My Neck, My Back, My Anxiety Attack

Hi, everyone. It's Dr. Ozzie here. Welcome to the more than a pretty face podcast. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the more than a pretty face podcast. I'm Dr. Shirazi, a board certified dermatologist. And this is my nurse extraordinaire, Lacey, my co host. Hi, how are you? Good. How are you? Happy Nurses Week. Oh my gosh, it is. We have to celebrate all week long. Thank you. And look, we're matching today. We are. I like the little show everybody your feathers that look so pretty. The barista this morning asked if I was an attorney. Oh, that would be a fun one. That would be a fun one. So should we jump into beauty and blemish? Guys, this is where we talk about the highlights of our life and the not so pretty blemishes that we wish we could conceal away in real life. So why don't you start? Oh, my goodness. OK, well, I guess my beauty would be our patient. Andrea came into the office this week and she said how much she loves the podcast. Oh, she's so sweet. She's the sweetest. So I wanted to give you a shout out, Andrea, because I know you're listening by a blemish. Oh, let's talk about anxiety and what it does to my face. I was so stressed over the weekend, like trying to get things together for a party, my dad's birthday coming up, Remy's skating lessons. I just had a lot going on and I started breaking out. Oh, and I just can't. And of course, like I'm stressed, I'm breaking out. I want to touch and I just start a whole cycle. Yeah. Well, speaking of then I went into my cycle and I'm just so over this. Stress, you know, I think stress is one of the worst factors for our health, our body, for so many different reasons. I mean, when you're stressed, your body goes into this, you know, fight and flight response. It's just evolutionary. Even animals, you know, we see this in animals. And so it releases this hormone called cortisol. And cortisol does so much damage to so many different organs, but skin particularly, talk about breaking out. It really causes oil secretion and your other hormones to be off balance. It causes your collagen and elastin to get degraded. What happens is the cortisol causes this process called glycation because it causes high blood sugar levels. And we all know that's one of the worst things you can do for your health is just elevated blood sugar because you get insulin resistance. And then you get this process of glycation where the sugars will bind to your collagen, your fibronectin. These are really important structures in the skin. And then it also revs up your oil secretion and it could affect your estrogen, which then leads to clogged pores. So it's just a mess. It is. Honestly, sometimes I feel like we set such high expectations for ourselves and we create all this unnecessary stress in our life. Yes, I can vouch for that. And then the other thing that happens is people will then turn to things like alcohol, you know, to kind of like get the edge off, you know, but that actually backfires because once the effects of the alcohol wear off, then you're actually more stressed. And I don't think people realize the rebound anxiety you get. So what are some healthy things that you do to cope with your stress? Oh, I just like to listen to music. Music? Yeah. That's a good one. I turn it up like on my way to work. I just drop Remy off. I'm coming into work. And if I'm like really stressed or feel like overwhelmed, I like classic rock. Yeah. The old school. I turn it up and I just relax. I just love it. Music for the soul. I love it. Yeah. I mean, those are great outlets, you know, dancing or work for me. It's working out. I listen to really loud music and I work out and then I have my headphones on and sometimes I'll like be listening to rap and I'll just like, I swear, I'll just be like, you know, singing along. And my kids are like, what is going on? Because they can't hear the music. All they hear is my very poor singing. I need to know what what what song do you sing along? I mean, I just, you know, old school, like Snoop Dogg and like Dr. Dre and T-POP, you know, Diddy. No, no, not Diddy, Jay-Z. I'm all over it. I'm all over the rap. Anyways, but, you know, those are really great outlets. I think those are much healthier than grabbing a drink or even other recreational substances can have this rebound effect that ends up making things worse. And just kind of taking deep breaths. I think yoga is great. I always think to myself, what is the worst possible outcome for this situation? You know, what happens? So what? You don't plan everything for your dad's birthday or, you know, the cake isn't the best it could be or whatever it might be. You know, I think just putting things in perspective is really important because sometimes we get caught up in, you know, just little minutia stuff that really at the end of the day doesn't matter. Yeah, we definitely always look at the big picture. Yeah, we definitely put too much on ourselves sometimes. Yeah, for sure. It's officially summer this month and to celebrate the rising UV index, AussieMD skincare is