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Skin Complaint: Cracked Feet
All the time you spent lying outside, and those cute sandals that left your feet exposed to the sun are to blame for dry, cracked feet by summer's end. Celebrity manicurist Skyy Hadley, adds, "Open-backed sandals and flip flops are the main culprit for causing cracked heels as the material on the shoe rubs around the edge of the heel."

The Fix: To fix up your feet, Hadley says milk pedicures will save the day. All you need to do is mix equal parts hot water with milk and add some sugar crystals. "This will moisturize your feet and prevent calluses," she explains. Another of her must-dos: Exfoliate and scrub your heels one or two times a week before bed. When you wake up, work moisturizer into your feet to keep skin soft and prevent cracking. Hadley suggests using lotion with shea butter, like L'Occitane Shea Butter Foot Cream, $28, or Vaseline Pure Petroleum Jelly, $6.49.

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Skin Complaint: Sunburn
After soaking up sun during your final days of summer fun, you may be left with painful-to-the-touch, red, inflamed skin.

The Fix: Waldorf recommends popping a couple of aspirin or Advil to help minimize the pain and swelling of your sunburned skin.

She also suggests applying cool compresses to the burned areas and following that up with a topical hydrocortisone cream like Cortizone 10 Maximum Strength, $8.99, to further soothe your skin and speed up the healing process.

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Skin Complaint: Peeling Skin
The Fix: If your painful sunburn has turned your skin into a peeling mess, Waldorf recommends adding mega doses of moisture. If the area is irritated, she suggests applying Vaseline Pure Petroleum Jelly, $6.49, to the area.

Once the irritation has subsided, "switch to an alpha-hydroxy acid moisturizer," she says (try Amlactin Ultra Hydrating Body Cream, $14.99). It will help gently exfoliate the peeling, flaking skin while deeply moisturizing.

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Skin Complaint: Rosacea
Waldorf explains that rosacea often flares up during the heat of summer months because extreme temperatures are one of the main triggers -- along with spicy foods, alcohol and stress.

The Fix: If you're having a severe flare-up, she recommends visiting your dermatologist for oral antibiotics (like Doxycycline) and a topical (either an antibiotic like Metrogel or Noritate or azelaic acid like Finacea).

Your doctor will taper you off the oral medication once your skin starts to clear, but you will likely need to continue with the topical antibiotics. "It takes about seven to 10 weeks for the topical to kick in," she says.

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Skin Complaint: Leathery-Looking Skin
The Fix: "Once [your skin is] 'leather,' there is a limit to what you can do to improve it," Waldorf says. She does, however, recommend using a retinoid (she like prescription Renova or Avage), and antioxidant cream (try Prevage Anti-Aging Daily Serum, $162), and a peptide-rich product (try Olay Regenerist Daily Regenerating Serum, $22.99). The use of these three active ingredients will help exfoliate skin by improving cell turnover and helping to build collagen.

Waldorf also explains that laser treatments like Fraxel Restore (to improve skin texture and color with minimal downtime), VBeam (for red discoloration) and Q-switched Nd:YAG (for brown spots) can also be helpful in reversing a leathery-looking skin texture and tone.

The lazy days of summer can leave us with more than a few beauty woes come fall. According to dermatologist Heidi Waldorf, MD, "pigmentation and acne" are the two most prominent skin issues women face at the end of the summer. Here, she explains how you can erase these signs of summer and more with the help of over-the-counter products, prescription creams and in-office treatments. Follow this advice and you'll say hello to fall with gorgeous, glowing, spot-free skin.
BY KRISTEN OLDHAM GIORDANI, MARISSA DESANTIS | SHARES
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