Beauty Products Aim To Protect Skin From Damage Of Pollution
BOSTON (CBS) – Car and truck fumes, planes and power plants, there is air pollution almost everywhere you look.
Aicha Ried recently started worrying what it could be doing to her skin.
"When I'm walking by a bus and then all of a sudden there's just like this thick, black smoke just wafting into my face and I'm like, 'my pores,'" Ried said.
Dermatologist Dr. Amy Derick says new research suggests reason for that concern.
"Pollution can accelerate normal aging by breaking down collagen and increasing the free radicals in the skin," Derick said.
It's that concept that has led to an explosion in new products marketed to help protect the skin from pollutants.
Derick recommends using a cleansing brush to decrease the amount of pollution left on your skin overnight. She also recommends a topical antioxidant.
"If air pollution does get through into your skin and starts to created damage, these antioxidants are able to kind of scavenge the free radicals that are created and may decrease the damage that's done," she said.
Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi warns that not all products will do what they promise.
"Buyer beware. Do your homework. Find out which ones are not just jumping on the pollution bandwagon and those that have really one and put in some research behind it," Tanzi warned.
Ried believes she's found a skin routine that works.
"I have noticed major improvement in my skin since I've taken proper steps to sort of counter the effects of air pollution damage," Ried said.
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