Looking your best is serious business. More than thirty years ago, I embarked on a lifelong professional quest to find new ways to repair complexion imperfections. A traumatic and painful event that happened in my childhood lies at the root of my obsession with skin. When I was seven years old, I accidentally fell into a tub of near-boiling water. My brother and I were bundled up, playing catch in the unheated basement of our old farmhouse. My father had just finished bleeding our ancient steam furnace and had left the tub of steaming water to cool. Running backward to catch a ball my brother had thrown, I stumbled and fell into the vat. By the time I was pulled from the searing water, 10 percent of my body had been severely burned. Fortunately, the snowsuit I was wearing saved me from more extensive injuries.
My mother, who emigrated from Austria with the rest of my family after World War II, used Old World remedies to treat the burns. She slathered my raw skin with a poultice made from Crisco, egg yolks, baking soda, and water. She wrapped me in strips of sheets she had torn. I was a mummy.
My rural hometown did not have a burn unit. In fact, we did not even have a hospital nearby. We could not have afforded to go to one anyway. There were no dermatologists in our Connecticut farm town, just kindly Dr. Jones, a family practitioner and a dead ringer for Christopher Plummer, actor extraordinaire. After my initial visit, I revisited Dr. Jones’s office every day. He cleaned my wounds, applying Vaseline with a tongue depressor to help them heal, greasing my way to recovery.
Watching Dr. Jones change the dressing each day, I was impressed by how meticulous his attention to detail was during the healing process. Weeks went by as I watched him work with next to nothing. Gradually, my wounds healed. Except for a small scar on one of my hips, you would never know I had been so badly burned.
I would never wish a traumatic burn on anyone, let alone a child, but in my case the unfortunate incident had a life-changing outcome. My very early experience with burns steered me toward my life’s work in dermatology. I had always loved watching my mother in the kitchen as she mixed ingredients when she baked or cooked. After my dressings were removed, I began to mix potions in old glass Alka-Seltzer bottles to use as body lotions. I would experiment with my “products” on my sister’s skin in exchange for doing her chores.
Ever since those days in Dr. Jones’s office, I have been fascinated by skin—how it heals, how it ages, how it differs among people, and how skin care has evolved. Watching my own skin recover from injury helped me develop an incredible sense of what makes skin beautiful, and inspired me to specialize in repair and healing. Even with true dermatological disease and cancer, a visibly pleasing cosmetic end result is of key importance to me. With this intention, one of my specialties became scar-free skin cancer removal.
I had learned from my own experience that skin has the remarkable capacity to mend itself. Skin regenerates quickly and efficiently when you are young. As you age, beginning at about twenty, the repair process slows down, allowing lines, wrinkles, dullness, and dryness to develop. Harnessing and using that healing power was clearly the key to restoring the skin’s vibrant glow and youthful tone. I set out to find ways to take advantage of the skin’s own healing energy. Whatever the problem, the answers reside in the physiology of the skin. My unique three-step anti-aging method was developed over many years in my clinical practice. The Lancer Method stimulates the skin’s underlying mechanisms to work properly to heal and repair the skin in as little as ten minutes a day.
Younger: The Breakthrough Anti-Aging Method for Radiant Skin is a comprehensive guide to rejuvenating your skin from head to toe. You will learn to maintain your youthfulness or to reverse the signs of aging with my simple, effective, at-home program. I will provide a road map to help you navigate the mixed messages—abundantly available now that everyone and his brother thinks and acts as if they are dermatologists. You will learn to see clearly through the maze of misinformation and confusion. I will recommend products that really work. The products can be bought anywhere and on any budget. You may not be aware of the fact that many of the products you own are likely not helping your skin at all. Rather than resorting to invasive procedures to look younger, my program is based on finding the right products and using them in a way that restores your skin. Through years of clinical practice and research, I have discovered that many of the products on the market are not effective in bringing skin back to life. Millions of dollars are wasted on skin care products that do not deliver on the promises made. If you follow my plan, you will get the same transformative results that have brought so many patients to my door.
Part 1 describes the Lancer Method and how it makes skin act younger. We will take a hard look at our culture’s youth-obsessed concept of beauty. We have developed unrealistic expectations that drive us to lose our judgment in the search for quick fixes. My program and my practice are rooted in my belief in restoration instead of alteration as the most effective way to have beautiful skin. The Lancer Method taps into the skin’s natural healing power. The program’s three-step protocol—polish, cleanse, and nourish—is specially designed to maintain your youthful glow or reverse the signs of aging quickly and easily. The Lancer Method is accessible to everyone regardless of budget. I have made three-tiered product recommendations, listing the most effective luxury, moderate, and affordable products and the active ingredients to look for when you are buying skin care products for the program. From your face, neck, and décolletage to your dry, deflated hands, feet, elbows, and knees, the Lancer Method will have you glowing from head to toe. Cellulite, discoloration, scarring, skin tags, thinning hair, brittle nails, and other barnacles of aging will all be addressed—and repaired in no time!
