Anette: Suddenly my skin has aged dramatically

Meet Anette

Anette applied to become a participant in Skin Care because, in her own words: her skin has aged dramatically in recent years”.

Her hope for the project is:

“I hope to acquire the necessary knowledge and the right products, and not least new skincare routines that will ensure that my skin looks healthier and well cared for.”.

She expands on the above by explaining how she has tried many different products, but has never found any that she has liked and felt to have improved her skin to a point where she would want to use the products over a longer period of time.

Anette’s symptoms

Before Skin Care, Anette’s cheeks had become so dry that they developed sores that wouldn’t heal. She has previously been to a dermatologist to have the lesions treated as precursors to skin cancer, but that was years ago.

She still suffers from dry, tight and sometimes irritated skin – in addition to noticing more and more signs of aging.

“I can feel something happening to my skin now. It feels tight, it feels irritated during the day, and I often find that my skin tends to become red as well. My skin has definitely aged, and it may well have happened gradually, but I didn’t notice it, and then suddenly one day you think: hang on, I don’t think that’s how it usually looks in the mirror. And yes, it has aged and at the same time has become very dry.”

Anette says that she actually feels good about getting older and that you can see it, but at the same time, she wants her skin to look healthy and well cared for.

“It always affects your self-confidence when you don’t feel that you’re looking good, but especially when you start getting small blemishes on your face.. That’s really not good.

I’ve tried to think that that’s just the way it is, but you also want to do something to look and feel better“.

Anette admits that she hasn’t always been good at taking care of her skin: “I’ve probably neglected it a bit”.

After having heard Anette’s own views on her skin and how it feels, Maria performs an ultrasound scan to see how things are looking below the surface

If we look at the surface that protects us from sun, wind and weather, it should be thick and therefore strong. The surface is the light line on the left, and on Anette it actually looks really good. When we look deeper into the connective tissue, we also see a lot of colours, including green, blue, yellow, red and orange, and this shows the activity in the skin. Anette’s skin has many colours, which means that the connective tissue is dense and strong and there is good activity of collagen and elastin.

What’s really interesting about the image is that if we look just below the surface, where there is a dark, black patch, this is actually sun damage. The connective tissue has been damaged by the sun’s rays, which have formed the large cavity, and the rays have broken down the skin’s collagen and elastin.

When we see dark cavities on the scan images, these may also be normal signs of ageing, but in that case there will be green connective tissue colouring in between, whereas these massive patches are caused by sun exposure.

Even though Anette suspected the sun damage, she is still surprised by how clearly it shows.

“Decay isn’t pleasant. Yes, I actually felt sad when I saw the scan image, and I didn’t think that damage to the skin could be so apparent”.

Fortunately, Anette is highly motivated to do something about it, and Maria puts together a routine that is primarily aimed at restoring the skin’s moisture balance to a comfortable level. That is the first step, followed by reducing sun damage.

Anette’s skincare routine for balanced skin

Morning routine

Cleanse: In the morning, use One Step Micellar water, which is an easy to use cleansing water to be applied to cotton pads and smoothed over the skin.

Care: After cleansing, apply Symphonique Eye Zone Gel, dabbing along the eye socket under and above the eye, and of course in the ‘laughter lines’ to the sides. The eye cream should not be applied too close to the eye.

Next, apply Serum Paradoxe, which is an oil-based serum that has an anti-inflammatory effect and repairs the skin. After the serum, use Creme Paradoxe, which repairs the entire thickness of the skin and increases skin health.

To avoid new sun damage, Anette must use sunscreen every day. Maria recommends Stay Beautiful SPF50, which is an ultra-light sunscreen with high protection that feels invisible on the skin but provides a fantastic protective barrier.

Dietary supplements: In addition to daily facial care, Maria recommends taking two La Forte tablets each morning. The dietary supplement boosts the skin’s collagen production, and the beneficial vitamins and minerals strengthen the skin all over the body.

Evening routine

Cleanse: In the evening, Anette uses Cleansing Milk and Skin Tonic for Dry Skin, which is a gentle but effective cleansing combination that removes dirt from the face, neck, and décolleté and prepares the skin for further care.

Care: In the evening, Anette will again use Symphonique Eye Zone gel and afterwards, Symphonique Night Time, fortified with six types of vitamin A, which have a really great ability to repair damage to the skin caused by both ageing and UV radiation. Since the night cream is very active, the skin must gradually get used to the cream, so for the first two weeks, it is to be used every other evening.

On other evenings, apply our Instant Hydrating Mask, which is an intense moisturising mask that delivers a significant moisture boost. After two weeks, Symphonique Night Time can be used daily, and the moisturising mask can be used instead as a moisturising mask 1-2 times a week.