offering 15% off our most popular sun care product, Hydra-Temp BB SPF 44. It's my personal favorite. I can't leave home without it. It gives me protection, coverage, and a filter-like appearance. You can use code SPF 15 at checkout to get 15% off Hydra-Temp BB SPF 44. Happy summer. Oh, how about you? What's your beauty and blemish? Oh, well, my beauty is my husband and I got to get away for 24 hours, went to Vegas and went to my friend Lily's 40th birthday, which was so fabulous. It was casino themed at the Delilah at Wynn. I mean, what a cool 40th birthday for a girl. And her cake was gorgeous and she's just amazing and it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. But man, I was exhausted. I guess my blemish is I haven't been able to swallow or suck. Let's Oh, yes. Yes. That rule you never follow. That's right. Yes. That rule gets broken. I mean, never is a harsh word. Yeah, true. That was a strong word. But I've been so busy and we've been traveling, so I haven't been able to get together with my injector friend to be able to treat yourself. Yeah, exactly. And the neck was looking really, you know, and as we get older, our smoker lines, you know, the pursing motion. So of course, I inject myself. And the problem with injecting yourself is that it's tricky. And no matter how good of an injector you are, sometimes you may overdo it because I'm like, oh, I have all these things coming up. I have to get this injection. I just want to get it done. And I want it to last for a really long time. So yeah, I'm having a hard time swallowing. It's getting better. So I treated my neck with Botox. Okay. And then I treated my lower face, but I've never really treated my lips. Like I did a lip flip on myself. Okay. And I think I used a little bit more than I normally do. So it kicked in. Like all of a sudden it kicks in and I swear I couldn't suck out of a straw. It was like dribble, like, you know, trying to have a cocktail at this party and I'm like drooling. So embarrassing. And then I couldn't really swallow. I like choke. I wake up in the middle of the night choking on my own saliva. So this is the drawback, the Botox for the neck, which we're going to get to. It is a great treatment to lift the neck, smooth the neck, because we have this muscle called the platysma that connects the neck and the face. And the platysma can, as you get older, especially pull down on the jowls and on the jawline. So by relaxing this muscle, it allows the neck and the jaw to be lifted, helps with the jowling. It's called the Nefertini lift. And then I hate my platysmal bands, which are these bands that you can't see now because I've Botoxed it very effectively. Very effectively. And then the lip flip. The lip flip. So women are actually more prone to getting smoker's lines. Did you know that? I did. Yeah. And the reason being is we don't have the structure that men have. So men have mustaches and that hair follicle, the coarse hair actually acts as like a pillar in the skin. It adds structure to the skin. And so they don't form smoker's lines like women do. Women don't have those coarse follicles and plus the mustache can protect from the sun and so forth. So you can get the Botox lip flip to prevent the formation of those lip lines, but it also allows your upper lip to show more. Especially when you smile. We'll show a photo of it here. But I love that effect. It's a great, natural, subtle effect that you can do with lip fillers, or you can do it on its own, but just don't do it on yourself. I know the first time I did it, I couldn't drink out of a straw like while it was like... It goes away. It does go away. It goes away. But it's sort of the timing was like right when I didn't want it to kick in so strongly. Yes. So I think if you're going to do Botox before a series of events or whatnot, it's best to do it, I would say three weeks before. But I sort of gave myself a pretty... And I use Dysport because it kicks in really fast and I wanted it to last. Anyways, so what are we getting into today? All right. Well, before we get into our next segment, we would love for you guys to follow us. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Instagram at more than a pretty face podcast. Yes. And I think we have a giveaway coming up soon. So guys, make sure you follow us. Send us a DM if you guys have questions. We love to hear from you. Remember, your listenership and your subscription is what keeps the podcast going. So we are so grateful for your support. Yes. All right, you guys, it's now time for Ask Dr. Ozzy, where you guys get to send in your questions and ask the expert. And we love hearing from you guys. If you guys have any skin-related, beauty, just life questions that you'd love to ask Dr. Ozzy and hear her answer on the podcast, make sure you submit those to our email at more than a pretty face podcast at gmail.com or on Instagram at more than a pretty face podcast. Our first question comes from Holly. Holly on Instagram asked, can you talk about neck care? All my friends know I'm obsessed with the skincare now, and they ask what they