What are the details of skin care treatment?
Solution
Skin and Face Cleansers
Cleansing of the skin helps the skin to maintain a healthy, attractive looking, radiant surface. It removes dust, perspiration, and some of the breakdown products of sebum and, of course Makeup.
Over cleansing the skin can cause irritation and may aggravate your skin condition. You do not want to be encouraged to then use “corrective” products that will grease up your skin and further complicate your skin care.
There are several types of mild cleansers that you may use if your skin is irritated or aggravated. Depending on your condition, there are also several types of specific acne cleansers that you can use for daily skin care.
The best cleaners for your use are dependent on your skin type.
Oily Skin
The selection of cleansers for oily skin should involve using products that rinse off well; both bar soaps and liquid cleansers have been formulated for this purpose. Many of the soap gels and stronger liquid cleansers are also helpful for oily skin.
Dry Skin
The use of hard-milled face soaps and gentle synthetic detergents are very appropriate for dry skin. The appropriate amount and frequency of use varies with environmental humidity.
Creamy cleansers are best for dry skin. They won't strip your face of essential oils, but do remove dirt, makeup and impurities.
Normal Skin
Most people can cleanse with bar soap daily. The synthetic detergent soaps react better with hard water. Liquid cleansers and soap gels and cleansing sheets may also be used for normal skin.
Acne cleansers consisting of salicylic acid cleansers, Benzoyl peroxide cleansers, and Antibacterial cleansers, are generally used to remove accumulated oil, make-up, sweat, and dirt on the surface of your skin. In doing so, these products generally make it easier for topical acne treatments to be absorbed.
However, excessive use of acne cleansers can also lead to irritated dry skin. Most acne patients will only need to cleanse with such products once to twice daily. But be careful because many acne cleansers contain irritating ingredients that may do more damage than good.
Some products that include peroxide can also be irritating around the eyes.
Further some of the products that contain very useful ingredients are effectively useless because they are not properly formulated and the benefits they could provide are essentially washed down the drain.
Many skin cleansers remove more than they should when they strip away natural emollients and oils.
Exfoliates
Exfoliation removes the build up of trapped impurities and dirt due to the previous lack of proper removal and exfoliation. It is frequently overlooked as a vital skin care procedure. It should be added to almost any in place skin care regimen. It is on a par with micro dermabrasion, but much less expensive.
Properly formulated exfoliation products can be gentle enough to use frequently and can contain a blend of soothing and replenishing ingredients to add even more benefits to the already excitingly effective exfoliation process.
Moisturizers and Toners
The perfect moisturizer meets the following requirements:
•smells best
•feels best, not too thick
•goes on without feeling greasy
•never irritates or burn the skin
•leaves skin perfectly moisturized
The most effective ones contain glycerin or hyaluronic acid. These pull water to the skin. They contain petroleum which helps skin retain moisture. They should be applied when skin is slightly damp.
Some may also contain wild yam extract, sea algae and soy.
An anti-aging benefit can be obtained with the addition of Alpha and beta hydroxy acids. These provide a good alternative to vitamin-A derivatives like Retin-A. Some people find such derivatives too drying.
The best formulations will feel silky and creamy. Some can provide almost immediate plumping properties.
Try to avoid the Vaseline-like sticky varieties of moisturizers. Seek the ones that use natural oils and include the benefits of extra virgin coconut oil and safflower oil.
Some of the moisturizers can contain sun screen protection with SPF 10 or higher for moderate sun protection.
Some contain cleansers that stimulate the pores and remove dead skin cells and impurities.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are substances that fight against oxidation damage in the body caused by free radicals. Free radicals are destructive and unstable oxygen molecules that combine with healthy cells and destroy their natural function. The resultant damage for skin is then seen as unsightly wrinkles, uneven pigmentation, loss of tone and moisture and sometimes development of skin cancers.
Antioxidants such as Vitamins A, C, E, Selenium, bioflavonoids, superoxide dismutase, Beta Carotene, green tea and other antioxidant compounds can be added to skin care creams and lotions to help your skin retain its youthfulness. Squalane, aloe and jojoba oil can also be added to further nourish, calm and hydrate the skin for a softer and more comfortable texture.
Regular application of such creams can provide significant protection against skin damage.
Collagen
Collagen is the main protein of connective tissue. Approximately one quarter of all of the protein in your body is collagen. It has great tensile strength and is responsible for skin elasticity. Its degradation leads to the wrinkles of aging.
Collagen is an important moisture retainer suitable for all skin types. It increases hydration, improves skin feeling and decreases the extent and depth of wrinkles. Its film-forming properties help provide skin smoothness and softness. Collagen derivatives have a remarkably high capacity for free radical capture.
Collagen is a near optimum nutrition for support of the skin and general body health.
