Today we discuss all things related to skin appearance, skin health, and skin longevity. We discuss sun exposure, sunscreens. We discuss laser treatments for the skin in order to make it appear more youthful as well as to prevent certain forms of skin cancer. We discuss retinoids, supplements, and nutrition all in reference again to skin health and appearance.
The first question is there any way to repair thinning skin as we age? I’ll just go on record saying that it’s very clear that excessive sun exposure will age skin more rapidly. Okay, that’s just categorically true. There shouldn’t be any debate about that.
Importance of Sun Protection
It’s absolutely true that sunscreen can help. And there are sort of three major forms of sunscreen. This relates to how to protect skin from thinning. One is a physical barrier. Pretty much nobody disputes a physical barrier. A hat, a long sleeve shirt, long pants, etc. However, those don’t always cover all their areas of the body that need sun protection such as the ears, the back of the neck, portions of… the face, and so forth.
Types of Sunscreens: Mineral-Based vs. Chemical-Based
When it comes to sunscreens, sometimes called sunblocks, I think there’s general agreement that the sunscreens that are mineral-based, that is inorganic, meaning that the active ingredients are either zinc oxide or titanium dioxide or some combination of those up to a concentration of 25% are generally deemed safe by most all dermatologists. Now, there are some people who will point out that there’s some controversy around certain forms of titanium dioxide. The evidence for that…
however, is not conclusive. I would say that if you’re really really concerned about any of that, then just stick with a pure zinc oxide formula up to 25%. Why would people not use zinc oxide formulas? Well, they tend to be kind of pasty and they don’t spread on very easily compared to some other sunscreen formulas. Sunscreens that are quote unquote chemical based. Okay, everyone will say, well, everything is a chemical. Yes, but they’re chemical based. They use a different approach to blocking or reflecting or absorbing UV Rays.
Those do indeed have some controversy around them. There are a few studies in which very large amounts of those chemical containing sunscreens, these are chemicals like oxenzene etc are applied to the skin and they do make it into general circulation. They do blood draws. They see that some of these chemicals can be endocrine disruptors leading some people to believe that chemical-based or sunscreens that contain some of these chemicals are to be avoided.
Recommendations for Sunscreen Use
Now, I want to be very clear on my stance, which is if you need sun protection and the choice is either to use those types of sunscreens occasionally versus no sun protection, I would say probably better to just use them. But if you are picking a sunscreen, aka sunblock where you are going to be using it all summer or very frequently, well, in that case, probably best to go with a mineral-based sunscreen because you’ll be doing more frequent exposure application. And then, of course, there are people that will argue that the chemical-based sunscreens are in fact fine.
And if that’s your threshold, meaning that there isn’t enough conclusive evidence that they’re problematic, then that’s fine. So those are the three general categories.
Balancing Sun Exposure and Vitamin D
But yes, sun will damage the skin, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get any sun exposure to your skin. Turns out that generating vitamin D, of course, getting your circadian rhythms right, hormone production, etc. actually requires some exposure to sunlight. You just don’t want to do it during the highest UV index portions of the day, like the middle of the day.
You don’t want to burn. However, and please note this, you do not have to burn in order to put yourself at a greater risk for skin cancer. So, you know, avoid burns, but avoid excessive sun exposure for you as well.
Causes of Skin Thinning with Age
Now, back to Robert’s question. The skin is thinning. Why is it thinning? Well, as we get older, the composition of the proteins in skin, and there are many different proteins, but in particular, the collagen and elastins start to either mutate or weaken. Could be less production of these. The skin sometimes loses moisture as well.
Collagen Supplementation for Skin Elasticity
And the basic solution to this is the following. We know that sun protection will help. We also know that there’s some evidence that ingestion of collagen proteins, believe it or not, can improve skin elasticity and the appearance of smoothness and plumpness. You might ask yourself, well, how is that? Is it that you ingest collagen? And by the way, people typically do this at dosages of anywhere from you’ll see as low as 5 g per day, but as high as 30 grams per day of collagen protein. Typically, there’s…
some vitamin C in there as well, which seems to help its absorption or utilization. And they will observe in these studies over time some improved elasticity, appearance of smoothness and plumpness of the skin. So, should you ingest collagen protein? Well, the results are again statistically significant, but they’re not overwhelming in the sense that um you’re not going to reverse all the thinning and local sagging of the skin completely by ingesting collagen, but it can help. Collagen can be ingested through things like bone broth.
