By guest blogger - Dr. Ben Johnson of Osmosis Skin Care
While the skin is very complicated, there are some simple but very important concepts that should be understood before buying skincare products. Remember that the skin is an advanced organ working 24 hours a day for your entire life to maintain itself in the best state possible. While it seems to work against your (cosmetic) desires when it creates rashes, acne, age spots, broken capillaries, redness or whatever, it is, in fact, doing its best to perform at optimal levels in the conditions that you created in your body.
What may seem baffling at times is that every mole, spot, bump, and/or scale is in a very specific spot on your body based on numerous conditions. These include your mental state (stress, anger, guilt, hatred all negatively impact your skin and body health), environmental influences (bad lighting, excessive sun exposure, pollution, poor water quality, damaging skin products), and diet which we believe to be the biggest contributor next to stress.
No one part of your body acts independently with another. That is why many systemic diseases have associated skin abnormalities. The reason this concept is so important is that it is not a generally accepted view from our medical community and therefore the approach to skin conditions is flawed. Rather than addressing the causes of these problems, we are usually addressing symptoms like redness, flaking or swelling. This philosophy has permeated our society; “acne...take antibiotics”, “redness...try a steroid...or maybe a laser treatment”. The assumption is that the skin is acting out of control, that it has disassociated itself from the rest of the body and only we know how to control it. WRONG! Most skin conditions are side effects of a bigger problem elsewhere in the body.
Why is this so important? If you knew that the skin was acting appropriately, would you try to damage it more to attain a SHORT TERM cosmetically (but not physiologically) improved appearance? Let us use a few examples to illustrate the madness; 1) Acne is usually related to candida or ovarian inflammation and yet a primary treatment for acne is antibiotics (one of the colon’s biggest toxins), 2) Rosacea’s red and inflamed skin also results in thinning of the dermis and yet one of the most popular treatments for it is laser collapse of the very capillaries that are trying to heal and repair that dermis. We even burn our skin with acids and lasers to try to make them better or inject toxins into it to paralyze the activity in that area. Is our society working with the skin? We think not. Skincare should be a partnership not a military offensive.
So what do you need to know about the skin to make intelligent choices? The most beneficial ingredients do one of three things; increase circulation (the skin’s only source of food/nutrients/immune cells/building block materials), stimulate fibroblast activity non-traumatically (the only way to make collagen, elastin, GAG’s needed to rebuild/repair the skin), and rebuild the immune repair functions of the skin with growth factors, immune boosters and anti-inflammatories. The focus needs to be on addressing the source of the skin condition which is often internal and then letting the skin fix itself. Yes, this really happens....by creating an environment in the skin that mimics more youthful days, the skin is capable of operating at its highest and best. We should be moving away from traumatizing the skin to get a response. Here are numerous treatments that work against your skin; lasers that collapse numerous vessels in your skin at one time, acids that damage/immunosuppress the skin and provide no longterm benefit but likely cause long term damage, free radical makers (they worsen the free radical load in your skin) like benzoyl peroxide, artificial sunscreens and hydroquinone. Immunosupressors are also very damaging, drugs like antibiotics and steroids may look like they have a benefit because redness declines temporarily, but ultimately they thin and damage the skin.
So celebrate your skin’s imperfections because you know that it is telling you to look deeper. Consider it a warning sign. Do not punish the messenger, support it.
