Complexion: cleaning and care

To know how to slow down the loss of firmness, it is essential to be clear about which part of the skin is responsible for the turgor and how it works.

What is the dermis?

The dermis It is the part of the skin in charge of maintaining tonicity. It is composed of a support substance rich in water and active cells, fibroblasts, what fAbrican large amounts of collagen and elastin fibers that intertwine with each other, giving rise to a very dense mesh, responsible for the elasticity and resistance of the skin.

The fibroblast production system works wonders in childhood and youth, but it begins to fail after the age of 40. They are less active, the fibers to which they give rise are of poorer quality and furthermore they do not intersect in an orderly manner, but rather they clump together, leading first to wrinkles and then to loss of skin tone. To end up aggravating the situation, over the years, the dermis has more difficulties to retain water. As a consequence, the loss of firmness in the facial oval.

Factors that accelerate the loss of cell renewal

This natural process appears clearly from 50 years, when cell renewal processes are weakened. In addition, it is usually accelerated by factors such as:

• The one that dehydrates and contributes to the disorganization of collagen and elastin fibers.
• The proliferation of very active pieces of molecules that, to stabilize themselves, combine with different structures, including collagen fibers.
• The drastic, unbalanced, low-calorie, low-protein diets, often accompanied by diuretics, are one of the worst enemies of the skin, because they subject it to deficiencies that affect its structures.

Tips for maintaining a radiant complexion

Once we understand the mechanism of loss of skin tone in its different facets, we are going to see what aspects we can influence with our nutritional and cosmetic habits to delay the dreaded sagging.

Internal and cosmetic hydration

• Drink around 1.5 liters of water per day, like juices, infusions and broths, it will provide the body and the dermis with the water necessary to maintain the hydration of its structure.
• Apply morning and evening one moisturizer; simple at age 20 and, as age increases, it should be richer in fat and active ingredients.
• Those applied rigorously will help the epidermis not to dehydrate while they can restore or reinforce the presence of moisturizing substances, such as lactic acid, hyaluronic acid, urea or seaweed concentrates, which retain water in the skin.
• Some creams claim to contain collagen or elastin in order to restore skin tone. This is a somewhat utopian argument because these two fibers are very large molecules that are not absorbed by the epidermis, although they do have a certain water retention action.
• For more mature skin, sometimes regenerating and anti-aging creams include free anti-radical substances such as

Healthy and varied diet

• It will allow us to ensure the contribution of vitamins C and E naturally. Citrus fruits, peppers, strawberries, tomatoes ... will provide vitamin C, and virgin olive oil or nuts, vitamin E. In addition to its interest as, vitamin C is essential for the biosynthesis of collagen, which means that it is doubly interesting for the health of our skin.
• Food must also be the main source of collagen and for this you must include animal protein. It is not advisable to systematically skip the "second courses" and follow rigorous vegetarian diets.
• Have recently appeared food supplements that provide hydrolyzed collagen that taken daily favors the regeneration of collagen in our body and therefore improves the joints, bone density and the condition of the skin.
• Keep the sun at bay with products with a minimum factor of 50, which must be applied generously and before leaving home. We must pay attention to the addiction to UVA rays since they are the most penetrating solar radiation.

Facial gymnastics

We all have very internalized the benefits of physical exercise but not so much those of the facial. To combat sagging it will be very convenient to stop at the self-massage when applying cosmetics and practicing some exercise of gymnastics with the muscles of the face to maintain the smoothness of the dermis.

What you should know:

• Sagging is a natural process that appears clearly after 50 years, when the processes of cell renewal They get weak.
• Excessive exposure to the sun and UVA rays or drastic, unbalanced and hypocaloric diets accelerate the sagging process of the skin.
• Tips: drinking around 1.5 liters of water a day and applying a hydrating emulsion or incorporating some type of facial gymnastics will help combat sagging.

Mercè Camps Miro Pharmacist, specialist in Dermopharmacy