Pre-Wedding Skin Emergency Pearls

You can almost hear the proverbial wedding bells calling to your attention that hours and minutes are drawing near until its go time —  you are about to start a monumental chapter of your life and bang a plump angry looking heinous zit pops up smack in the center of your face! Now you can’t run and you certainly can’t hide — Are you going to let it rain on your parade or would you rather have a disaster aversion plan? They say luck favors a prepared mind, so here’s a bit of dermatological wisdom to save your big day.

Lets Deal With That Dreaded Last Minute Blemish First :

There isn’t a bride who doesn’t live in fear of an eleventh hour zit — Think Zen and breathe easy there is a quick fix to that, go see your dermatologist she/he can give you a cortisone injection, and voila — the pimple will be gone overnight. If you can’t get in to see a doctor, apply hydrocortisone cream under a Band-Aid to reduce the inflammation. Taking an Ibuprofen Tab 400mg every four hours will also help. Whatever you do, don’t pick at it — it will only irritate the surrounding skin and mess up your bridal makeup too. Most makeup artists would rather cover a bump than an irritated open wound. #AskNilo

Breaking Out In Nervous Hives :

There are ways to prevent a nervous rash from creeping up — If you’re prone to blotchy skin, take an antihistamine like Claritin, Zyrtec, or Benadryl at bedtime starting a few nights before the wedding. Just be sure to give it a trial run two weeks in advance so you know how it will affect you.

Red Red Red Alert — Waxing And Threading

Granted! you can’t get married sporting a fuzz face or hairy limbs, but what to do if your skin breaks out and gets blotchy after every hair removal experience. Simple fix, cleanse your skin immediately after the hair removal session with a skin-type appropriate cleanser, and apply Fucidin-H cream twice daily for two to three days to sterilize and calm your skin.

Experiment Early Not Just Before Your Big Day

Please don’t do anything one week away that you haven’t tried six months out, this includes everything from the makeup, self-tanner and nail polish you use (make sure none of them give you a rash!) to facials and procedures you get at your derm’s office (botox, fillers, laser treatments or chemical peels).

Facials – How Important Are They?

Everyone asks me are they a necessary pre-wedding indulgence? Like most dermatologists, I am not a huge fan of traditional facials. Physical extractions and pore cleansing with steam and instruments can actually cause significant breakouts, and they provide only temporary improvement. If you’ve never gotten a facial before, you certainly don’t want to start in the days right before your wedding.

Bachelorette Botox Parties: Fun & Festive, Or Really Scary?

They’re actually considered unsafe by all plastic surgery and dermatology professional academies. A party is for cake and drinks, not a medical procedure! You want an individualized approach to your treatment in a private, sterile medical setting. Same goes for doing any procedures at your saloon, keep all needles and sharpies limited to your doctors office, don’t accept any cheap medical treatments offered by your beautician.

Skin Saving Top Tip

Don’t neglect sun protection! If you’re spending a lot of time outside, remember to apply sunscreen to all exposed areas of skin shoulders, arms, and chest in addition to your face. Steer clear of tanning salons before the wedding. Tanning causes premature aging and skin cancer — it’s really bad for your skin. Plus people with a little color in their skin can pigment unpredictably under the sun, so steer clear of unnecessary sun exposure.

Hope these tips help you navigate through any last minute skin woes before your special day, if you have any other scenarios that need a dermatologist’s perspective write back to me and I’d be more than happy to help.