Very often age brings skin disorders that cause varying degrees of latent inflammation. And the problem isn’t just on the outside: here’s why.
Our skin starts to deteriorate around the age of 50, with alterations in epidermal pH, hydration and permeability. As this situation evolves, if we one doesn’t intervene with specific cosmetic treatments and doesn’t modify his/her habits of exposure to environmental conditions (especially to the sun) or to certain substances (detergents, solvents, hot water) the skin will continue to deteriorate until it gets irritated and itchy.
Inflammaging makes us age prematurely.
In any case, inflammation should be avoided, because even when mild and barely perceptible, the condition called “inflammaging” is considered one of the main aging mechanisms. When the skin becomes dry, it loses its ability to retain water due to profound structural changes, and this leads to the release of “cytokines”, i.e. inflammation mediators produced, in this case, by the skin cells. Cytokines, in addition to causing itching and local inflammation, also enter systemic circulation, causing inflammation within other organs and tissues. Therefore, although cutaneous inflammation may be mild and diffused, the cytokines can meanwhile trigger internal multiorgan inflammation.
Moreover, while in normal conditions inflammation heals easily thanks to prompt and effective barrier repair mechanisms, with aging the cutaneous barrier is not so easily repairable, and therefore inflammatory signals continue to be released, persistently affecting also the blood and internal organs.
Cutaneous inflammation doesn’t only affect the skin.
Until recently the scientific community didn’t believe the skin could contribute to systemic inflammation and diseases. However, recent studies on psoriasis and dermatitis have shown that cutaneous inflammation caused by these conditions probably also increases the risk of heart disease.
Based on these and other observations, a study published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermato-logy and Venereology showed how the use of a normal market-available repairing cream, was able to reduce cytokine levels in the blood of subjects over sixty, returning it to levels similar to those experienced in their thirties, thus inhibiting the inflammaging phenomenon.
The ideal formulation for this purpose should contain glycerol, ceramides, sphingolipids, cholesterol and free fatty acids, that is the substances that most of all are able to repair the epidermal barrier.
Article of Dr Adele Sparavigna for https://4me.styl