Do you want to know how to keep your skin and hair looking healthy and beautiful at all times and at any age? Dermatologist Dr. Brooke Jackson stops by with a couple of her friends to keep you looking “Be-YOU-tiful”!
Question: When do you recommend that someone visit a dermatologist versus an aesthetician?
Dr. Brooke: It kind of depends on what it is that you’re after. As a dermatologist, we treat conditions of the skin, hair and nails. Estheticians provide services. In my mind an esthetician is sort of like a massage therapist of the skin, right? It’s a feel good opportunity for a lot of people for self care, for sure, but it’s not to diagnose and treat skin conditions. Often we work together and just about every service that an aesthetician provides a dermatologist invented. And so they do work hand in hand to make you look better.
Question: As we’re aging or get older, we notice some changes down there to our skin as well. Is there ever a time that we should be concerned or are there exams that we can do or are there any changes that we should be concerned about down there? When should we see someone about our changes?
Dr. Benga: As early as 13 to 15, you can see an OB GYN. It doesn’t have to involve a vaginal exam. And I have no problem saying that word. And I hope nobody cringes by hearing me say that word, it is a part of our body, and we should be very comfortable saying it and not calling it by weird names. It’s vagina. It could be just to talk about the periods, just to talk about what the expectations are when the body changes start happening. And just to even go over anatomy, which as Dr. Brook said, this is something I love talking about, just having people get comfortable with their bodies. Changes start from knowing what’s normal for you. We all have subtle little changes with our bodies that are not exactly the same as other pd be concerned about.
Question: Can hyperpigmentation be prevented for black women?
Dr. Brooke: The proper term is called either post-inflammatory hyper or hypo pigmentation and brown skin can do either. So hyper means darkening and hypo means lightning and a post-inflammatory part of it is crucial because that means there’s something that caused inflammation. I always tell people that brown skin is very, very sensitive, those same cells that make you brown that make black don’t crack, that make you age very, very gracefully are the same cells that are very, very, very sensitive. The issue is addressing what caused it. If you’ve got acne or folliculitis or eceople. It all starts with knowing what your body looks like at its baseline. And you can’t do that without looking at your body. Take a mirror, look down at the vaginal area. If you never look down there, you’ll have no idea what’s normal for you. And then when other things show up, you won’t know whether it’s abnormal or not. The long and short of it is to know what your baseline is, examine your body, as your body starts going through changes, look at them. And if you have any questions at all, you come and you see us, and we can tell you whether this is something you shoulzema, you will never get in front of that hyperpigmentation until you get the problem under control. And so a lot of people just wanna focus on the external cosmetic component. If we don’t fix your acne, you’re still breaking out. You’re never going to get better.
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The conversation continues with many questions and answers about the skin. Click the link for more.
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