Beauty is Skin Deep – Nanotechnology and Skin Care
“Look years younger overnightâÂ?¦” The claims are everywhere. It seems you can’t open a magazine or turn on the television without hearing another wrinkle cream or skin care product promising the world. But according to skin care specialists the truth is, there really isn’t a fountain of youth, and without understanding the real science of how and why skin ages most of these claims are dubious at best. According to Dr. Al La Torra, Skin Specialist and Director of the Wound Clinic at Columbia Hospital in Florida, “There are many factors why the skin ages, one of the most important factors is sun exposure. Another one is genetics, the next one would be stress and environmental issues such as pollution, smoking, and of course aging, because as you age and go through the years there’s a gravitational pull on your skin and the degradation of a lot of the elements within the skin.”
The skin basically is divided into three layers, the epidermis, the dermal layer and the subcutaneous layer. Most of the effects of aging such as loosening, wrinkles, and sagging that appear on the skins surface, actually originate in the second or dermal layer. It is in this layer that most of the cellular activity that keeps skin young and vital takes place. Yet until recently most if not all skin creams and wrinkle treatments are applied to, and really only treat the skins surface. But a new line of “cosmeceuticals” are appearing in doctors offices, well known spas and upscale retail stores that use the science of nanotechnology to deliver active ingredients to the inner most layers of the skin. Rejuvenating and revitalizing skin from the inside out. Many of these products have been clinically proven to rebuild healthy skin on a cellular level.
While “physician grade” products have been available for quite sometime in the dermatologists office, many people think to get that kind of clinical effectiveness in a product, you must give up the look, feel and allure of a fine cosmetic, not so according to beauty and skin care consultants. They say the latest trend in these products is to combine clinically proven ingredients with patented delivery systems and the aesthetics of fine cosmetics. Many of these bio-based products have the look, feel and texture of a luxury beauty product, and are being sold right along side them, in stores like Saks and Neiman Marcus.
The growing consumer demand for legitimate anti-aging and skin care products isn’t limited to women, one male executive had this to say after starting a skin care regimen that included a bio-based product. “I’m in my mid-fifties I run a company that focuses on young athletes, it’s important that my image is appealing to that crowd so I was considering facial surgery and someone introduced me to Dr. La Torra and he introduced me to these products I’ve not really used skin care products before this and I said look, let me give it a shot I wasn’t really open to having surgery and I am absolutely amazed at the results of this I had dark circles under my eyes I worked 15 hours a day I’m an executive, it’s my own business my face looked terrible. I looked like a man in his 60s. And it’s only been a couple of months and I can’t believe the results I’m getting from this product.”
For centuries people have been searching for the Fountain of Youth. While it may not exsist, scientific exploration and nanotechnology may be proving that beauty really is only skin deep.