Part 2 begins with “Looking at Your Family Tree,” which focuses on the Lancer Ethnicity Scale, a treatment protocol I developed in 1998 that is still in use today. Through clinical research and observation, I discovered that the race, nationality, and global geographic origin of a patient’s ancestry are good predictors of the way skin responds to treatments. Failing to consider a patient’s heritage can undermine the success of a treatment and may lead to unwanted complications. You will learn how to calculate where you are on the scale and how risky procedures are for your skin tone. We will take the basic Lancer Method a step further for those of you interested in intensive anti-aging skin care. No one likes to look in the mirror and see wrinkles, drooping, bags under the eyes, a sagging jawline, a crepey neck, thin skin, vertical lines above the upper lip, marionette lines at the corners of the mouth, worry lines on the forehead and between the eyes, crow’s-feet, aging spots, and broken blood vessels. You will discover what happens to aging skin and how to restore your skin’s elasticity and dewy quality. Aging skin requires more nourishment, and my enhanced regimen provides that. This can rejuvenate your complexion and reverse many of the signs of aging. With this supercharged anti-aging regimen, you will see signs of rejuvenation very quickly.
I will also explain how to fine-tune the Lancer Anti-Aging Method for special needs. The number of people affected by acne, rosacea, and sensitive skin is astronomical. They are so involved in dealing with their skin problems that they do not even think about taking action against aging. Since these conditions are so prevalent, I have included in the book an anti-aging program tailored for each of these skin disorders.
Part 3, “The Lancer Anti-Aging Lifestyle,” provides pertinent advice on making the right lifestyle choices that support beautiful skin and overall health. Your skin reflects your inner state. Your health, excesses, and emotions are visible in your complexion. Within seconds of meeting a new patient, I can tell whether he or she has been leading a life of excess or is in poor health, often even before the patient is aware that something is wrong. If you are under stress, depressed, not sleeping or eating well, and generally not taking care of yourself, it will show. Bad habits and unhealthy living will add years to your face and the skin on the rest of your body.
Even if you diligently care for your skin, you are going to have trouble achieving results if you do not find a way to lower the stress in your life or to cope with it better. Stress takes a toll on every part of your body. Your skin is no exception. Stress can impair the skin’s barrier function, making it easier for irritants to get in and moisture to exit. I will offer suggestions for improving your coping skills and getting more rest and relaxation. Good sleep, after all, is of vital importance to your health and well-being.
I will also talk about how your diet affects your skin. From eliminating processed foods to controlling inflammation, this chapter covers the best way to eat to promote overall health and to give your skin the nourishment it needs to replenish. You may be surprised to hear about some of the “healthy” foods that may be affecting your skin and causing you to look older than you are! My goal in this section is to give you the information you need to improve your digestion, reduce inflammation, and create a balance in your body that will shine through to your skin, taking years off your complexion.
Exercise is essential if you want to be radiant. Physical intimacy is part of the mix. Exercise brings a healthy flush to the skin that indicates an increase in blood circulation. The blood is carrying oxygen and nutrients to the skin, which improves your complexion well beyond those few post-exercise moments. You might be happy to hear that I advocate a measured approach to physical activity. Working out too hard actually can be damaging to your skin. Strenuous exercise promotes inflammation and triggers a cascade of hormones in the same way stress does, prematurely aging the skin. Stretching, yoga, Pilates, and brisk walking, on the other hand, are good for your health and will not damage your skin. I offer an approach to exercise that benefits the body, mind, and skin with some simple workouts designed by my friends to keep you looking and feeling younger.
For those of you who may want to try non-invasive procedures when you feel that you need more than even the best skin care can offer, I cover the latest procedures in the appendixes.
My primary goal in writing this book is to cut through all the hype and confusion surrounding anti-aging procedures and products. When you walk into a cosmetics-oriented office hoping to address a skin problem—anything from wrinkles and lines to sun spots and large pores—you are going to be offered a potpourri of costly invasive or semi-invasive procedures such as injectables, laser resurfacing, and glycolic peels. There are a growing number of options on the menu. I offer every procedure conceivable in my office. They are great for anyone who wants and needs to go the extra mile. But most conditions can be addressed effectively, and I would say more efficiently, with the Lancer Method. Whether you are under twenty-five or somewhat further along in years, this program is not only the first line of defense against aging but also the first line of attack against acne, rosacea, hyperpigmentation, and just about every complexion imperfection. People of all ethnicities and ancestry will respond. Your ongoing commitment to my simple skin care plan will produce great results. Everyone will be asking if you have just returned from vacation or what you have done to look so much younger. Enjoy the attention. You earned it.