Increase your consumption of vitamin-rich foods with vegetables such as cauliflower and fruits such as apples, which contain vitamin C and pectin, "both of which are essential to skin healing," says the London specialist. Melons, kiwi fruit, and pineapple also will do nicely.
Dr. Lowe suggests if you have an office job, "you might try to keep a fruit bowl on your desktop to encourage healthy snacking during office hours." And when you are snacking, try some fresh or dried apricots -- these contain beta carotene, which he describes as "an important antioxidant needed for skin health."
He recommends cutting back on coffee, tea, and cola drinks, because the caffeine they contain "disrupts the body's absorption of vital skin-boosting nutrients and it has a drying effect on the skin." And cut out the booze, because alcohol dehydrates the body and its prolonged usage "causes thread veins and dulls the skin's surface."