should do to firm up their neck. We're all in our 30s and interested in working on our necks. Is there exercise, skincare? Give us the scoop. I love it because this is an area that gets neglected until you start to notice the signs of aging. And then it's like, oh, is it too late? Well, here's the issue with the neck. It's thinner skin, and it's more likely to get damaged from the sun and environmental stressors. So one thing that you should always, always try to do is to protect the neck. And when you do your skincare, don't just stop at the neck. Keep going. Keep going down to the neck, the chest, the decollete, your hands. The neck area can also have the same skincare actives like retinols or exfoliants. You just have to be a little bit more cautious because it's more sensitive. It's more likely to develop a reaction, but sunscreen for sure. And then you can use retinol on the neck and chest. You just have to be really cautious because it's more sensitive. Like if you spray perfume there, that perfume is going to be much more likely to cause an allergic reaction if you're also using retin-A. And I know a lot of people will come in with rashes on the neck, not realizing what it's from. And it could just be common allergens or irritants that can cause that reaction. And then in terms of what else can you do for that neck area aside from using skincare, exercise, you know, there's not a whole lot of evidence for that. The muscle that's there, the platysma, you actually don't want to make it stronger. You want to do the opposite. You want to weaken it because it is the muscle that pulls the face down. So exercise is not really helpful. Now, what I will tell you though is this motion. How many of us walk around most of the day like this? Tech neck. Tech neck. So I encourage you to buy one of those stands. And if you can put your tablet, your iPhone or whatever it might be up sort of above the neckline so you are not looking down, whatever you can do to reduce this motion of looking down because that causes creases in the neck. It also is terrible for your back because imagine this big heavy object, your head, hanging over your spine for long periods of time. It's going to put pressure on your spine. It's going to cause the spine to want to curve in forward. And you want to fight against that. That is going against the aging elements of the body. You want to try to keep that neck up, your shoulders back. And then I believe in core muscles. I know we're talking about the neck, but I think in terms of exercise, working your core is going to help with your posture, with your neck, which is ultimately going to be better for that skin. I love that. That's great. Yeah. Okay. So our next question comes from Sarah on Instagram and, you know, again, another sensitive topic that may cause a lot of anxiety for some people. She said, could we possibly talk about body hair, stereotypes of body hair on males and females, as well as ways to remove it? It's a sensitive topic and I feel it should be addressed. And I love that. That's a great question. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I mean, body hair is genetic. You know, you see some people that are very hairy. There's just the way they were born and there's nothing wrong with that, but some people are bothered by it and other people, you know, they hardly have any hair and some want to have a little bit more hair, like especially men, you know, they want to have a little bit of that chest hair. So there's lots of different ways to remove body hair in terms of technologies. So waxing or shaving is an option. Certainly shaving is more tedious because you have to do it more often. You're just taking the surface hair off. Whereas waxing can give you long-term results, like three weeks, four weeks, sometimes. Ultimately, laser hair removal is going to give you more permanent, long-lasting hair reduction, I should say. The drawbacks are it's expensive and it is painful, but so is waxing. And then there's chemical depilatators, which essentially dissolve the hair that's on the surface of the skin. And that works well, except that some people develop a sensitivity or reaction to the cream that's applied that dissolves the hair. And it has a really funky smell. Did you ever use Nair when you were younger? I was just going to say Nair. Yeah. So Nair is a chemical dissolvent that breaks up the hair bonds. So in terms of laser hair removal, there's three different types. And I have an entire detailed YouTube video on these types of laser hair removal that I encourage you to watch. The areas like the chest, the back, even the bikini or genital area, and the legs are really responsive to hair removal, much more so than let's say the face. So even if you did two or three sessions of laser hair reduction, you're still going to have much fewer follicles to manage and deal with. So sometimes it becomes a management issue. And you want to do it before the hair is turned gray because the laser targets the melanin. So if you don't have dark hair or brown hair, it doesn't really see it. So once it