Blue Turtle Spa. www.blueturtlespa.com. Reservations 415.699.8494. Page 1 of 3 By Andrew Scoular Skin physiology 101: To understand the aging process you need to know that we have 3 … … layers to our skin. The uppermost layer is the epidermis which is where the melanin (brown spots) are. There are no blood vessels in the epidermis. It is a very thin layer but it is constantly growing new skin cells that naturally die as they get to the surface. Those dead cells will fall off, or they may need help in falling off through the …

What is Aging skin? 10% of our aging is intrinsic - that is, we are genetically preprogrammed from birth to age in a certain way. 90% is extrinsic - resulting from the environmental stress of our lifestyle choices. This is mostly in the form of free radical damage that results in cell inflammation, aging and disease. Intrinsic aging will result in a decrease in the production of lipids (tiny fat molecules) in the epidermis. A loss in lipids causes the skin to look delicate, translucent, and to show bruises easily. The dermis also gets thinner and becomes more compacted and lumpy (like an old mattress) and thus causes wrinkles to become more pronounced. Blue Turtle Spa. www.blueturtlespa.com. Reservations 415.699.8494. Page 2 of 3 Skin becomes more sensitive and immune function is impaired. Body functions like the detoxification of blood in the liver, and the digestion of food, become more sluggish. Both the liver and the digestive system have huge implications for the well being of your skin as you age. Three important strategies for this aspect of aging skin: 1. really good nutritional supplements to support the liver and digestive system and to get high, and useful, values of anti oxidant, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids to the dermis where it is used to enable cell growth, 2. exfoliation of the dead skin cells of the epidermis, and 3. add back skin lipids to increase the strength and integrity of the epidermis. In extrinsic aging, environmental factors like sun, smoke, smog, and factors like drugs and alcohol, will cause inflammation in the cells, and any inflammation results in cell DNA damage (remember that any amount of sun tanning automatically causes inflammation and subsequently DNA damage). According to Dr. Nicholas Perricone, (and supported by all skin care gurus), inflammation at the cellular level is the single most powerful cause of the signs of aging.. These damaged cells are killed off by our body, but as we age, this process becomes less consistent, resulting in more damaged cells and a greater potential for disease. Free radicals are oxygen molecules in our skin that are ‘excited’ by the UVA rays of the sun, and their sole purpose is to damage cell walls and cause cell death. Three important strategies for this aspect of aging skin are: 1. use peptide based products that will help stimulate the production of proteins in your body (by the by, collagen is a protein!), 2. topically add an anti oxidant (vitamin C and E) to your skin every day, and 3. wear a UVA and UVB based sunscreen every day (even when cloudy) …

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