Skincare: What you need to know about anti-ageing, moisturiser, sunblock and Botox - The Little Things

Skincare - specifically when it comes to anti-ageing - is a big area of concern, and one area where people can fall for trends that are not helping them at all. Photo / Getty Images

This summer we’re revisiting some of the most-listened to podcasts from across the NZ Herald network in 2024.

Forget filling your shelves with expensive bottles of moisturiser, creams and serums - if you want to look after your skin, there are only a few key things you really need.

Dr Cara McDonald is a highly trained specialist dermatologist and cosmetic injector, working at Complete Skin Specialists in Melbourne as principal dermatologist, and has built up a national reputation for her expertise on skincare.

A lot of focus in her work comes around anti-ageing and how to reverse areas of concern like wrinkles. And while most of her clients tend to be mature women, social media has seen an alarming rise in teenage and pre-teen girls worrying about anti-ageing creams.

“I heard from a patient the other day that her 10-year-old daughter has a 36-step skincare routine,” McDonald told The Little Things, the Herald’s health and wellbeing podcast. “She said she just puts everything she’s got, like every product she’s ever found on it, and then goes around saying, ‘yes, I’ve got a 36-step skincare routine’.”

McDonald said that young women need to know that using products they see advertised isn’t necessarily what’s best for them.

“We’re seeing a lot of problem skin in the consult room caused by using the wrong products, trying to use anti-ageing products on young skin that doesn’t need it and causes reactions and sensitivity, causing acne breakouts, causing allergic reactions.

“And if you sensitise your skin and become allergic to products as a teen, you will never be able to use those ingredients ever again. You stay allergic. So it’s really important that they understand that more is not more and that, if they are desperate for a skincare routine, that we as parents actually support them with some products that we know will do no harm.”

McDonald said that a lot of the concern she sees is extrinsic ageing - external factors such as UV radiation, or smoking and other toxins entering our body, that cause our skin to thin, wrinkle or pigment the more we’re exposed to it.

And that’s why McDonald has one recommendation for women of all ages if they are looking for an easy fix for their skin.

“If there’s one thing I could do for everyone, it’s to get them to start sunscreen in their teens every day, and their signs of ageing by the time they’re 40 or 50 would be dramatically different, even if you did nothing else.”

If people are looking for a little more, McDonald said that finding one moisturiser with Vitamins A, B, and C can help as well.

“I always think of it as sunscreen is probably 70 per cent, and then your ABC is kind of 20 per cent, and then everything else is five to 10.”

And if you are a keen advocate of the benefits of collagen, McDonald said the studies are pretty divided on it, but it’s not something she personally uses.

“If you ingest collagen, which is essentially a protein, it gets broken down into amino acids, which all the other proteins that we eat do in our gastrointestinal system, and gets absorbed into the bloodstream.

“It’s not like we’re going to transplant collagen from our stomach or drink directly into our skin and patch up wrinkles.”

Listen to the full episode of The Little Things for more tips, advice and analysis from Dr Cara McDonald on skincare, including expensive versus ‘cheap’ products, and if cellulite creams, botox, and LED masks actually work.

The Little Things is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The series is hosted by broadcaster Francesca Rudkin and health researcher Louise Ayrey. New episodes are available every Saturday.