Collagen breaks down at a rate of about 1.5% every year after the age of 25. The skin's surface becomes dull and lifeless and the elasticity reduces over time causing certain parts to sag and wrinkle.
The way your skin looks is directly related to the way your skin is supported. Wrinkles form when the natural collagen and hyaluronic acid in your skin diminish during the natural aging process. Collagen replacement can return structure and volume to your skin.
Collagen works at its optimum level during alpha deep sleep mode when the body's regeneration and rejuvenation mechanism is at its best. Therefore it is best to take supplements 1 hour after eating and just before sleeping.
Collagen makes up 75 percent of our skin; thus, the smooth, plump appearance of young, healthy skin is due in large part to the presence of healthy collagen levels. The better skin care products boost collagen levels and repairs past collagen damage.
Our bodies create collagen in cells called fibroblasts, which are specialized skin cells located in the dermis. Fibroblasts also produce other skin structural proteins such as elastin (a protein which gives the skin its ability to snap back) and various hydrating factors.
Vitamin C acts as a cofactor during many steps of the process. Without sufficient levels of vitamin C, collagen formation is disrupted. The better skin care products contain the proper mixes of collagen replacement elements and vitamin C.
Our bodies continuously create collagen throughout our lives to repair and replace damaged collagen tissue or build new cellular structures. The degradation and recycling of old or damaged collagen is a healthy, natural process used to create protein fragments needed to build new cellular structures, such as in the healing process. With age, collagen levels drop off due to a decrease in production and an increase in degradation.
The best way to maintain a healthy, youthful looking appearance is to protect the healthy collagen you currently have and to prevent future collagen degradation. There are two main ways to do this: 1) avoid ultraviolet UVA and UVB radiation and 2) prevent free radical damage.
Exposure to ultraviolet (UVA and UVB) radiation emanating from the sun is the most prolific contributor to premature skin aging, accounting for an estimated 90 percent of the signs associated with aging skin. UV exposure must be limited and individuals should wear a daily sunscreen to protect healthy collagen. Many skin care companies understand this need and incorporate sunscreens into their daytime moisturizers.
The second preventive step in protecting existing and future collagen levels is supplementation with both oral and topical antioxidants. As antioxidants fight free radicals from UV light, ozone, pollution, cigarette smoke, and internal metabolic processes, they prevent the degradation of existing collagen fibers and protect the healthy function of fibroblast cells.
There are many ways to promote the synthesis of new, healthy collagen. First, you can provide the skin with a reserve of vitamin C. As a necessary cofactor in collagen synthesis, vitamin C is proven to increase the production of collagen. One study showed that extended exposure of human connective-tissue cells to vitamin C stimulated an eight-fold increase in the synthesis of collagen.
Another way to promote the synthesis of collagen is to use chemical exfoliants, such as alphahydroxy and polyhydroxy acids, which break down the bonds between cells of the stratum corneum and slough away dead skin. Consistent exfoliation stimulates cell renewal.
Chemical exfoliation has also been shown to increase dermal thickness. Scientists attribute this dermal thickening to the synthesis of glycosaminoglycans and collagen within the dermis.
A third way to promote collagen synthesis is to supplement with collagen stimulating peptides. Fibroblasts are naturally stimulated to begin the synthesis of collagen when specific combinations of peptide signal molecules (fibroblast growth factors) bind to receptor sites on the fibroblast membrane. These signal molecules can be supplemented topically and help boost collagen production. Some skin care companies are including these peptide fragments in their treatment products.
Because collagen gives the skin its strength, durability, and smooth, plump appearance, it's important to protect and promote collagen growth. Taking good care of your skin means taking care of your collagen.
The regenerating proteins for you skin are collagen, elastin and keratin. These are the proteins that help the skin conserve its tension, moisture, elasticity and texture.
Elastin
Collagen is indeed the principal structural protein holding the skin together. However elastin is another skin protein that is at least as important. It is responsible for the ability of tissues to resume original shape after being stretched.
Elastin is composed of the amino acids glycine, valine, alanine, and proline. Just as collagen, elastin is produced by the connective tissue cells called fibroblasts. Elastin forms a durable, resilient web of fibers that behaves in a manner akin to latex.
The quantity and quality of elastin in the skin can be demonstrated by how quickly the skin returns to normal after being pinch-pulled. Young skin snaps back almost immediately. Older skin takes up to several seconds.
The amount of elastin in the skin usually peeks in adolescence or early adulthood and declines thereafter. Fibroblasts in older skin have a much reduced capacity to produce new elastin. This deficiency does not appear to be a result of the loss of fibroblasts or mutations in elastin-encoding genes. The more likely reason is that age-related changes in the skin's biochemical environment shut down elastin production. Therefore elastin production can be restored to its youthful levels with proper biochemical signals, i.e. with the properly applied skin care products.
