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Introductions
Our skin is our body’s first line of defense. It is an organ, just like our liver or heart, and like any organ, it performs a long list of life sustaining tasks. It is the body’s antenna, registering pressure, temperature, and pain. It is a barrier against the elements and a shield against bacteria, viruses and other outside threats to our health. In addition, it is the body’s mirror; when we are chronically tired, undernourished, physically or emotionally stressed, our skin responds. It also regulates body temperature, so you know when you are fighting an infection. Lastly, the skin is also an excretory organ, eliminating toxins from the body via our pores. Our skin is our body’s first line of defense!
Our skin is an incredible organ, the body’s largest, but it is frequently taken for granted. As such, it is easily damaged, both by external causes—sunlight, air pollution—and internal factors, such as cigarette smoke or a diet that lacks nutrients, particularly antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin C and E. Premature aging is one consequence of failing to give our skin the care and attention it needs.
What does your skin say about you? Maybe more than you think. A glimpse at the body holistically, your skin—or integumentary (an outer protective layer or part of an animal or plant, for example, a shell, rind, husk, or skin) system—is very illuminating about how well your body systems are working. For example, jaundice is a characteristic of liver dysfunction; flushing is a sign of fever, and unusually heavy sweating is a possible warning to
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underlying cardiac problems. Likewise, very dry, scaly skin may indicate a deficiency in essential fatty acids. Overall, poorly functioning vital body processes due to acute and chronic toxicity from environmental factors, severely nutrient deficient diets, alcohol, smoking, stress, excessive sunlight exposure, and exercise, coupled with just plain abusive lifestyle choices are responsible for a number of skin disorders that afflict far too many people. To name a few:
•Psoriasis
•Eczema
•Skin cancer
•Acne
•Cellulite
•Seborrheic dermatitis
•Rosacea
•Hives
•Cold sores
The skin is your body’s mirror to your internal functions.
Skin is such a dedicated organ that it has its own immune system. It has been suggested that defective skin immunity influences the entire immune system. Sunlight can infiltrate deep into skin and modify immunity directly, or it can produce changes in the dermis and epidermis that can incite immune changes. Sunlight has an effect on hormones. It decreases melatonin, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine, and increases cortisol, serotonin, GABA, and dopamine. The issue of aging skin goes well beyond looks or even cancer risk. Skin is vital for regulating internal temperature and shielding us from pathogens. It also protects internal organs from direct injury. Consequently, when the skin is threatened, the rest of the body is at risk, too.
In order to genuinely understand what our skin is up against—and to grasp its intricacy—you must understand its structure. Your skin consists of three fundamental layers: the epidermis, the dermis, and a fat layer.
| The Epidermis- This is the outer layer of your skin. It consists of three types of cells: keratinocytes, melanocytes and langerhans cells. On top of the epidermis is the stratum corneum, which is a protective coating of dead skin cells (keratinocytes) that forms when fresh cells made in the skin’s deeper layers push their way to the surface, flatten, and die. The stratum corneum is thinner than a sheet of tissue paper and is almost pure protein. Dead cells from stratum corneum continuously slough off and are substituted by new ones coming from below. As we age, however, this sloughing process slows down. When we were younger, cell turnover occurs about every 28 to 30 days. By the time we are in our 60’s, the progression takes 45 to 50 days, which is one of the reasons our skin loses the newness or youth as years go by. Although the stratum corneum is basically “dead”, it serves an exceptionally important |
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function: It assists your skin in holding in moisture and oil.
Another major group of cells in the epidermis are melanocytes, the cells creating melanin, the pigment responsible for skin tone and color. Although we all have about the same number of melanocytes, the actual tone of you skin depends on your skin’s distinctive amount and concentration of melanin, a trait you inherit from your parents. Ultimately, there are the Langerhans cells which are essentially the front door of the immune system in the epidermis. They avert unwanted foreign substances from breaching the skin.
The Dermis- The dermis is the middle layer of the skin situated between the epidermis and subcutaneous tissue. You may identify the dermis, which lies under the epidermis and makes up 90 percent of the thickness of your skin, the skin’s nerve hub—it’s where a good deal of the skin’s important work is done. It is the thickest of the skin layers and consists of a tight, sturdy network of collagen and elastin fibers. Together, collagen and elastin are significantly important skin proteins: collagen is in charge for the structural support and elastin for the pliability of the skin. The dermis includes nerve receptors, which are responsive to pressure (silky shirts, the touch of loved one), temperature, and pain; sweat glands, sebaceous glands (which manufacture skin-protective oil), hair follicles, and blood vessels. The most crucial type of cells in the dermis are fibroblasts, which produce collagen, elastin and other structural molecules. It is very important that the correct function of fibroblasts is optimal for overall skin health.
The sweat and sebaceous glands in the dermis, located around hair follicles, assist in the production of the skin’s acid mantel (sebum), a thin coating of oil and perspiration that facilitates the protection from infections— bacterial and fungal. This acid mantel is a valuable barrier. When sebaceous glands manufacture too little sebum, as is frequent in older people, the skin becomes extremely dry and more prone to wrinkling. On the other hand, the overproduction or unacceptable composition of sebum, as is widespread in adolescents, often leads to acne. Sadly, we regularly strip away the sebum in the course of using harsh soaps, which upsets your skin’s natural balance of acidity and alkalinity (called pH). Structural integrity, elasticity and resilience are the job of the dermis and wrinkles occur and develop in the there. For that reason, preventing wrinkles will only succeed if it can reach as deep as the dermis.
