For too many, their skin's beauty is . . . superficial.
Only "skin deep."
For too many others, their skin's beauty is . . . their highest priority - and so appearing attractive on the surface is more important than their underlying good health.
That justifies the use of commercially produced makeup, medical procedures such as botox, and other things to cover up skin flaws instead of preventing, reducing, or reversing them through good health habits.
The reality is - there's no real conflict.
Your Skin IS Important to Your Health
It's the largest single "organ" of your body - 1/6 of your total body weight.
Clearly, it's connected to your entire body, so it reflects your overall health - or lack of it.
And the health - or lack of it - of your skin affects your entire body.
The Lothian Birth Cohort Study
They tested how "looks" compared to actual life expectancy.
The researchers took photographs of around 300 elderly people and showed the photos to another group of subjects - who did not personally know any of the elderly people.
This group then rated the elderly people for age, health, attractiveness, and so on.
The elderly people were up in age, but not all the same chronological age - and the rating group were not told the elderly people's actual chronological ages.
This group rated the elderly people simply on how they appeared in the photos. Younger or older? Healthy or not?
The researchers then followed the elderly people for seven years. The conclusion?
The older they looked in their photographs - no matter what their actual chronological age - the sooner they died.
Mariana Boroni Proved Skin Biological Health Correlates With Biological Health
She used biomarkers to measure skin's "clock" - or calendar - showing how biologically old it is.
She then showed your skin's biological age strongly correlates with your biological age. (Which can be older or younger than your actual chronological age.)
Your Skin Tends to Age Faster Than the Rest of Your Body
Your skin is the organ that must cope with the stressors in the outside world: air pollution, dust, UV radiation, dry air, smoke, temperature extremes, and more. It's your frontline of protection against everything from rocks to bacteria.
UV radiation from the sun is probably the main cause of problems because UV damages the DNA in skin cells.
That's why a third of Australians get skin cancer or some other growth that must be removed - and why the government gives away sunscreen at Australian beaches. It's cheaper for their national healthcare system to give sunbathers sunscreen now than to treat them later for skin cancer.
Consequently, your skin contains the most senescent - "zombie" - cells.
Here's where skincare meets the cutting edge of anti-aging research.
Fighting Senescent Cells May Help Us Live Longer
Ordinarily, when cells grow so old they're weak and dysfunctional, your body tells them to die - and they obey, committing hari-kari. And you recycle the raw materials to make new, healthy cells.
But as we age, some old cells refuse to die on command. Instead, they just stop dividing, don't function - and begin secreting inflammatory factors - upsetting their neighbors, making them more vulnerable to chronic disease. These zombie cells also produce mitogens, which stimulate cancer.
Ordinarily, your immune system destroys senescent cells, but as it weakens with age, its natural killer cells can't keep up with the zombies.
These senescent cells are linked to many of the chronic conditions of old age, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more. In the skin, they may well contribute to wrinkles and sagging skin.
Skin senescent cells are worth caring about because research in mice has shown senescent cells can spread from their skin to internal parts of their body.
Therefore, even if you don't care how old you look, senescent cells in your skin may go deeper, causing adverse health consequences you DO care about.
Science is Searching for Senolytic Substances to Get Rid of Zombie Cells
Studies with mice, and a few with people, show that if you can get rid of senescent cells, you improve your overall health.
And - remember - most of your senescent cells are in your skin.
Get rid of those, and you improve your appearance AND make your entire body healthier.
There are a few senolytic medicines your doctor might prescribe for you.
Combining the medicine dasatinib with the polyphenol quercetin gave good results in test trials.
Fisetin is another polyphenol. Both it and quercetin are widely available as supplements - and in many plant foods.
Exterior Senolytics for Your Skin
The same scientist who proved the correlation of skin health with overall health went on to look for senolytics for your skin.
She tested small chains of amino acids called peptides. Out of over 700 peptides, she found 20 that did clear up skin senescent cells.
She turned one of those peptides into a product, OneSkin, she sells.
Retinol & Retin A May Help but Don't Use Everyday
They can clear out senescent skin cells, but do NOT use them daily, because they stimulate skin growth.
In the long run, your skin could come to rely on them, instead of using its own resources to combat age and disease.
For Younger, More Beautiful Skin, Avoid:
* Smoking
* Alcohol - yes, it's also hard on your skin
* Excess UV radiation - more than 10-20 minutes per day of sunlight. If you get sunburned, you spent too much time in the sun.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7405395/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214092/
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/does-cellular-senescence-hold-secrets-healthier-aging
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32660606/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothian_birth-cohort_studies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Laa2LiS2E&t=1236s
https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/gene/col1a1/
https://www.oneskin.co/pages/faq
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/retinoids