Happy Memorial Day Week! This can be such a busy time as parents and children wrap up the school year, attend graduations, and plan for summer vacations. I'm so happy to have my daughter home from school! Summertime is my favorite season, and fortunately, since we live in SC, I love the heat! Summer in the South finds us beachgoing, boating, playing outdoor sports, and enjoying great BBQ and baseball, and fireworks at the "Joe." Living in Charleston, we are also fortunate to experience the yearly Spoleto Festival which is getting started.
The summer, sun, however, does pose some risks. It is important to stay hydrated and prevent dehydration since Heat Stroke is a real thing. Additionally, sunscreen is imperative to help prevent those sunburns that lead to skin cancer later in life. I am preferential so sunscreens with a physical barrier, namely Zinc and or Titanium Dioxide, and caution against sunscreens loaded with chemicals. Not only can the chemicals be damaging in their own right, but they can also cause allergies, which we are seeing more frequently. I think I have mentioned this previously, but there is an app, called SkinSAFE, which can help if you are prone to allergies from skin care products and makeup, since it is important to protect your skin from the sun!
Another issue I would like to point out is swim safety. My family knows about this all too well when my daughter, Sophie, had a near-fatal drowning accident when she was three years old. In a prior blog, during the height of the pandemic, I discussed how yearly childhood drowning eclipsed the number of children who suffered from Covid. So, keep a close watch on your kiddos, keep those floaties on, and sign up for swim lessons!
This is also the time of the year when I have to renew my SC medical license. As part of the renewal process, I have to take a course on the safe prescribing of narcotics. In this course, the stats were provided on the numbers of Americans who succumb to addictions, and even more staggering were the deaths associated with drug overdoses. We cannot emphasize and shed light on this drug epidemic enough as the effects and burdens being placed on society and our medical community are massive. Has anyone else noticed the increasing numbers of homeless walking up Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant recently? It is not hyperbole or that were are facing mental health and drug addiction crises. I plead with you to also talk to your children and be involved in their lives. The stories I hear from my daughter and her friends about the use of hard drugs (cocaine, for example) on college campuses, especially in fraternities, are enough to keep you up at night. And with marijuana being increasingly laced with Fentanyl, the use of "Pot" cannot be taken lightly!
So now that I scared everyone, I get back to more fun topics like skincare and fat removal! The summer is a less ideal time for certain cosmetic procedures, like laser treatments, because they are typically not advisable on the face of a suntan. As an alternative, we have a great chemical peel that comes with a post-peel cleanser and sunscreen which is safe to undergo. As our Memorial Day promotion, we are offering a 25% discount on the peels. And who doesn't want to look their best in a bathing suit? To help get your body beach ready, we are also offering 25% off of all Coolsculpt packages/treatments.
I am leaving you with a great upbeat classic summer song. Enjoy!
'Til next time,
Heidi Williams