How Your Skincare Professional Evaluates Your Skin
Before you allow your skincare professional to treat your skin or devise an effective treatment plan, it’s critical that they perform a thorough evaluation of your skin. The proper skin diagnosis is the most important part of your skincare treatment.
Apart from determining what type of skin you have using the universally accepted Fitzpatrick Classification Scale, your skincare professional should evaluate your skin in the following ways:
Skin Thickness: Determining whether the skin is thick, thin, medium or medium-to-thick, tells the skincare professional how much pressure to apply when treating the skin without harming it.
Pigmentation: Making note of either hypo- or hyperpigmented skin is important since some treatments are either inappropriate for pigmented skin types or need to be adjusted for them.
Broken Capillaries: The presence of broken capillaries indicates that the skin is sensitive. The presence of many broken capillaries indicates that you have poor circulation.
Sebum (Oil): Determining how much oil your skin produces is important and will tell your skincare professional whether you have oily, dry, normal or combination skin.
Enlarged Pores: This is a sign that the skin is oily or was oily at some point. Older clients might not show signs of oily skin but may have enlarged pores – that means the skin was oily during adolescence.
Blemishes: Blemished skin tends to be oily. It is also an indication to your skincare professional that you like to pick your skin. Oops!
Scars: Signs of scars indicates that there was active acne at some point. Also the skin around scar tissue tends to be more sensitive and may appear slightly inflamed after treatment.
Hydration: There is a difference between dry skin and dehydrated skin. Assessing the moisture level in the skin will help determine the correct products and treatments.
Sensitivity: Your skincare professional should test for sensitivity. They can do this by tracing a dull spatula on the chest area. If the skin remains red (even after cleansing) it means the skin is highly sensitive.
Lines and Wrinkles: These can be age related or they may have formed prematurely due to excessive exposure to the sun, environmental conditions (to very dry air if you live more arid areas of the country) or dehydrated skin.
Dull Complexion: This is an indication that you smoke or are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke.
Elasticity and Tone: Your skincare professional can check this is a couple of ways – either by gently picking up the skin and letting it go quickly, or by flicking the skin. Either way, he/she will note how quickly it returns to its former shape.
Want to learn more about what your skincare professional should know about your skin before treating it? Read our article on Skin Evaluation: Questions Your Aesthetician Should be Asking You
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