Supplementary care: In addition to the moisturising mask, Bio-Dermabrasion Peeling Wipes should also be used 1-2 times a week. Peeling Wipes effectively remove dead and worn-out skin cells from the skin’s surface, thus helping with cell renewal. The masks can be used in combination with each other.   

After Maria has gone through the routine with Anette, we ask Anette what she thinks, and she immediately declares her enthusiasm:

“I’m really looking forward to trying out the products – the whole package at once – and to say, ‘Now I’m going to do what needs to be done’. And then the follow-up, which is like a time period, and then we follow up, and actually can see the results on the scan, is so exciting.”.

Telephone follow-up after 14 days

When Maria and Anette talk after two weeks into the new routine, Anette says that it’s going brilliantly, she thinks the routine is easy, and it feels like pure luxury with all the products.

Anette experiences some irritation with the Symphonique eye cream, and so they agree that she takes a week’s break.

The skin no longer feels tight, and she doesn’t notice the dryness in the same way. Anette thinks the moisturising mask is “just lovely” and the Paradoxe day cream gives her a daily feeling of well-being.

She is very happy with the routine and determined to continue with it.

Follow-up after three months

We update with Anette after our three-month follow-up, where Anette notices and sees a change in her skin.

“I can feel that my skin is softer. I don’t have this feeling during the day that everything is getting a little wrinkled, and I’m getting a little dry, and feel like pouring water over my head.

I actually don’t think about the fact that I have skin anymore. It sounds a little strange, but once I’ve completed my morning routine, I don’t really think about my skin until the evening, when I need to cleanse again, and then I enjoy applying my night cream. It feels like it’s been a good day for my skin. It’s a nice feeling”.

It’s great to hear that Anette can feel that her skin has become more moisturised and that she feels comfortable in her skin. Our primary focus in her routine was to relieve the feeling of tight and irritated skin.

That’s why we’ve focused on creating a normal moisture balance, enabling the skin to better retain moisture and reducing that dry and uncomfortable feeling.

It’s not just Anette who notices a difference, her son has also noticed.

“He actually came in one day and commented on how good I looked. It was actually after a few weeks. It definitely does something for one’s self-confidence”.

Extending the treatment

We decide to extend Anette’s treatment, as her skin is now improving so much that we are able to do more to reduce the sun damage.

Therefore, we agree to adjust our care routine slightly so that we can target sun damage more effectively. Anette will receive a new serum and new day cream, which she will use along with the rest of her routine for a further three months.

Anette’s sun damage prevention routine

Morning routine

Cleanse: One Step Micellar Water

Care: We have changed the eye cream to Paradoxe Eye Creme, which is suitable for sensitive skin. The cream builds up the delicate eye area and tightens the skin.

Both serum and day cream are replaced, as the skin has now improved so much in terms of dryness and irritation that we can take even more effective action against the sun damage. As a serum, we choose Defy Damage serum, which is applied in a thin layer to the entire face. Defy Damage contains, vitamin A, which has a regenerating and cell-renewing effect on the skin.

We combine the serum with AHA Vitamin C Glow Cream, which is rich in vitamin C. With its antioxidant effect on the skin, it both improves the skin’s surface and strengthens and protects the skin against damage.

Anette will continue with Stay Beautiful SPF50 and La Forte tablets.

Evening routine

Cleanse: Cleansing milk and Skin tonic, dry skin

Care: At night, as in the morning, we have also changed the eye cream to Paradoxe Eye Creme.

The rest of the routine is as before with Symphonique Night, moisturising mask and Bio-Dermabrasion Peeling Wipes.

 Completion and final scan

Three months after the last follow-up, Anette is back and Maria performs another ultrasound scan to assess the status of the sun damage.

From the scan image, we can see that the epidermis – the skin’s barrier – which is the light line on the left, has become almost twice as thick, it has become completely dense and very strong.

The connective tissue remains healthy and strong and we see a lot of colours of collagen and elastin. If we look at the upper part of the connective tissue, where we saw clear sun damage in the form of a long dark band with no activity on the first scan, this band has become thinner and we see more green colours, i.e. the sun damage has greatly improved, the connective tissue has become firmer and the production of collagen and elastin has increased significantly.

Anette is delighted with the result. Her main goal was to feel better about her skin, which she achieved within the first few months, and then to address the underlying issues so that she could be confident that her skin was healthy. Both of which were achieved through Skin Care, and Anette is a great example of how your skincare routine often needs to be adapted to suit your needs.