Photo-Aging and Sun Damage: Skincare Actives
Intro
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, “photoaging is a direct result of cumulative sun damage you’ve been exposed to throughout your life.” With the cumulative sun damage, photoaging can eventually lead to the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and pigmentation. Beyond the development of fine lines, wrinkles, and pigmentation, research also says that chronic exposure to sunlight can lead to the development of skin cancers. With all of this, looking at ways to protect the skin from sun damage is useful to prevent the appearance of fine lines, winkles, and pigmentation. In addition to protecting the skin from sun damage, people may also look towards skincare actives and skin procedures to address their photoaging symptoms.
In last week’s blog post, we learned about how sun exposure can cause photo-aging and photo-damage. In addition to this, we also learned about sunscreens, the different types of sunscreens, and how antioxidants may be useful at protecting the skin. Click here to read last week’s blog post.
In this week’s post, we are going to speak about the evidence behind skincare actives claimed to address photo-aging and sun-damaged skin.
NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS MEANT TO BE EDUCATIONAL ONLY, AND IS NOT MEANT TO DIAGNOSE, PREVENT, TREAT, OR CURE. PEOPLE SHOULD ALWAYS CONSULT THEIR TRUSTED LICENSED PROVIDER BEFORE TRYING ANY NEW TREATMENTS
RETINOIDS
Many dermatologists use retinoids to address photo-aging. Retinoids are vitamin A derivatives that can be found in over-the-counter (OTC) skincare products and can be prescribed by doctors, and according to research, retinoids can be used for anti-wrinkle treatments, improving skin texture, improving uneven hyperpigmentation, and improve the appearance of fine lines. Research also indicates that retinoids can be helpful for acne and supporting skin hydration.
Types of retinoids
There are many different types of retinoids, and from gentlest to strongest, those retinoids are: Retinyl ester, retinol, retinal/retinaldehyde, and retinoid acid. Retinoid acid is prescription-only, and other prescription-only retinoids include tretinoin (Retin-A), adapelene (Differin), and tazorotene (Tazorac), with tretinoin usually used for photo-aging and tazarotene usually used for photo-damage. With that, retinal esters, retinol, and retinal/retinaldehyde can be purchased OTC.
Photosensitivity, peeling, and skin purging
Retinoids can increase cellular turnover at the skin level to reduce the appearance of photo-aging. Because of this, it could make skin more-sensitive to sunlight, increasing people’s risk for sunburn. With this, it will be worthwhile to use proper photo-protection (sunscreens, etc.). In addition to making skin more-sensitive to sunlight, retinoids can also make skin dry and cause peeling since it does increase cellular turnover. To prevent this, some dermatologists may recommend starting off with a lower concentration and applying less frequently until the skin builds tolerance to more-regular application.
Retinoids can also lead to “skin purging.” This term has been surfacing on social media and all throughout the internet, and has not been given an official definition. But, “skin purging” has been used to describe a breakout-like reaction after using a skincare actives that increase cellular turnover. According to dermatologists, “skin purging” can happen for 4-6 weeks after starting a new skincare active, and it would be best to speak to a doctor if these breakouts occur beyond 6 weeks.
Beyond making skin more sensitive to sunlight, making skin peel, and causing “skin purging”, retinoids are not safe during pregnancy and may not be recommended for those with certain health histories. With this, always speak to your trusted skin specialist before trying any retinoids.
Topical PEPTIDES
Peptides are amino acid-based compounds that are commonly found in anti-aging skincare products. There are different classes of topical peptides, with each class having a specific action on the skin. Some classes of topical peptides are:
Signal peptides
These peptides affect the aging process by either supporting collagen (palmitoyl tripeptide-3/5, tetrapeptide-21, palmitoyl oligopeptide, and more) and/or optimizing the production of melanin (tetrapeptide, tripeptide, and more).
To speak about the research about some of these signal peptides, 2009 article completed on human subjects showed that twice daily application for 84 days of palmitoyl tripeptide-3/5 led to reduced severity of wrinkles and led to improved skin texture compared to placebo. A 2011 study looking at the effects of topical tetrapeptide-21 on skin health compared to another topical peptide (pal-KTTKS) showed that tetrapeptide-21 increase skin elasticity after 8 weeks of twice-a-day application.
