Our skin is our largest organ and is just as vital to our health as our lungs, brain, or heart. Additionally, while assessing the health of the body’s other organs is simple (via scans, blood tests, etc.), doing so for our skin is a little more ambiguous. Before we can discuss how to keep healthy skin, let’s first look at what having healthy skin actually entails. We decided to speak with one of the experts to learn about the signs and best practices for maintaining skin health.
What Does Having Healthy Skin Mean?
Christina Ponzio-Guarino, MSPA, a physician assistant certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants who specializes in adult acne, says that having healthy skin means having skin that is moisturized and free of sun damage.
Moisturizing and protecting are two things I always (most of the time) remember to do. According to Ponzio-Guarino, SPF should be everyone’s best friend. Freckles, wrinkles, pre-cancers, atypical moles, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and malignant melanoma are all consequences of sun damage.
“Healthy skin is also even in color, smooth, firm, and elastic,” she adds, in addition to being hydrated and free of sun damage.
How to Assess the Health of Your Skin
According to Ponzio-Guarino, “measuring healthy skin is much less objective than measuring your blood pressure or cholesterol.” It’s simpler to start with indicators of unhealthy skin, such as rough texture, dehydration, lack of elasticity, and uneven tone.
Texture
Unhealthy: “If your skin is rough, bumpy, or blotchy, these are clearly unhealthy measures,” says Ponzio-Guarino.
Healthy: Your skin should have a smooth appearance and feel. There should be consistency between the way pores and hair follicles look.
Hydration and moisture
Unhealthy: Although dry skin and dehydrated skin are two different issues, they are frequently used interchangeably (because they share similar symptoms). Your skin may be dry and/or dehydrated if it is red, dry, tight, or flaky. Your skin may be dehydrated even if it is oily. This is due to the fact that when your skin is dehydrated, your pores may overcompensate by producing excessive amounts of sebum. We do make oil to help our skin, but too much of it could lead to an environment that is ideal for bacteria, which is something we don’t want to happen!
Healthy: According to Ponzio-Guarino, “Your skin should be just slightly hydrated to radiate a calm glow.”
Elasticity
Unhealthy: Our skin becomes thinner as we get older because our skin produce less elastin. When significant damage is taken into account, unhealthy skin won’t be able to recover as quickly and will be more prone to wrinkles.
Healthy: Fewer fine lines and wrinkles will be the result of healthy elasticity. According to Ponzio-Guarino, “healthy skin can produce enough collagen and elastin to keep skin stronger even as we age.” In the long run, the areas around our eyes, lips, and jawline will appreciate our preventative care!
Tone and Color
Unhealthy: While an uneven skin tone is the first warning sign, Ponzio-Guarino also stresses that skin that has been tanned is unhealthy. She says, “If you’re tanning your skin, you’re damaging it even if you’re not burning.
Healthy: Your skin should be evenly toned throughout, with a natural glow that permeates your face, chest, and back in particular.
