Your skin changes as you age. Skin changes are among the most visible signs of aging. Evidence of increasing age includes wrinkles and sagging skin. You might notice wrinkles, age spots and dryness. Your skin also becomes thinner and loses fat, making it less plump and smooth. It might take longer to heal, too.
Xerosis- Dry Skin
What is xerosis?
As the skin is the largest organ in the human body, it’s not surprising that as we age, it becomes more susceptible to disease and disorders and this is why aging skin care and proper treatment is so important. This article will address some of the most common skin disorders in the elderly, including warning signs of potential trouble.
The symptoms of dry feet, especially the heels can include:
Protecting your skin from the sun’s damaging UV rays is probably the easiest and safest step you can take to preserve your skin’s youthful beauty and health. There are two ways to protect the skin from sun damage: using physical methods through which UV rays cannot penetrate well, like clothing or applying sun screens which absorb UV rays.
Exfoliation not only removes dull, dry surface cells that have already lost the free radical battle, but also has been shown to slightly stimulate the skin’s natural regenerative abilities to produce new collagen and elastin thereby thickening the skin.
Pores are actually tiny openings in your skin that provide a way for the oil glands underneath to lubricate and protect the surface of your skin. Oily areas of the face are more prone to acne and large pores. Enlarged pores attract more and more dirt and acne bacteria that in turn may cause occurrence of acne and ugly spots. Having large pores gives your skin an uneven appearance. Large pores often mean that your pores are congested with debris such as dead skin cells, which can lead to blackheads and blemishes. At one time or another, most of us have wished for smaller, less-noticeable pores. When your pores are smaller and tighter, your skin appears smoother and reflects light evenly, giving you that youthful glow we’re all chasing.
Moisturizing is the key components to maintaining healthy, youthful skin. Moisturizers don’t just make dry skin feel nicer. They provide a temporary support system to fill in for lost collagen and elastin, as well as help to repair the skin’s own moisture retention capacity. Also, keeping the skin plumped with moisture slows the progression and deepening of wrinkles. We will discuss the key ingredients in moisturizers – humectants, occlusives, emollients, and miscellaneous ingredients – and discuss their effects on the skin.
In the United States, the personal care industry is largely unregulated. Surprisingly, the Unite Satess Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has little control over what goes into the skin care products we all use. Americans must rely on the judgment of the industry’s own Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel (CIR) to determine which ingredients are safe. Yes, that’s right, the skin care industry is policing itself! I’m not so sure they have your best interests in mind.
Hydroquinone, in the past, was the standard ingredient for skin lightening treatments. Until recently, it was thought to be the safest and most effective treatment for hyperpigmentation, including age spots, melasma, sun damage and other discolorations. However, new research suggests that there may be serious side effects associated with long term use of synthetic hydroquinone. Just recently the FDA also announced its plans to possibly remove hydroquinone based products from store shelves and limit its use to only prescription based medications. Consequently, many manufacturers have begun to produce natural alternatives which mimic the skin lightening properties of hydroquinone. Ingredients such as kojic acid and licorice have become quite popular along with more advanced ingredients like Alpha-Arbutin. When combined, these ingredients can often produce results that even surpass hydroquinone but without the associated risks. Skin lighteners have come a long way in the past few years. With all the available information on the internet, consumers can now educate themselves about the skin bleaching products they buy. This page was designed to help the consumer learn about the many different skin lightening ingredients available on the market today and ultimately choose the best product for his/her skin.
The process of lightening the skin occurs in several stages. Most of the current skin lightening ingredients on the market work at different stages of the process and typically provide the best results when combined together into one product. Listed below are a few of the more popular ingredients used by manufacturers of skin whitening products.
Alpha Arbutin:
Alpha-Arbutin is a biosynthetic active ingredient that is pure, water-soluble and is manufactured in a powder form. As one of the most advanced skin lightening ingredients on the market, it has been shown to work effectively on all skin types. It is the epimer of arbutin, and research has proven that it has a stronger inhibitory action than that of (beta) arbutin. Though it is a very expensive ingredient to manufacture, even at very low concentrations, a-arbutin has shown to inhibit the activity of tyrosinase. Alpha Arbutin’s inhibitory mechanism is different from that of arbutin and can be up to 10 times more effective. The a-glucosidic bond found in alpha Arbutin offers higher stability and efficancy than the B form found in the related Beta-Arbutin. This leads to a skin whitening active that acts faster and more efficiently than existing single components.
Beta-Arbutin (Bearberry Extract):
Beta-Arbutin is often referred to as just Arbutin. As a natural extract found in bearberry (Uva Ursi) plants, Arbutin also provides a skin lightening effect on the skin by inhibiting tyrosinase activity. Though arbutin is a natural derivative of hydroquinone, it does not possess the same risks or side effects. Arbutin has been shown to be a very safe ingredient and does not break down into hydroquionone very readily. Though it is cheaper to manufacture than Alpha-Arbutin, the skin lightening effect is much less than that of its counterpart. For this reason, many new skin whitening products now use Alpha Arbutin as opposed to only beta-Arbutin.
Kojic Acid:
Kojic acid, often used as an ingredient in Asian diets, is a more recent discovery for the treatment of pigmentation problems and age spots. Discovered in 1989, kojic acid is now used extensively as a natural alternative to hydroquinone. Kojic acid is derived from a fungus, and studies have shown that it is effective as a lightening agent, inhibiting production of melanin (brown pigment). Kojic acid is a by-product in the fermentation process of malting rice for use in the manufacturing of sake, the Japanese rice wine. There is convincing research, both in vitro (in a test tube) and in vivo (on a live subject), showing kojic acid to be effective for inhibiting melanin production.
Licorice Extract:
The licorice plant serves many purposes in skin care. The ingredient that is responsible for the skin whitening aspect of the plant is known as glabridin. Glabridin inhibits pigmentation by preventing tyrosinase activation. Studies have shown that it can provide a considerable skin brightening effect while remaining non-toxic to the melanin forming cells. Glabridin is found in very small traces and therefore it is important to ensure that the correct part of the licorice plant is used. Licorice’s anti-inflammatory properties (due to ihibition of superoxide anion production and cyclooxygenase activity) also make it a very popular ingredient in the skin care industry.
Niacinamide:
Niacinamide is commonly known as Vitamin B3 and is an effective skin lightening compound that works by inhibiting melanosome transfer from
melanocytes to keratinocytes. Often this ingredient works best when combined with other skin lightening treatments. Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) is also known to be effective in reducing acne.
Mulberry Extract:
Paper Mulberry extract, is obtained from the root of Broussonetia kazinoki, Siebold. or B. papyrifera, Vent. Tabl. Regn. Veget. or hybrids of both, family Moraceae. Extracts of this root are potent inhibitors of Tyrosinase enzyme. The active constituents present in the extract are Prenylated, polyhydroxylated mono-and bis-phenylderivatives. A 0.4% concentration of paper mulberry extract inhibits tyrosinase by 50% compared to 5.5% for hydroquinone and 10.0% for kojic acid. At 1% paper mulberry extract is not a significant irritant.
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Lemon Juice Extract:
Lemon juice is one of nature’s most potent skin bleaching ingredients. Unfortunately it is also very irritating to the skin and should only be used at small concentrations in skin lighteners. Lemon juice is also known to be extremely drying to the skin if applied directly.
Emblica:
Emblica is a patented composition extracted from the plant Phyllanthus emblica. The extract uses a multilevel cascade of antioxidant compounds resulting in a long-lasting and stable antioxidant activity. Recent studies have shown that this natural antioxidant also provides significant skin lightening properties when used in moderate concentrations.
source: whiterskin.com