goes gray, you don't really get those hairs to be removed by laser. And now if you have blonde or even red hair, it's probably not going to be very effective for you. There's also at-home devices now, IPL devices that you can use at home, but they have their limitations. They're not as strong and they take a lot more sessions. So they're better for more maintenance, but I also have a YouTube video on at-home laser hair removal. So check that out. And I just want to add just, we are born the way we are and have the things we have. And I just hope that you love yourself for how you are and how you were created. I know my husband makes fun of me all the time for my blonde mustache and I don't care. I rock it. I don't even notice that on you. We're so self-critical of ourselves. Probably people don't even notice that you have more hair than other people. That's not even something that crosses their mind. And I have a teenage daughter and she got my husband's hands and she has a lot of hair on her hands. It does not bother her. It's a non-issue. So whatever you make an issue or you're self-conscious about, remember, you are the one that really sees it the most. And so we are all unique and different. I had a unibrow growing up and I'm thankful for it now because I've got great eyebrows, but we should just embrace our nature and the way we're born into this world. Why does everybody have to be hairless or hairy? I don't know. I love it. All right. Our next question is also from a Sarah, a different Sarah. And she asks, so personally for me, I take a shower and I do not feel as clean and refreshed as I think I should. I also have breakouts on my back and my butt that I cannot get to go away. I tend to take showers in the morning. Do you have any shower routine recommendations or body care product recommendations? Yeah, that's a great question because it's such a common issue. Back acne, butt acne, even more. So many people have it and they may not even realize they have it, but it's an issue for so many people because we sit on our bum, especially if you have like a desk job where you're working, you know, that friction, that pressure causes the pores to get clogged or the bacteria and yeast on the surface skin to get into the pores and just that friction and sitting for long periods of time. You want to avoid tight clothing. And if you do work out, you want to wash right away, you know, get out of your workout clothes. I love the One Spray. It's so easy to use. It's designed to make it less favorable for yeast and bacteria to grow the bad kind and get into the pores. It has glycolic and salicylic acid to treat acne. And what I love about it, it doesn't stain your clothes. Like benzoyl peroxide in the shower as a wash works great, but you can only use it as a wash. You can't just put it on and leave it on. And sometimes for skincare products to really work, you have to leave it on the skin. So the One Spray, you can start off doing it every day. Sometimes people get dry skin. Some people don't. You can go up to twice a day or even just three times a week. It's very, very effective for butt acne. I throw it in my gym bag and, you know, have one in my bathroom, one in my gym bag. So it's a great product to just apply to those areas. And then those loofah sponges. I know people, some people have them for months. I mean, sometimes I see like friends and I'm like, I know that that loofah has been there for a while. If you're gonna, you know, use those loofahs, it has all those little crevices. And I just picture little tiny bacteria just having a big old party in there. So you either want to replace them every few weeks or you want to soak them in like white vinegar or alcohol. They're cheap, throw them out and get them out. Or just use your hands. They can cause a lot of issues. And then try to avoid like physical exfoliant. Some people use those like scrub brushes. Don't do that. You're just creating little micro cuts in the skin. And that just gives the opportunity for that yeast and bacteria to get in. So use the one spray. It's a much better way to exfoliate your body. Trust me. Plus the glycolic acid can help with the scars and the stains because sometimes the breakouts go away, but then the brown stains are there for months. So the glycolic acid really helps with that in the one spray and then use a powder. If you're a sweater, some people sweat a lot and that sweat can make it more favorable for yeast to grow in our pores. So use like a little powder like Zeasorb AF is a powder you can get from the pharmacy. I love that. And I personally use the one spray on my legs. Oh yeah. I love it for razor bumps if you break out on your body. Yes. Yes. All right. You guys, this was great. Yeah. Thanks for turning in. We talked all about like our necks, our backs. It was a neck to butt episode. It was all, we're all over the place. So remember guys, don't stress. Make sure you laugh today. Make sure you listen to some music and get your steps in because exercise is good for so many things. Yes. Thanks so much. Thanks for tuning in guys. Bye. Bye.