Carrier peptides
Carrier peptides help bring minerals into the skin to affect the aging process. Copper peptides are an example, and research says that topical application of a specific copper peptide reduced the appearance of wrinkles, increased skin elasticity and hydration, and increased collagen in skin after 12 weeks of application.
Manganese peptides are another type of carrier peptide, with research saying that 12 weeks of daily application of manganese peptide led to reduction in photodamage and hyperpigmentation.
Neurotransmitter-inhibitory peptides
Inhibiting/preventing muscle contraction is another strategy to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, such as when people do botox injections. Neurotransmitter-inhibitory peptides mimic the effect of these neuromodulator injections to address fine lines and wrinkles, but these topical peptides do so through a different mechanism.
Acetylhexapeptide-3 (Argireline) is one of the best-known neurotransmitter-inhibitory peptides, and a small study completed in 2002 showed that twice daily application of Argireline for 30 days led to improvement in wrinkles around the eye area compared to placebo. And another study completed in 2013 showed that twice daily application of Argireline for 4 weeks led to improvement in wrinkles around the eye area compared to placebo.
Other neurotransmitter-inhibitory peptides that can be found in skincare products include pentapeptide-18 (Leuphasyl) and Tripeptide-3 (SYN-AKE).
Enzyme inhibitory peptides
These peptides inhibit enzymes that could play a role in inflammation in the skin, degrade collagen in the skin, and more. However, there are little-to-no studies on these topical peptides, and hopefully more studies do come out. With the current literature, soy peptides have been shown to increase collagen production in the skin in humans subjects.
HYALURONIC ACID
Hyaluronic acid is a compound that is naturally made by skin cells that pull in and retain water in the skin to help make skin elastic and hydrated. Hyaluronic acid can also be found in skincare products to help with skin hydration. Research shows that chronic sun exposure leads to lower levels of hyaluronic acid in the skin and that free radicals can degrade hyaluronic acid in the skin. Additionally, research indicates that hyaluronic acid is lower in aging skin, which contributes to the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and crepe-y, dry skin.
In regards to the science behind topical hyaluronic acid and photoaging: A small study completed in 2021 looking at the effect of topical hyaluronic acid serum with topical sunscreen on subjects with facial photo aging showed that twice a day application of hyaluronic acid with sunscreen for 6 weeks led an immediate and sustained increase in skin hydration and an improvement in fine lines and wrinkles.
Summary & Takeaways
This week, you learned about the science behind skincare actives claimed to address photo-aging. In this blog post, we covered retinoids, peptides, and hyaluronic acid. And, next week, we are going to cover minimally-invasive skin procedures that are claimed to address photo-aging and what science has to say about them. As a quick-recap of the skincare actives, we spoke about:
Retinoids: There are different types of retinoids that are available over-the-counter and can be prescribed by doctors. Studies show that retinoids can be recommended by doctors to address signs of photo-aging.
Topical peptides: There are many different topical peptides - some with ample amounts of research and others with limited research. Peptides are amino-acid based compounds, and topical peptides can have different actions to affect skin aging. The topical peptides classes covered in this blog post were:
Signal peptides, which affect cell signaling for collagen and melanin production.
Carrier peptides, which bring antioxidant minerals into the skin.
Neurotransmitter-inhibiting peptides, which inhibit/prevent muscle contraction to prevent the appearance of/progression of fine lines and wrinkles.
Enzyme inhibitory peptides, which inhibit enzymes that play a role in skin inflammation.
Hyaluronic acid: Hyaluronic acid play a role in supporting skin hydration, and research indicates that topical hyaluronic acid reduced the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and increases hydrating in photoaged facial skin.
As always, speak to your doctor before trying anything new to see what is worth your while, as there could be some adverse effects with using some of these skincare actives.
In next week’s post, I am going to cover the evidence behind skincare procedures claimed to address photo-aging and photo-damage. And later on this month, I will be addressing sunscreen myths that I have seen surface on social media.
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