How Often You Should Exfoliate

Dr. Schultz believes that daily exfoliation should be a component of any skincare regimen. However, the packaging on some exfoliators calls for use every other day. Dr. Schultz will explain how often you should really use them.

Dr. Neal Schultz: Hello, I'm Dr. Neal Schultz and welcome to the DermTV. By now many of you know how important I think daily exfoliation is to help improve the color and texture of your skin, to help prevent acne breakouts, and even to reduce the frequency of occurrence of precancerous keratosis. As a matter of fact, I often say that there are three skin care products that you need to use everyday, and gentle chemical exfoliants are one of them. The confusion arises when the labeling on some glycolic products says to use them on alternate days don't use everyday. It is very easily explained, it is just a matter of strength or concentration. With what we call starter products like 8% lotion, or an 8% cream, or even a 10% cream, these are products that you can and should use every night for exfoliation. But at a certain point as you get to stronger products for a more effective exfoliation, such as a 15% gel or even a 20% pads, the labeling specifically says these are not starter products and that should be used on alternate days. So, as you get to that strength, you should use those products on alternate days until your skin becomes accustom to them, and than you can resume the weaker, starter products on the days in between when you are not using the stronger pads. So for more beautiful and healthier skin, yes, you should be exfoliating everyday, but just read the label instructions to make sure that you are using your product properly. Please join me again at DermTV.com. If you have a question please send it to me by visiting dermtv.com/question. I'm Dr. Neal Schultz and thank you for watching today.