Current Favorites

Happy April! It doesn't feel like April here, since it snowed a little bit earlier. I can't wait until the weather warms up! I usually don't have enough favorites to do a blog post (I guess I just have impossibly high standards haha), but I actually do today! 

1. La Roche-Posay Toleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser // I have never loved a cleanser so much! I have very sensitive, acne- and clog-prone skin, so it is hard for me to find a cleanser that doesn't dry my skin out or cause breakouts. This one does neither! It is the least drying foaming cleanser that I have found and I have tried many.

My Top 8 Tips for Clear(er) Skin!

As you may or may not know, dermatology is one of my passions. For this reason, I decided to write about my top 8 tips for clear (or clearer) skin. I have struggled with moderate acne in the past, so I understand how frustrating it can be to find a solution. Here are some tips that I have found helpful in my skin care journey and as a La Roche-Posay Be Clear Ambassador.

1.) Less is more! // Less really is more when it comes to skin care, especially if you have acne or sensitive skin. If you use a ton of products, it will just irritate your skin further and cause more breakouts. Make sure to use a gentle cleanser (NOT Cetaphil as it tends to cause breakouts for many) and avoid physical exfoliators (scrubs).

Mini Review: I have been using LRP Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel and Effaclar Duo Acne Treatment for over a month now. I have found the acne treatment to work very well. It keeps my breakouts and clogged pores at bay! It contains 5.5% benzoyl peroxide and 0.4% micro-exfoliating LHA to treat both blackheads and whiteheads. The cleanser is a little drying for my skin type (combination-dry), but it would be a great option for those with combination or combination-oily skin! It is soap-free and has a pH of 5.5. The pH of 5.5 is important because it is the pH of skin. If the skin's pH gets out of whack, you can end up with irritation and acne.

2.) Be an ingredient detective. // Look at the ingredient lists of skin care and makeup products before purchasing. This website has a list of ingredients and rates them on comedogenicity and irritancy: Become an Acne Detective. You can also copy and paste ingredients into this website and it will rate the ingredients as well: Ingredient Analysis. These are not fullproof lists. Some ingredients that are rated high on the scales may not break you out or vice versa, but the websites are good starting points. Some people break out from silicones, such as cyclopentasiloxane, which is not rated comedogenic.

Update | Year 1, Semester 3

I'm still alive guys! PA school hasn't killed me...yet. Haha! I cannot believe I'm already in the 3rd semester of my first year. For those of you who don't know, the first year is the didactic year and the second year is the clinical year. The didactic year consists of all the bookwork (not that we actually read the textbooks...just the PowerPoints...some of which are basically textbooks). The clinical year consists of our clinical rotations (emergency medicine, OB/GYN, internal medicine, etc.). In the program I'm in, we get to choose 2 elective rotations (cardiology, neurology, plastic surgery, dermatology, etc.). My top choices are dermatology and plastic surgery. I'm crossing my fingers that I will get them!

My second semester was probably a little harder than the first semester because we had cardiology, pulmonology, endocrinology, women's health, and G.I. And that was only for one course. We also had a lot of group projects, which took up some of our time as well. I ended up doing really well, and I was so excited that I reached my goal of a 4.0 GPA for the semester! I'm glad that all the studying I did paid off!

As always, please leave any questions or blog post requests below!

-C

Random Rant

Hey guys!

I just wanted to write about something that has been really bothering me lately. In class last week, one of our professors told us that dermatology is the highest paying specialty for PAs. It seems like ever since then I have been hearing that more and more of my classmates want to go into dermatology. It is fine if you want to go into derm if you genuinely are interested in it, but don't just do it for the money. It isn't worth it because you won't be happy. I guess PAs are lucky in this sense since we can switch to another specialty fairly easily. I have been interested in dermatology since I was in high school, and I didn't know that it was a high paying specialty at that time. I would want to work in dermatology even if it was the lowest paying speciality because I am genuinely interested in it. I honestly wish it wasn't the highest paying specialty because that makes it more competitive, and I'm scared that I won't be able to find a job working in derm...but who knows? Maybe I will change my mind after my rotations and find out that I'm even more interested in something else.

If you are in PA school or medical school right now, what area of medicine do you think you want to work in?

-C