The Dermatological Woes of the Outdoor Runner

I have liver spots…on my face.  I try to pass them off as freckles, but they are not a light dusting of impish orange dots sprinkled over my nose bridge.  My liver spots are a fast growing confluence of mud-colored splotches right on the ball of my cheeks.  They would be more appropriate on the hairy hands of an eighty year-old retiree playing bocce ball in Florida, not on the face of a thirty-five year old who still desperately tries to pass for twenty-seven.

Turns out that thirty-five also happens to be that glorious middle age where biology blesses you with both acne and wrinkles.  I need no more empirical evidence that god does not exist than seeing the effects of both puberty and menopause every morning in the mirror.

Most of the activities I enjoy, running chief among them, expose my skin to the sun.  But so many things I do to arm myself against the sun’s harmful rays end up clogging my pores.  I have tried numerous cocktails of creams and cleansers, gadgets and gear, but I’m still searching for the perfect regimen.  Currently this is what I use, to middling degrees of success:

1) I keep reading that the skin around your eyes is the most sensitive area on your face and that UV ray-blocking sunglasses are your best defense to avoid sun damage.  I always wear my sports sunglasses with polarized, coated lenses when I’m exercising outdoors.  I love them.  They’re not the sexiest-looking piece of eyewear in my collection, but they are light and comfortable, and honestly I would paste a toilet seat from my eyebrows if it meant never having to worry about sagging lids and crow’s feet. 

2a) On a run I always wear a visor, but I fear this only protects my forehead at best.  I have become increasingly obsessed with this lovely piece of headgear which I have seen on the streets of Northern California.

 

My friends have dubbed it the Darth Vador.  I would actually consider wearing it if it weren’t for the fact that my husband would probably never be seen in public with me again.

2b) In terms of visor advocacy, I am compelled to specify that I am a girl with long hair.  I’ve noticed a disturbing trend of bald men wearing visors.  Now I love me a shaved head, but topping one off with a visor is offensive to look at, serves no function whatsoever, and turns one’s scalp into a breeding ground for melanoma.

3) Before a run, I slather my face with sunscreen, Kabuki-style.  In my twenties, I spat in the face of mortality and didn’t run with any skin protection at all.  Once my skin started becoming splotchy and saggy, I panicked and bought a moisturizer with SPF 15 which I have since learned is as effective as wearing a sweatshirt in a blizzard.  After being told that anything less than 45 is a waste of time, I graduated to a SPF 75 facial sunscreen.  It did not smell great, but seemed to offer decent enough protection.  However, I’ve since whole-heartedly embraced the bigger-is-better concept when it comes to sunblock, so now I’m using a SPF 100 sunscreen lotion made for swimming babies.  I figure if it's good enough for a newborn's wet ass, it'll work for my sweaty cheeks, too.  The cream is so thick and gummy it sits on my skin like a mask and glows white when I start to perspire.  I'm not exactly recommending it, but until they create a sunscreen that’s SPF Infinity+1, it’s what I’ll be wearing.

4) I moisturize every night and have used the same face cream for almost fifteen years.  It was first given to me by a friend whose parents bought a house from a dermatologist and kept getting sent free samples.  It’s very creamy and literally looks, feels and kind of smells like butter.  Before I only used it during the windy, harsh east coast winters, but now that I’m an oldie on the west coast, my skin needs that moisture year-round.

5) I used to wash my face every morning and evening with an exfoliating scrub.  Tons of column inches have been devoted to how abrasive and abusive scrubbing your skin is, but it’s the only way I can feel I've cleaned my pores.  But I have been admonished enough that I’m willing to try something new, despite just having bought two more industrial-size bottles of cleansing scrub.  I will not be taken down by my proclivity for buying in bulk.  My two friends who are dermatology junkies have been raving about this new sonic skin brush.  Granted, they are alabaster elves who avoid direct sunlight whenever possible, so our skin care needs could not be more different.  I have been using the brush for a few weeks now and I’m unconvinced.  I was hoping it would magically even out my skin tone and lift my jowls overnight, but sadly that has not been the case, not even a little bit.  But the glowing endorsements and financial investment are such that I feel I need to stick with it for at least two months.  I am keeping a big bottle of scrub on the counter, though, just in case.

For those of you runners with a skin care routine that works, please let me know what you’re doing.  It’s dispiriting because I know a lot of older runners with grizzled, leathery mugs and I’m afraid I’m headed down that sunbaked path.  But I will not go without a fight, even if I need to recruit Darth Vadar for the cause.