Boosting elastin in the skin has been a somewhat neglected procedure in skin care. In part, this is a result of excessive focus on collagen, perhaps at the expense of elastin. The skin's collagen content and composition can be increased/improved by a number of topical formulas (e.g. ascorbic acid, copper peptides, etc.) as well as procedures (lasers, resurfacing and so forth). Unfortunately much less is known about boosting the skin's elastin. Yet it is just as important for successful skin rejuvenation.
Some products/procedures have shown promise to restore and/or preserve elastin levels in aging skin.
Retinoic acid
Some forms of retinoic acid such as Tretinoin, Retin A and Renova have shown some promise but the better tolerated retinol had no effect on elastin synthesis.
MMP inhibitors
Skin rejuvenation is not just about producing more of the key components of the skin matrix, such as collagen and elastin. It is also about protecting the one you have from excessive degradation. Such degradation is caused primarily by the enzymes matrix metalloproteinases (MMP). There are many types of MMP. Inhibiting these MMP may increase the skin content of elastin by reducing the rate of its degradation.
In healthy, youthful skin the creation and degradation of the matrix are in balance: damaged or redundant matrix is degraded while the deficit is replenished by the ongoing creation. Unfortunately, this intricate balance gets disrupted as we age: too little of the matrix is created and too much is degraded.
Many of the well-known skin rejuvenation treatments are aimed at replenishing skin matrix by stimulating the synthesis of collagen or elastin (e.g. ascorbic acid, copper peptides, palmitoyl pentapeptide, topical estrogens and other anti-aging treatments). Unfortunately, this approach fails or falls short in some people due to individual variations in skin chemistry. This is especially true for older people because the ability to respond to matrix synthesis boosters is known to decline with age.
In such a case one must concentrate on reducing the loss of skin matrix by inhibiting or reducing the levels of MMP enzymes. It makes good sense to try to return MMP levels to normal youthful levels, which are sufficient to remove the damaged matrix but allow you to preserve the healthy one.
While we are waiting on the development and testing of drugs to accomplish this, we can reduce or eliminate exposure to environmental factors that stimulate the synthesis of MMP. This includes sunlight (UVA and UVB), chlorinated water, smoking and anything that causes irritation, inflammation and production of free radicals. Research shows that inflammation increases the levels of MMP enzymes whereas anti-inflammatory agents have the opposite effect. In particular, two different classes of anti-inflammatory agents, so-called COX inhibitors and 5-LOX inhibitors, have been shown to reduce MMP activity.
One of the most likely candidates is boswellic acid, a natural 5-LOX inhibitor found in Boswellia serrata tree. Boswellia serrata extracts are being used by a number of skin care companies in anti-wrinkles products. Another candidate is resveratol, a natural compound found in grapes, which is known to have a variety of beneficial effects; including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity (resveratol inhibits COX and possibly other mediators of inflammation). Skin care products with resveratol are relatively common. Lipoic acid, a conditionally essential nutrient, appears to have some anti-inflammatory activity and thus might help indirectly inhibit MMP. In fact, there is some evidence that topical lipoic acid might also have anti-wrinkle effects.
Some plant extracts have been shown to inhibit MMP enzymes. For example, extracts from Butcher's broom rhizome (Ruscus aculeatus) were shown to inhibit the MMP that breaks down elastin. This is consistent with its proven beneficial effects on venous insufficiency, a condition linked to varicose veins. It is likely that Butcher's broom's ability to strengthen veins is, at least in part, due to elastase inhibition. We may speculate that applying Butcher's broom extracts topically may firm the skin via the same mechanism. A specially prepared digest of soy protein (a.k.a. soy peptide complex or soy hydrolysate) appears to inhibit some MMP enzymes. Soy extracts and hydrolysates have been used in skin care for years.
Ethocyn (ethoxyhexyl-bicyclooctanone) is a small molecule that easily penetrates into the dermis. It is claimed to specifically increase the synthesis of elastin to the levels seen in early adulthood.
Ethocyn molecule is claimed to have a number of physiological effects. Importantly, it blocks the action of the androgenic sex hormone dehydrotestosterone (DHT). It is a well-established fact that DHT levels increase with age. Ethocyn makers claim that age-related decline of elastin synthesis is caused mainly by high level of DHT. Therefore, topical application of Ethocyn presumably blocks DHT in the skin and thereby stimulates elastin synthesis. Ethocyn does hold a promise of boosting skin elastin and thereby improving signs of aging.
Other Treatments
In our list of skin care treatments previously presented we included the following:
•Diet
•Supplements
•Exercise therapies
•Hormone or hormone precursor therapy
•Inspections for cancers
These are very important contributors to skin care.
Was this article helpful?
yes
/
no
Article details
Article ID:
37
Category:
Skin care treatment details
Date added:
2009-10-03 16:38:36
Views:
39
Rating (Votes):
(3)
<<
Go back
