Did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body? In fact, your skin plays a vital role in regulating your body’s temperature, insulation and production of vitamin D. Which is exactly why the health of your skin has such a huge impact on your overall physical health.

With this in mind, maintaining good skin hygiene is critical to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. When you keep your skin clean and healthy, you take major steps toward ensuring your entire body remains healthy, too. Here are just a few of the simple steps you can take every day to make sure you’ve got a solid skin hygiene routine.

Keep Your Hands Away

Avoid touching your face, especially if you haven’t washed your hands recently. You pick up so much dirt and bacteria throughout the day that you may not even see, by touching your face you’re just adding more dirt and bacteria to your skin. By the same token, if you have a pimple, leave it alone. By picking at it or popping it, you’ll only make it worse and potentially cause scarring that will last a lot longer than a pimple ever would.

Wash, Exfoliate, Moisturize, Repeat

Even if you’ve had a long day and just want to crash into bed, it is important to make sure to wash, exfoliate and moisturize before you go to sleep. Washing your face gets rid of the top level of dirt and bacteria, while exfoliating goes deeper and helps keep your pores open and clean. Adding moisture back into your skin with a daily or nightly moisturizer helps keep your skin hydrated and protected from impurities. Combine all of these together and you’ve got a solid routine that will keep your skin happy and healthy all year long.

Be Consistent

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it’s going to take time for a new skin care routine to start showing results. Be consistent and patient and you should start to notice a difference in a few weeks.

In addition to following your regular daily routine consistently, it is important to schedule regular check-ups with your dermatologist. He/she will be able to help you assess what is working and what you could potentially improve upon or adjust as needed based on your history and skin type.

Schedule an appointment with Charleston Dermatology today to get started!