines, you can also fret about sudden breakouts of pimples and angry-looking zits. City-living can simultaneously make you feel like you’re getting older and like you’ve traveled back to your middle school years. Free radicals encourage inflammation, which means more acne flare-ups.

What Can You Do:

An anti-pollution skincare regimen is important. You should also make sure to wash your hands and avoid touching your face. Don’t pick at your pimples or you will raise your chances of creating permanent scars.

You can try laser treatment for acne to improve the appearance of acne scars and reduce the severity of the outbreaks. The laser pulses stimulate the cells in the skin and spur the scarred areas to heal. The process raises the scars to meet the surface so that the skin looks smoother.

You can use laser therapy similar to rosacea treatment to target discolouration. Many adults suffer from post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation— this involves long-term redness and lingering dark marks that remain after the acne breakout has dissipated. A couple of appointments could really clear up your complexion.

You don’t have to pack up your bags and move somewhere else to get healthy skin. By practicing an anti-pollution skincare routine and turning to laser therapy, you can stop the big city from leaving its mark on your face.