HOW TO FIX A DAMAGED SKIN BARRIER - FROM A LICENSED ESTHETICIAN + BEST TREATMENTS FOR DAMAGED SKIN

The dark side of following Tiktok trends and advice you find online is that you might end u damaging your skin barrier.

Signs of a Broken Skin Barrier

Before we go into how to treat a broken skin barrier we have to reconize the signs of it

Redness and Inflammation - if your skin gets irrated from warm or hot water, feels sensitive to touch or even when applying Moisturizer the skin barrier is probably damaged.

Hyperpigmentation after using exfoliating products - This soon follows after inflammation in the skin, pigment will occur

Skin tightness after using moisturizers

Random breakouts in the same area

All of these point to your skin sending a reactive response after over exfoliation or burning on the skin.

How a Damaged Skin Barrier Happens

A damaged or weaken skin barrier when the outer most layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, moisturizing barrier gets compromised. The barrier that we are constantly referring to is the lipid barrier that protects the skin.

This is why the skin gets dehydrated, red, irritated and has increased sensitivity. It can even overproduce oil which gives that greasy yet tight feeling

It happens from over exfoliating the skin whether its too many times in a week or with too many acids (glycolic, salyslic, mandalic)

Sunburn is the most common way that people experience a damaged skin barrier other than uses an acid too frequency, quick or in combination with other acids.

How to Fix a Broken Skin Barrier

To fix a broken skin barrier immediately stop using an acids on the skin and focus on hydrating and protecting the skin. So this means no exfoliation or actives and sunscreen spf 30 or higher is a non negotiable and needs to be reapplied throughout the day.

My favorite cleanser is the green tea cleanser by skinscript. It has no active acids in it and tons of antioxidants to be a defensive to environmental factors like pollution that cause inflammation in the skin

I alzo love the cacteen balancing moisturizer. It has water-binding humectant which is perfect for a compromised barrier and provides pretty instant textural differences in compromised skin without clogging the pores.

Product Recommendations for Damaged Skin

Green Tea Cleanser

Cucumber Toner

Cacteen Balancing Moisturizer

Ageless Skin Hydrating Serum

Professional Treatments

Level 1 Hydration facial - acid free facial that uses a pomegranate cream cleanser, goji berry to hydrate and restore, seaweed to calmly exfoliate, and honey nourishing mask to repair and tighten the mask. The treatment will also include using high frequency to oxygenate the skin and increase circulation, then blue light therapy to clear bacteria and calm then skin back down.

Resources - https://health.clevelandclinic.org/skin-barrier