Skin care: 5 tips for healthy skin Good skin care — including sun protection and gentle cleansing — can keep your skin healthy and glowing for years to come.

Don't have time for intensive skin care?
Pamper yourself with the basics. Good
skin care and healthy lifestyle choices
can help delay the natural aging process
and prevent various skin problems. Get
started with these five no-nonsense
tips.
1. Protect yourself from the
sun
One of the most important ways to take
care of your skin is to protect it from
the sun. A lifetime of sun exposure can
cause wrinkles, age spots and other skin
problems — as well as increase the risk
of skin cancer.
For the most complete sun protection:
Use sunscreen. Use a broad-
spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of
at least 15. When you're outdoors,
reapply sunscreen every two hours
— or more often if you're
swimming or perspiring.
Seek shade. Avoid the sun
between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when
the sun's rays are strongest.
Wear protective clothing. Cover
your skin with tightly woven long-
sleeved shirts, long pants and wide-
brimmed hats. Also consider
laundry additives, which give
clothing an additional layer of
ultraviolet protection for a certain
number of washings, or special sun-
protective clothing — which is
specifically designed to block
ultraviolet rays.
2. Don't smoke
Smoking makes your skin look older and
contributes to wrinkles. Smoking
narrows the tiny blood vessels in the
outermost layers of skin, which
decreases blood flow. This depletes the
skin of oxygen and nutrients that are
important to skin health. Smoking also
damages collagen and elastin — the
fibers that give your skin its strength
and elasticity. In addition, the repetitive
facial expressions you make when
smoking — such as pursing your lips
when inhaling and squinting your eyes
to keep out smoke — can contribute to
wrinkles.
If you smoke, the best way to protect
your skin is to quit. Ask your doctor for
tips or treatments to help you stop
smoking.