3 Beauty No-Nos
While there are obvious beauty tips, such as wearing sunscreen even in overcast days, 
and taking care not to over-tweeze your eyebrows because the hair there has a tendency not to grow back, here are three tips that everyone should practice:
1. Cuticles are on our nails for a reason. They act as a protective barrier to keep dirt and bacteria from collecting under the skin at the base of your nail. Do not have them cut off or pushed back too far, or you risk a very painful infection called paronychia. I see this happening often, even after expensive manicures. See your dermatologist for a prescription ointment and antibiotics.
2. Pimples should not be treated like bubble wrap. Do not pop them, even if they are blinking and screaming, "squeeze me!" When you squeeze a pimple, you push stuff out the top, but also push more stuff deeper inside the skin. This causes more inflammation, which leads to more pimples. By squeezing and picking, you also create a scab that takes 2 weeks to heal, instead of the three days it would have taken, had you not picked.
3. Avoid drinking fruity beverages outdoors. If the peels or juices of lemons, limes, and some other citrus fruits come in contact with your skin while you are out in the sun (think lime margaritas) you can get a blistering sunburn in those areas. These fruits contain compounds called psoralens that dramatically increase your sensitivity to the sun. Affected patients don't realize the cause, and think they have developed brown age spots, or even worse, herpes. So take precautions when enjoying your citrus beverages outdoors.
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Who knew my margaritas were causing the brown spots around my mouth! Thank you Dr. Kaplan...I would never have known otherwise!
Posted by: Jenny Shapiro | January 12, 2008 at 01:16 PM
These are great tips! By the way, I was just looking at myself in the bathroom mirror, and noticed that my lips really do look plumper than normal. I'm totally addicted to your LIP 20 lip treatment! I’ve also been using the entire kaplanMD skincare line since I got back from LA, and noticed my skin is looking really good!
Posted by: Frances R. | January 29, 2008 at 11:22 PM
Fabulous tips - I had not heard the one about fruity beverages. Seems a shame that sipping margaritas on a sunny day can be dangerous...
Celeste
Posted by: Celeste | February 05, 2008 at 10:02 AM
What a great way to get women to drink beer instead of those expensive fruity cocktails LOL!
Posted by: Alex | February 08, 2008 at 09:45 PM
Great Tips - I don't even know that I can get sunburnt by drinking citrus juices in the sun. Hmm.. Gotta restrict myself then.. Thanks for the info
Posted by: Ken | February 27, 2008 at 12:44 AM
Great couple of tips there. I always pop my pimples as I really don't like them appearing any of the time.
Really wasn't aware about the juices tip, so thank you for letting me know about that.
Posted by: Julia Goldberg | March 21, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Wow. This is really great advice for skin. Lot’s of teens get acne, and always pick at them, not knowing it will cause them greater anguish later in life because the scars are not easy to get rid of.
Posted by: Wong Teck Chee | May 21, 2008 at 02:04 AM
Great tips, everyone seems to think you're supposed to pop pimples when all it really does is spread the bacteria and cause infection.
Posted by: Acne Treatments | August 03, 2008 at 09:11 PM
Great advice. Especially the one about the fruit drinks. With it being summer time and all I am constantly taking my drinks outside to enjoy the day but now I will watch which drinks should stay inside and which I can take. Thanks so much Dr. Kaplan
Posted by: Jennifer | August 18, 2008 at 04:21 PM