Typically, people will get their collagen in powdered form. It’s relatively inexpensive. There are a lot of different forms of this from fish, from animal sources. There are some plant-based sources. It’s a little unclear whether or not those are as good. But in any event, five to 30 grams, typically 15 to 30 grams in the most of the studies does seem to be moderately effective in improving skin elasticity, plumpness, and appearance of smoothness.
Red Light Therapy for Skin Health
The other area where there’s some interesting research is red light exposure. Red light exposure is an interesting one because of course in sunlight we have full spectrum light. There are long wavelengths that appear red and it has been shown that light panels that are emitting red light or near infrared light or typically both can also improve skin appearance if done for about 10 to 15 minutes per day maybe 5 days per week minimum over the course of a few months. Again the results in those studies are statistically significant.
And I would place them in kind of the moderate result, meaning it’s not a striking result, but you could imagine combining red light with the collagen. So you start to get perhaps a synergistic effect, but those studies combining them have not been done.
Retinoids for Skin Improvement
It does seem that one of the best that is dermatologist supported ways to improve skin appearance is to ingest a retinoid. Um now these are prescription drugs. The retinoids um do require that you know you work with a qualified dermatologist.
They require that you stay out of the sun for some period of time because they can increase uh sensitivity to the sun. But they will improve collagen composition and that’s from the inside out.
Internal Sun Protection Supplements
And by the way, there are also some different uh supplements that one can take that can protect your skin so that you don’t have to put sunscreen on. It’s actually the extract of a vine essentially sunguarding by the ingestion of certain compounds that change the chemical composition of the skin from the inside. So that’s very interesting.
Laser Resurfacing for Skin Rejuvenation and Cancer Prevention
Another tool for improving skin appearance and this is true for the face and for the arms etc is the use of laser resurfacing. Now this is not a cosmetic procedure as much as it is a procedure to remove the very top epidermal layer the very very superficial layer of dead caratinosytes and other cells of the skin as a means to reduce cancer risk. It does have the consequence of making skin look quite a bit younger. So, it does work and like anything in the realm of kind of laser resurfacing and things of that sort, it does require a period of peeling, of staying out of sunlight and being really strict about that because the skin is more sensitive in the immediate days and even week after the um the laser resurfacing.
It was kind of remarkable for me to learn that this laser resurfacing and the retinoids are very well supported by um dermatologists as a preventative measure for certain forms not all forms but certain forms of skin cancers and that they can dramatically improve the appearance of skin that is to make it look more youthful. So certainly that would work on the arms as well.
Importance of Qualified Professionals
So we’ve got we’re talking about collagen, red light, retinoids, laser resurfacing by a qualified dermatologist or dermoncologist ideally. And the reason I emphasize the derm part is there are a lot of people who do kind of plastic and cosmetic work on skin who are probably very qualified and then there’s probably some who are not as qualified and um there can be some real issues raised by using excessive laser power and things of that sort.
Nutrition and Hydration for Skin Health
And then of course eating a diet that’s low inflammatory. So limiting fried and highly processed foods of course making sure that you’re getting enough essential fatty acids in the form of either supplementing or ingesting fatty fish oils. All of these sorts of things, fruits and vegetables, fiber, all the sorts of things that support healthy skin internally, some directly, some indirectly by virtue of the gut microbiome.
Moisturizers and Comprehensive Approach
I will add one last thing. It’s very clear that the appearance of skin is also very supported by hydration and moisture. So, applying a regular moisturizer, a high quality moisturizer regularly, pick a non-fragranced moisturizer regularly to the to the arms, that will help as well. And then depending on people’s disposable income, time, and energy they want to devote to this, uh you could go with the zero cost one, the moderate cost one, or combination of all of them if if you’re able to.
