Certain Products may be able to Regenerate Damaged Tissues and Prevent Stretch Marks

When a wound is formed on the skin, tiny cells called fibroblasts work to help repair damaged tissues and aid the formation of new ones.  This ability continues on in aged skin, but at a much slower pace. You may have noticed that as time passes your skin becomes looser and more wrinkled, an emblematic sign of the aging process that’s due to the loss in levels of collagen and elastin.

The amazing part is that scientists discovered that fibroblasts actually act older as we age. So, could this mean that if we were to can trick them into thinking they were young again they would start producing more collagen? Well, when a clinical study isolated fibroblasts from aged tissue and then exposed them to the same stimulating factors existent in a young healthy body, skin fibroblasts once again started producing important amounts of collagen.

Most stretch mark products focus their treatment on ingredients that are aimed to replenish the skin matrix by stimulating the synthesis of collagen or elastin. However, with this new study cosmetic scientists have started exploring different ways of stimulating fibroblast production in live human specimens instead of just confiding their results on controlled laboratory Petri dishes.

The results that can be obtained from “live” experiments will revolutionize the skin care market, but until that happens there are “quick-fix” products available.

Scientific research has also shown that there are only a few options that actually do firm, strengthen, and smooth the skin’s rough appearance by giving it a more refined, resilient, and healthier aspect.

The following ingredients are of interest when searching for products that help treat stretch marks and other skin conditions:

Active forms of Vitamin C, both stable and easy to absorb. This vitamin should be combined with zinc & bioflavonoids in the form of a topical application to be absorbed through the skin. Vitamin C taken orally will not increase fibroblast production.

Copper peptides

Enzymes & compounds with growth factor-like activity that trigger fibroblast proliferation and glycosaminoglycans. These ingredients are found in abundance in the secretion produced by land snails to regenerate their skin.

All these ingredients, together with the amino acids already existent in the human body, stimulate the skin’s fibroblast cells and provide the raw material needed to increase mobility.  They also stimulate the production of high quality collagen and other essential elements.

VITAMIN C
There are two known forms of Vitamin C that can be applied topically. These are ascorbic acid and ascorbyl palmitate.

Ascorbic acid is a water-soluble form of Vitamin C, while ascorbyl palmitate is a fat-soluble form of ascorbic acid and also non-water-soluble. Consequently, ascorbyl palminate can be deposited in cell membranes until it is needed by the body.

Despite the fact that it is advisable to add ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to your daily skin care treatment, it is unbelievably difficult to maintain its therapeutic potential. Furthermore, there are only a handful of patented methods licensed to a small number of companies.

Vitamin C is a primary antioxidant which makes it inherently unstable and inclined to rapid and visible oxidization. To camouflage the inevitable break-down some manufacturers add colouring and fragrances to their product. Nonetheless, once the product is opened and exposed to air and light the vitamin will begin to lose its worth leaving you with nothing more than a jar of orange or yellow tainted cream.

Another buffering technique used to protect the vitamin against decay is to mix ascorbic acid with a cream base hoping that other ingredients will keep it safe from the environment. The only problem is that ascorbic acid does not absorb properly into cream, therefore, yielding a false sense of preservation.

Nonetheless, Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that cannot be overlooked when creating an affective skin care routine. Coating your skin with a treatment that lacks this nutrient is meaningless if you’re trying to bring the firmness back to flaccid skin, however you can compensate the lack of vitamin C with a low molecular antioxidant such as snail serum.

Despite this information it is always easy to fall in the hands of unscrupulous marketers that only seek to benefit from misinformed and anxious consumers. They simply coax consumers into seeing the existence of therapeutic properties in very un-therapeutic products. This is the case of mentholated cigarettes.
Several years ago a group of cigarette companies decided to motive sales by persuading the public that mentholated cigarettes were somehow therapeutic and could be used as a recurrent treatment for smokers. They later went on to promote filtered and light cigarettes as the “perfect cigarette” that was free from carcinogens and still had the full taste of “real” ones. However there is no proof that smoking mentholated cigarettes can “heal” smokers nor that filtered or light cigarettes can keep you cancer free.
Evidently, the dangers associated to cigarette smoke are in no way related to the possible side-effects created by some less than therapeutic skin creams, but sometimes the power of persuasion can makes us go against our better judgement.

Most skin care formulas are aimed to insure that no physical or permanent harm be caused to skin, which only potentiates the application of poor quality or cheap topical ascorbic acid serums.

It’s important to keep in mind that oxidized and denatured ascorbic acid does NOT have any anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, or collagen-producing antioxidant properties. Oxidized and denatured ascorbic acid is nothing more than a useless extract taken from rotten oranges.

Degraded ascorbic acid engages and steadily fatigues glucose-powered metabolic processes within the skin consuming alpha lipoic acid, glutathione and other elements of its synergistic antioxidant system. The skin is simply forced to convert oxidized ascorbic acid back into usable ascorbic acid.

Using ascorbic acid for a couple of days is enough to insure permanent damage. But keep in mind that the healthier skin is to begin with, the more resources it has when processing poor quality products.   

The use of fresh ascorbic acid gives skin a fresh, radiant, and relaxed appearance unlike oxidized ascorbic acid which leaves your skin looking grey and tired. Consistent application of oxidized ascorbic acid causes considerable damage and should be avoided.

Oxidized Ascorbic Acid Speed-ups Skin’s Aging Process by:

fostering decreased collagen synthesis;

encouraging increased collagen breakdown;

creating an environment that is characterized by enhanced metalloproteinase activity, responsible for rapid and unnecessary depletion of: peptides; growth factors; antioxidant nutrients and an overabundance of other biologically essential molecules too poorly understood to warrant extensive modification to their volume and function.

Oxidized ascorbic acid isn’t recommended but even when this acid hasn’t oxidized it may still be less beneficial than other natural ingredients.

How have cosmetic companies dealt with the puzzle?

For more than 50 years most companies have ignored the importance of Vitamin C. They’ve claimed that it is “too hard” and have allowed their clients to purchase “anti-aging” products in vain.

Once Vitamin C entered the mass market, companies began including tiny and insipid amounts of Vitamin C in their products so that they could at least state that their product contained the nutrient. This also led to the misbelief that any amount or formula of Vitamin C would help treat certain skin conditions; however, those that used inferior products saw little or no change at all.

Another popular misconception is the theory that “more is better”. This caused manufacturers to incorporate an excess of 20% of Vitamin C in their products. The only problem was that even though Vitamin C is recommended as an antioxidant agent, too much can irritate skin and cause unpleasant side-effects. A lower percentage of Vitamin C will actually be more effective than an excess.

Only the pure Vitamin C molecule, in the right amount, un-altered by other ingredients nor affected by external factors can yield positive results. And it also has to be delivered at the right pH and free from any type of masking agents.

There are less than 20 effective products containing Vitamin C out in the market today. Now, if you take into account that not all products are meant for your skin type, the number of effective products drops.

Keeping things in perspective will help you find the product that’s right for you. Instead of going after a product purely based on a “cosmetic lifestyle” will more than likely lead you a stray.

By informing yourself about a product and its components you can avoid inferior products and find your way to real solutions.