Subcutaneous Tissue (The Fat Layer)- This is the deepest layer of the skin situated under the epidermis and dermis and is made up mainly of fat. The fat performs as a shock absorber and heat insulator, shielding the underlying tissues from cold and trauma. The shortfall of subcutaneous tissue, frequently occurs with age, leads to facial sag and emphasizes wrinkles. The customary procedure carried out by dermatologists to counteract this process is to inject fat (gathered elsewhere in the body) under the wrinkles on the face.
Why Does The Skin Age?
•Intrinsic Aging- (Internal) This is the type aging that takes place with the passing of time.
•Extrinsic Aging- (External) This is intrinsic aging mixed with external causes such as sunlight, air pollution, and inflammation caused by harsh detergents, rough treatment, cosmetics laced with chemicals and disease processes.
Let’s take a look at some of the factors that can hasten skin aging:
•Sun Exposure
•Artificial tanning
•Drug use
•Lack of exercise
•Poor liver function
•Cigarette smoke (inhaled or secondhand)
•Environmental toxins
•A diet lacking in nutrition
•A diet lacking in supplements: Vitamin A, C, E, and folic acid
•A diet high in fat, sugar, and salt
•Dehydration (don’t drink enough water)
•Excess alcohol consumption
•Stress
•Personal care products full of chemicals and detergents
•Sleep deprivation
Sun Exposure—The sun’s rays include infrared radiation, visible light, and ultra-violet radiation. The ultra-violet radiation spectrum can be separated into three types:
UVA: (315-400 nm) wavelengths
UVB: (280-315 nm) wavelengths
UVC: (100-280 nm) wavelengths
Characteristics of UVA Rays:
•Penetrates deep into the skin far deeper than UVB
•Causes sun tolerance
•Rays are potentially carcinogenic
•Rays can pass through regular cotton fabrics such as natural fabric (standard weave)
•Alters the body’s immune system
•Has the longest wave length and can infiltrate glass
•Thought to cause cataracts
•Triggers drug photosensitivity**
**For instance, drugs such as Vibramycin, tetracycline, Minocycline (Minocin), that are used to treat acne are the most reactive to UVA rays, and may cause a red skin rash for some people.
Characteristics of UVB Rays:
•Chiefly responsible for tanning and burning
•Initiates malignant tumors (skin cancer), such as basal squamous cell carcinomas and melanoma
•Responsible for photo aging
•Produces changes in the body’s immune system
•Mainly absorbed at the skin’s surface
Characteristics of UVC Rays:
•People are fortunate that UVC only gets through to the earth in minute quantities, as these rays are very destructive to the skin.
•UVC rays are absorbed by the earth’s ozone layer.
Reduction of the ozone layer is liable to aggravate existing health effects caused by exposure to UV radiation, as stratospheric ozone is a particularly effectual UV radiation absorber. As the ozone layer becomes thinner, the defensive filter offered by the atmosphere is progressively diminished. Accordingly, human beings and the environment are exposed to elevated UV radiation levels, and particularly higher UVB levels that have the biggest impact on human health, animals, marine organisms and plant life. Computational models forecast that a 10% reduction in stratospheric ozone may well cause an additional 300,000 non-melanoma and 4500 melanoma skin cancers and between 1.6 and 1.75 million more cases of cataracts worldwide every year. The Environmental Protection Agency provides a simple measure of the UV radiation level at the earth’s surface and a gauge of the potential for skin damage. It functions as a significant vehicle to raise public awareness and to alert people about the necessity to adopt protective measures when exposed to UV radiation. It is calculated during the noon hour and is updated everyday.
The consequence of exposure to even ambient UV rays multiplies the risk for long-term, damaging effects characterized by wrinkles and loss of skin tone and resilience. Photo-aged skin exhibits major alterations in the cellular component and the extra cellular environment of the connective tissue. The bottom line is that the sun is the chief cause of harmful changes in aging skin. How wrinkled your skin develops into depends principally on how much sun you have been exposed to in your lifetime. It might interest you to know that 80 percent of your lifetime sun experience occurs before 18 years of age. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, even a few blistering sunburns in your youth multiplies the risk of later skin cancer.
Initially, as you leisurely walk through the park on a bright sunny day, the molecules in our skin soaks up sunlight. Suddenly—free radicals are triggered. The sunlight also |
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triggersan enzyme that breaks down fats in skin cells. This fat breakdown creates a chemical called arachidonic acid, the forerunner to molecules that can agitate the skin. Currently, we know that these inflammatory molecules increase the aging of skin.
There are so many people that believe they look healthier with “a little” sun. According to a recent survey by the American Academy of Dermatology, 80% of respondents were under the opinion that they appeared their best after having been out in the sun. Guess what? If you have been out in the sun a sufficient amount of time to turn color—tan or pink—you have been out too long. Don’t get us wrong, we need regular sun exposure of very little time, about 15 minutes a day on average, just to aid in the protection against osteoporosis and maintain mood. More, however, is absolutely detrimental. Credible evidence confirms that all three types of skin cancer—basal cell carcinoma (BBC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and melanoma—are caused by sun exposure. The population who are truly “shooting craps” with their lives include:
•People who use tanning beds or sunlamps. (No, we don’t mean lamps that put out natural light)
•People who are constantly out in the sun during their jobs such as: construction workers, landscapers, lifeguards and farmers
•People who have had sunburns in the past or benign skin injury such as brown spots and hyperpigmentation
•People who spend a lot of time in the sun for recreational purposes
Sun Mistakes:
•Up to 80% of the sun’s rays can breach light clouds, mist and fog.
•Water, sand, snow and concrete can reflect up to 80% of the sun’s damaging rays.
•Fabric that is wet or has a loose weave will allow more UV to reach your skin.
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