Dear Friends,
Medical Peelings, cosmetic peelings performed by beauticians and also so-called “light” or “fruit” peelings sold as OTC skin care products became very popular in recent years. Nobody actually cares for the term peeling or peel and its meaning. It originates from Latin and means: to remove the outer covering or skin… In comparison to dermabrasion, a mechanically procedure with a fast rotating diamond wheel, any peeling-compound is an acid based formulation. So the easy conclusion is, skin is ablated by acid. And the chemical action of acid is a “silent” (non visible) burning. Acid acts over time and by concentration. Especially high concentrated acids are tricky and difficult to handle. Left on the skin for too long and not properly neutralised by a base will result in scars.
Consumers may think: “My product is so mild is does not harm the skin” – wrong! No doubt after a peeling, the skin looks fresher and younger, especially on women’s skin beyond the thirties. The reason simply is, that the proliferation of new keratinocytes slows down with age, and therefore the skin’s top most layer, the Stratum Corneum, stays longer on the epidermis. The scales are subject to UV radiation and other environmental influences and they loose the natural transparency of keratin scales – they become slightly grayish. If removed by acid the skin gains more transparency. Provided a low acid concentration in a skin friendly cosmetic formulation is used we would not have to concentrate on this subject. However, reality is different. Being amazed by the positive skin response after the initial first trial, people start to exaggerate. Instead of peeling the skin according to instruction, possibly once a month, it is done daily. And each time, a tiny scale layer is removed. On top, we have another problem: Cheap acid products from non-controlled manufacturers and copycats, even the best FDA cannot control. The 5% concentration, written on the product, eventually turns out to be 30% and often more. Also the term “fruit” is misleading. Acid is acid, regardless from where it originates. In the end the consumer pays a high price by cancer in distant years.
The skin has two major enemies for premature aging: UVA & UVB radiation and so called “free radicals” (oxygen triplets). UVA and UVB are the same rays they only differ in wavelength and penetration depth. Our culture connotes that a suntanned Caucasian skin gives us the impression of health and beauty. The rest we understand by just glancing at the beach. Like oil-marinated Herrings to be air-dried they lie side by side – for hours. The grilling session is interrupted only by applying a new oil layer, and a drink for cooling off – so they think. They use cheap Sun Blockers by the Gallons and feel protected. They do not know that these Sun blockers have only chemical UVA/B filters that change their molecular structure by body fluids (sweat) within minutes. The longer they expose to the sun, the more UVA/B is transformed into infrared rays that are felt as heat, and the more they drink and sweat. So the question is, why do they still get sun burned and tanned in the end? The only reasonable answer is: some of these rays must penetrate the epidermis and activate the melanin production in the basal layer. Occasional sun tanning – done with common sense – does not harm our skin too much. It is vital and can recover. But have you ever seen common sense at the beach? – I did not. The skin damage comes over time, often in many years, by changing our genes and their expression. Eventually some of our genes are so badly damaged that their proliferation signals get out of control, they mutate and transform cells into rapid growing cancer cells. In Germany we have over 3.000 deadly cases, in sunny countries (Florida, California, Australia) the death toll must be much higher.
Now you may ask where is the relation of Peeling and sun? Very easy: Our epidermis with the underlying dermis not only is a protection against temperature and moisture loss, the epidermis with its full scale layers also acts as a filter. (See above). If you remove part of these scale layers (about 27 in total) the filtering action is decreased, often down to zero. This again results in intensified gene damage and skin cancer will start much earlier.
What to do? Peeling and sun (also solarium or tanning beds) are the skin‘s worst enemies. Avoid one or the other – best avoid both. A good sun protection is a so-called sunscreen. These are silicone-based formulations with embedded minerals, usually titanium- and zinc oxide. A good (medical grade) silicone screen does not prevent sweating, but protects your skin for many hours. Aged scales can easily be removed mechanically by using the Home Care Dermaroller several times per week – without any additional product. Don Owen, a US gene expert, found out that the tiny micro needles (0.2 mm) of the Dermaroller® stimulate gene expression that results in a faster proliferation of new keratinocytes and therefore thickens the epidermis. Forget peeling!
Everything we do should be done with common sense, even the use of the Dermaroller. But my final question is: were can we buy common sense?
Kind regards
Your Dermaroller Team
Horst Liebl
Keep working, nice post! This was the information I had to know.