What can I do to keep my skin looking healthy and young?

I use skin creams and serums and moisturizers all the time to keep my skin looking healthy and young. What else can I do?

The quality of your skin tone is very important in making sure you look as young and radiant as possible. How you protect it is very important. When we are born we have beautiful, non-blemished skin. The environment is what ruins it. You can’t change genetics, but you can change [what you do to protect it]. The most important things are to get plenty of sleep, to eat food high in anti-oxidants and the right oils (omega 3s), and to get enough protein to maintain the structure of the skin. Also avoid cigarette smoke, pollution and sunlight. You need some sunlight for the development of your bones, but if you don’t use block you will see pigmentation and the thinning of your skin. The all-important glow of your skin can be lost if you don’t protect it from environment influences and nourish it with anti-oxidants.

—Deborah Longwill, MD
Miami, Fla.

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