Know your skin & how to defeat signs of aging
The Skin – Basic knowledge you should know
The skin consists of 3 main layers:
- Epidermis
- Dermis
- Subcutaneous fat layer
The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin which forms the primary protective coating of the body. Its topmost layer known as the stratum cormeum, the “horny layer.” This is a thin tough layer of dead skin cells that acts as our outer “hide.”
The second layer of skin, the dermis, is the skin’s control center. It contains all the vital components that keep the skin nourished, strong and healthy. It also houses the supportive structures that keep the skin resilient and plump.
The third layer, the subcutaneous tissue is a layer of fat beneath the dermis. It acts as a protective, insulating layer between the surface of the skin and the inner organs and helps the body conserve heat energy.
The primary function of the epidermis is to protect the body from the impact of the environment. The epidermis shields the tender tissues of the body from the harmful rays of the sun, the trauma of extreme cold and heat and the drying influence of the wind. The body consists of more than 90 percent water and the epidermis forms a vital waterproof barrier that protects the body against excessive moisture loss and dehydration.
The epidermis also constitutes an important component of the body’s immune defense, providing a multilayered shield against environmental changes. The deeper levels of the skin discharge a natural oil that is secreted as a thin film on top of the epidermis, creating a slightly acidic environment that inhibits microbe growth.
The dermis constitutes about 90 percent of the skin’s mass and is the seat of most of the skin’s vital functions. The dermis provides the infrastructure and support system of the skin, and its resilient structures protect the body from knocks and bumps. In Addition, components of the dermis play an important role in regulating body temperature and transmitting sensory sensations such as touch, heat, cold and pain.
The strength giving fibres in the dermis give the skin its plumpness, resilience and bounce. In the same way that our skeletal frame creates the supportive structure that upholds the body, the dermis contains fibrous structures that prop up and reinforce the skin. This “skeletal structure” of the skin is made up of two proteins – collagen and elastin.
The collagen and elastin fibres are not rigid like the bony structure of the skeleton. Rather, they are like springs in a mattress – they give the skin bounce and provide a strong, spongy padding that acts as a shock absorber against injury from falls, bumps and knocks. The collagen and elastin fibres also hold the structures of the body together and contribute to the shape and form of the body.
The subcutaneous layer of the skin is one area where fat is good. Located beneath the dermis, the deepest layer of the skin consists primarily of fat cells, which are organized together into fat lobules. When healthy, this layer helps give the skin the plumped out, smooth, and wrinkle-free complexion of youth.
How the Skin Ages?
Aging of the skin consists of a gradual breakdown of numerous different structures and functions. In fact, more than fifty factors are at work in the age-related deterioration of the skin. The good news is that, as a consequence, there is not just one way to counteract skin aging, there are many ways you can enhance the health and youthful appearance of your body’s external covering.
Age- Related Changes in the Epidermis
Slower Cell Reneal – The epidermis constantly replaces itself. New cells are formed in the basal layer (deepest layer of the epidermis) and migrate up through the epidermis, taking on different shapes and forming different epidermal layers along the way. These migrating cells reach the end of their journey at the top layer of the epidermis, where they turn into flat, tightly packed discs called corneocytes and die off. It is this layer of dead skin cells that form the visible layer of the skin and its tough, protective coating, the stratum corneum. Through washing and friction, this layer of dead cells is continually worn off and replaced with a new layer of corneocytes in a cycle of continuous renewal.
The rate at which this cell renewal occurs is important because it contributes greatly to the appearance of the skin. When you are young, epidermal cells turn over about every thirty days. As you get older, the activity of the cells in the basal layer slows and they divide more and more slowly. By age 80, cell turnover takes twice as long as when we were thirty. As a result, the epidermis becomes thinner and more fragile. In addition, the dead skin cells in the top layer of the stratum corneum slough off more slowly, causing the complexion to become full and lose its glow.
The good news is that renewal rate of the top layer of the epidermis is affected by how quickly the outer layer of the dead cells peels off. When the corneocytes are lost quickly, the cells of the stratum corneum are replaced at a much faster rate. This is the secret behind exfoliation and microdermabrasion. Exfoliating treatments using alpha hydroxyl (AHAs) and beta hydroxyl acids (BHAs) increase the rate at which the dead cells in the stratum corneum are peeled off and as a consequence, speed up the renewal of the outer cell layer. As new skin is brought to the surface more rapidly, the skin becomes clearer, more transparent and fresher looking.
Public health experts and medical professionals have long warned that excessive exposure to the sun not only ages the skin prematurely, but increases the risk of skin cancer as well. Yet, many people still ignore the warnings.
Sunlight is, without comparison, the greatest enemy of the skin. If you’re at all concerned about keeping your youthful looks and delaying your skin’s aging, you have to take precautions to protect it from the skin. There are no ifs or buts about it.
