One of the things I love most about beauty is that it can be a steppingstone to take care of yourself in other ways. That’s because your skin can be (and often is) a reflection of what’s happening internally. 

“Skin is an organ, but not just that. It’s also a signaler of things that are going on in your body, right? There are so many things going on in the body that are then represented in the skin, and there’s no way to look at organ systems as individual objects—and that’s a mistake that we probably make in medicine,” says Shah. “For example, ‘if you have gluten intolerance, it can show up as a very itchy rash on your arms. Or your cardiovascular health will affect the skin. That’s why I think a holistic approach is super important.”

It’s also deeply connected to your mental health. 

“Something that’s not often talked about is the referral process that happens within dermatology. How you first interact with the health care system may not be where you need to end up,” he says. “But a lot of times the skin is the first thing that people see. A conversation around acne could open up to a conversation about mental health, which could lead to a referral to a psychiatrist. And maybe that’s ultimately what you needed all along.”