The rest of your face feels fine, but the skin around your mouth is dry, flaky and a little red. It might sting when you eat something salty or acidic, and moisturiser seems to help for an hour before the tightness returns. Sometimes there are tiny bumps mixed in with the flakes. Patchy dry skin…
You started a new serum or cream a week ago, and now there are fine flakes around your nose and chin, maybe a tight, dry patch on your cheek. Makeup clings to the flakes and your skin feels slightly raw. The question is whether this means the product is working, or that your skin is…
In a mirror the cheeks look fine, but tilt your head toward a window and every bump, dip and rough patch shows up. Makeup catches on the texture, and running a hand across your cheek feels more like fine sandpaper than smooth skin. Uneven texture on the cheeks usually comes from one or more of…
You catch your reflection in a video call or a photo taken from below and notice that the line of your jaw is not as crisp as it was. There is a slight softening just beside the chin, a small droop that was not there a few years ago. In your 30s, that can feel…
You take off your mask at the end of a long shift and your chin looks different: tiny bumps, rough patches, a few red spots and skin that feels uneven when you run your fingers over it. The rest of your face looks fine. The change is right where the mask sits. Uneven chin texture…
The pimple cleared up months ago, but the mark it left is still there. You have tried a brightening serum, maybe a scrub or a lemon remedy you saw online, and nothing seems to change. It is one of the most frustrating parts of having acne, because the breakout is over and yet the reminder…
By mid-morning your forehead and nose are shiny, yet your cheeks feel tight and look slightly flaky. Products that control the oil leave your cheeks parched, and creams rich enough for your cheeks leave your nose greasy. If this sounds familiar, you have combination skin, and you are far from alone. An oily T-zone with…
Most people who deal with a puffy face notice it first thing in the morning. Fluid settles in the face overnight while you lie flat, and it drains away once you are upright. So when swelling does the opposite, building through the day and peaking in the evening, it is worth paying attention. Facial swelling…
You leave the salon glowing, and a few hours later your face starts to itch. Maybe there is a little redness, some small bumps or a tight, prickly feeling across your cheeks. It is a common experience, and in most cases it settles on its own. An itchy face after a facial is most often…
Flakes in your eyebrows can be surprisingly stubborn. You moisturise, the skin looks better for a few hours, and by the next morning there are white or yellowish scales caught in the brow hairs again, sometimes with redness and itching that spread to the sides of the nose. Dryness around the eyebrows is most often…
Some people finish a run looking barely warm. Others look like they have been standing next to a furnace, with bright red cheeks, forehead and neck that take an hour to fade. If you are in the second group, you may have wondered whether it means something is wrong. Facial flushing after exercise is usually…
You wake up after a night out and your face looks different: puffier around the eyes, blotchy across the cheeks, dull and a little grey, with lines that seem deeper than usual. Most people have seen this in the mirror at some point, and it can take the best part of a day to fade….
You put on a moisturiser that everyone else loves and your cheeks sting within seconds. A gust of cold wind or a hot room turns your face blotchy red. Nothing looks wrong on the skin itself, yet it burns, tingles or itches. For many people, this is what having a sensitive face feels like. Much…
Why does skin turn oily almost overnight at puberty, get shinier in the week before a period, or suddenly break out after stopping the pill? The answer lies in the small oil glands attached to every hair follicle and the hormones that switch them up and down. Sebum production is controlled mainly by androgens, the…
Friends ask if you are feeling alright. Photos look washed out. The inside of your lower eyelids looks pale rather than pink, and you are tired no matter how much you sleep. Pale skin has many innocent explanations, but iron deficiency is one of the most common medical ones. Yes, iron deficiency can make skin…
If you have been dealing with stubborn breakouts, you may have seen claims that low vitamin D is the hidden cause. It is an appealing idea: a simple blood test, a cheap supplement and clearer skin. The research is genuinely interesting, but it is not quite that simple. Vitamin D deficiency does not directly cause…
‘Blue light protection’ now appears on everything from serums to setting sprays, usually with a warning that hours in front of a laptop are ageing your face. It is an understandable worry for anyone who works at a screen all day. The science, though, tells a more nuanced story. Blue light, also called high-energy visible…
Most people have noticed it at some point: a breakout before a big presentation, an eczema flare during a hard month, skin that looks grey and tired after weeks of pressure. Stress shows on the face, and cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, gets much of the blame. Cortisol and other stress signals affect skin…
Caffeine turns up in two very different places in beauty conversations. It is a star ingredient in de-puffing eye creams, and it is also on many lists of foods to avoid for rosacea and redness. Both ideas trace back to the same question: what does caffeine actually do to blood vessels in the face? Caffeine…
‘Beauty sleep’ sounds like an old wives’ tale, but there is real biology behind it. Almost every cell in your body, including skin cells, runs on an internal 24-hour clock that switches different jobs on and off at different times of day. Skin follows a circadian rhythm: during the day it prioritises defence against UV…
Every winter the same thing happens. The heating goes on, and within a week or two your face feels tight after washing, makeup looks patchy, your lips crack and the sides of your nose start to flake. For some people, cheeks turn red and sting when they apply their usual products. Indoor heating dries out…