Simple formula:
Sun Exposure = Skin Damage = Premature Aging
Even if your skin type is dark, and you don’t suffer the same risk of sunburn as lighter skin types, you are still susceptible to sun damage – albeit to a lesser extent. For the vast majority of people, skin damage comes not from spending long hours in the sun. Rather, it is the cumulative effect of small doses of sunlight every day.
Source of Sun Damage – Ultraviolet Radiation
The sun emits a wide spectrum of rays. What we perceive as sunlight is only the visible spectrum of light, which makes up 39 percent of the rays reaching the earth. Infrared light, another component of sunlight, constitutes 56 percent of the sun’s rays. Infrared radiation is heat waves, although you can’t perceive infrared radiation with your eyes, you experience it as a pleasant sensation of warmth when the sun hits your skin.
Ultraviolet light (UV radiation) is only about 5 percent of the sunlight that reaches the earth. Yet this small, invisible fraction of sunlight is far more harmful to the skin than any other part of the sun’s rays. There are 3 types of UV rays: UVA, UVB, and UVC. Most UVC rays are absorbed by the earth’s atmosphere and never reach the surface of the planet. Mercifully so, because UVC light causes serious damage to the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of cells and is more dangerous than any other type of ultraviolet light. UVA and UVB radiation, however, are still of great concern for humans. They differ in the type and degree of injury they are capable of inflicting and in how deeply they penetrate the layers of the skin.
UVB light
A useful mnemonic for the effects of UVB light is to think “B” for burn. UVB rays penetrate the epidermis and inflict intense damage on the skin. Sunburn is an inflammatory response and a warning cry from your skin that you’ve stayed too long in the sun. Although this acute response to UVB radation is quite unpleasant, it is harmless compared to the long term effects of UVB light, which include premature aging, weakening of the skin’s natural immune protective factors, and substantially increased risk of skin cancer.
UVA light
To understand the impact of UVA light, think “A” for aging. UVA light permeates even deeper into the skin than UVB light, reaching the dermis and parts of the subcutaneous tissue. Although UVA light creates less acute damage than UVB, its long term effects are just as devastating as those of UVB light, including accelerated aging and heightened skin cancer risk. There are two types of UVA light, long-wave or UVA-I, and short-wave, or UVA-II. UVA-I is by far more harmful, because it reaches the deepest layer of the skin.
UVA radiation in the atmosphere is about twenty times more plentiful than UVB light. It is not as immediately harmful to the skin as UVB, but it is more constant and insidious. The intensity of UVB-light varies greatly with the time of day, season, altitude, weather and so on. The bombardment of UVA rays, on the other hand, is constant. Unlike UVB light, UVA is not blocked by window glass (think long commutes in the car), and it easily penetrates light clothing. Cloud cover provides some protection against UVB light, while more than 90 percent of UVA light still reaches the earth on a cloudy day.
In other words, you won’t develop a sunburn when you go for a walk on a gray winter day, but your skin will still soak up accelerating UVA radiation. People who don’t spend long hours in the sun often assume that the risks of UV radiation don’t apply to them. Unfortunately, that is not true. Researches estimate that 80 to 90 percent of the UV radation we receive derives from short, frequent exposures to the head, neck, and hands – when we walk to and from the car, go for a bike ride, exercise outside, and so on. The head, neck and hands also happen to be the places where premature aging is particularly apparent. In Addition, more than 60 percent of the two most common forms of skin cancer occur on these body parts.
Characteristics of Sun-Induced Aging
The harmful effects of the sun on the skin are typically referred to as photodamage. Similarly, the premature aging induced by the skin is often called photoaging. The degree to which photoaging is a factor depends both on skin type and the amount of sun exposure you have received throughout your life. Photoaging is superimposed on and accelerates the normal aging of the skin. It can have a devastating impoact on our already fragile aging biological systems, exacerbating the deterioration of skin tissue far beyong what happens during the normal aging process. The impact of photodamage, which is cumulative, shows up in a number of different ways.
Sunlight increases generation of free radicals, the molecular marauders that snatch electrons from surrounding cells, disrupting the integrity of cellular structures and functions. Free radicals are the medium through which most sun damage is inflicted. The impairment of the cellular environment wrought by free radicals causes the tissue damage associated with photoaging.
Products you can use to protect your skin from photoaging,
Dermasolutions White-C serum :
Most typical signs of photoaging include:
Damaged collagen and elastin fibres – Collagen fibres deteriorate and elastin fibres turn into a tangled, amorphous mass of coarse, abnormal fibres, a condition known as elastosis. These changes result in premature wrinkles.
Decreased hydrating capacity – The number of glycoproteins in the dermis increases in photodamaged skin, but at the same time, they appear to lose some of their water-binding capacity. Since glycoproteins play a key role in keeping the skin hydrated and supple, this further predisposes the skin to wrinkles. Many researchers believe the changes associated with photodamage are a far more important factor in the appearance of wrinkles than chronological age.
Spider veins – The small blood vessels in the dermis decrease in number and become dilated and malformed, giving rise to a condition known as spider veins. These are also known as “broken” veins and most commonly appear on the nose and cheeks.
Age spots – Prolonged or frequent sun exposure causes skin to permanently increase melanin output. In its more charming expression, this excess melanin shows up as freckles. However, in older or more sun-damaged skin, these patches or persistent pigmentation show up as unflattering age spots, also known as solar lentignes.
Dull complexion – Sun-induced changes in the skin’s texture make it appear rougher, lusterless and more sallow.
O2 Essense cream has oxygen, vitamins and nutrients within plasma clusters penetrate deeply into the skin to stimulate and nourish skin cells from the dermal layer. Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties maintain the skin’s health and glow. It is suitable for all skin types.
Using the right sunscreen!
When sunscreens were first developed, UVB radation was assumed to be the main cause of sunburn, photoaging and skin cancer. As a consequence, the first sunscreens were formulated to shield the skin from UVB rays only. Although UVA rays now are thought to be more potent cancer-causing agents than UVB rays, this determination is fairly recent, and sunscreen manufacturers are still playing catch-up. As a consequence, only some of the sunscreens on the market today provide adequate protection against both UVA and UVB radiation.
How to evaluate the effectiveness of a sunscreen?
The sun protection factor (SPF) of a sunscreen provides a somewhat crude measure of its protective value. It tells you how long the product allows you to stay in the sun without developing a sunburn. Let’s say, for example, that your skin gets red from UVB radiation after you spend 10 minutes in bright sunlight without any form of protection. If you apply a lotion with an SPF 15, the time you can spend in the sun before developing a sunburn is multiplied by 15. So you can now stay in the sun for 150 minutes or two and half hours, without developing redness. Similarly, a sunscreen with SPF 30 would allow you to stay in the sun 10 X 30 = 300 minutes or 5 hours, before your skin turns red.
The problem is that the redness of a sunburn is a very incomplete measure of the degree of damage your skin suffers. First, the skin sustains photodamage before visible signs of sunburn can be detected. Second, since a sunburn is induced mostly by UVB rays, the SPF tells you nothing about the extent to which the product protects against the age-accelerating, cancer-inducing effects of UVA light.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new guidelines for how manufacturers must label a product’s UVA-protective factor. Currently, a company may claim that its sunscreen offers broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection simply by including one ingredient that filters UVA light, but it may not cover the entire spectrum of UVA light.
One way to gauge the effectiveness of a sunscreen is to look at the ingredient list. As you will recall, UVA light is divided into long wave light, or UVA-I and short-wave light or UVA-II. Most UVB protective ingredients also offer protection against UVA-II light. However only 3 ingredients approved for use in the United States protects against long-wave UVA-I, the most harmful type of UVA light, which causes damage at the deepest layers of the skin.
When you buy sunscreen, look for products that contain at least one of the three ingredients that filter UVA-I light: avobenzone (Parsol 1789), zinc oxide, or titanium oxide. (Mexoryl SX is another effective UVA-I filtering ingredient, but it is only approved for use outside the United States.) Avobenzone is a chemical agent that absorbs UV radiation, and zinc oxide and titanium oxide are physical agents that stay on the surface of the skin and reflect ultraviolet radiation. Studies have shown that sunscreens containing avobenzone tend to be the most effective, particularly when they also contain titanium dioxide. (FDA regulations forbid the combination of avobenzone and zinc oxide.) This effect is completely unrelated to a product’s SPF value.
Sunguard 28 is a non-greasy formula that is suitable for all skin types.
*All of Dermasolutions products are from the United States and FDA approved.
Beauty Secrets of the Rich and Famous
Ever wonder how actress Nicole Kidman has managed to keep her delicate ivory skin smooth and perfect? Kidman’s lovely complexion is particularly noteworthy since she grew up in Australia, where the sun’s intensity is notorious for accelerating skin aging and skin cancer rates.
To protect her skin while she was growing up, Kidman opted out of spending weekends on the beach with her school friends. Instead, she looked for other fun-filled weekend activities that she could do out of the sun. She found the perfect solution – taking acting classes in a local downtown theatre. Thus began Kidman’s journey toward her successful acting career.
Although there is no need to avoid outdoor activities together, the rest of us would do well to take a lesson from kidman and develop weekend activities that don’t involve spending a lot of time in direct sun.
Coming to you early next year!
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