How pollution is aging your skin

MANILA, Philippines – Rapid urbanization has its pros and cons. While it has allowed us to enjoy many conveniences as well as some luxuries, it has brought about problems caused by modern-day pollution.

Next to, if not equal to the sun, pollution has been recently considered as a main cause of oxidative damage.

Oxidative damage or stress happens when too many free radicals are produced in our body through oxidation. These molecules stimulate repair in our body, but it’s also natural that they damage other cells. When they’re too many and cause damage more than help the repair processes in our body, oxidative damage happens.

Toxins, like all the harmful elements found in a dirty atmosphere, accelerate oxidative damage.

In 2014 alone, the world produced 39.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions from burning gas, oil, and coal—higher than ever before and “nowhere near the commitments necessary to stay below 2C of climate change”—according to the international group of scientists of the Global Carbon Project, who published the report.

So long as the world keeps on burning gas, coal, garbage, and other byproducts of industrial processes, the levels of air pollution is seen to continuously increase, which only means the effects and the oxidative damage risks posed to everyone are also aggravated, especially for those who dwell in urban areas.

The risks from air pollution alone are far greater than what people think as it takes a serious toll on the body’s first line of defense—the skin.

A mere two hours of exposure to today's pollution levels can cause your skin's antioxidant levels to drop by 25 percent. In a few week's time, it can be depleted by an alarming 75 percent, making you and your skin degenerate and age faster.

Effect on the skin

Oxidative damage and the activation of enzymes in your skin cells cause the break down of collagen and elastin—the key components of youthful skin. We all know about collagen—it keeps your skin plump and full—which makes up around 75 percent of the skin structure.

Elastin, a protein made of amino acids and peptides, on the other hand, is present in small amounts, but it is what keeps your skin firm and allows it to stretch and recoil back to place.

The major cause for collagen and elastin loss is definitely environmental damage. When pollutants settle on the skin, free radicals are produced. There is much spite against free radicals in the world of skincare because they are unstable molecules with an unpaired electron and they bounce back and forth in the skin in their quest to find an electron to take away from your body’s healthy molecules.

This process causes damage from where they were taken as the free radicals poke holes on and dent your collagen and elastin structures, showing on the surface as lines, wrinkles and dark spots. Elastin is more difficult to replace; it’s easier to prevent its breakdown than to produce more of them, thus the importance of limiting your exposure to environmental damage or protecting your skin from such, especially if you live in the city.

In a recent study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, after comparing 400 women who lived in urban and rural areas, it was concluded that those exposed to higher levels of pollution developed 20 percent more skin discolorations and significantly more wrinkles. Free radicals also aggravate existing skin problems like acne and discolorations. What’s worse, pollution that infiltrates the cells cause Oxidative Damage in the DNA and cell mutations that lead to diseases such as cancer.

Thankfully, there's a way for you to combat the ill effects of rapid modernization on your skin - starting with a good skincare regimen.

The solution

As threatening as free radicals sound, there are effective solutions to oxidative damage: retinol to reverse the damage and antioxidants to prevent it. It is crucial to use such skincare products that penetrate past the protective layer, which is the epidermis, and go deeper to work at a cellular level “because the mechanisms in skin aging like the oxidative DNA damage occur at the cellular level,” says board-certified dermatologist Dr. Noemie Ramos.

Products rich in antioxidants or infused with anti-aging ingredients like retinol and retinoids, “work by stimulating our fibroblasts to produce collagen and by decreasing collagenase, the enzymes which break down collagen,” adds Dr. Ramos.

Retinol has long been lauded as the kryptonite of wrinkles, the gold standard of anti-aging, which effectively stimulates collagen production, fights acne, reduces spots and speeds up cell renewal.

In a published study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, evidence supports that antioxidants like vitamins A, C and E as well as B3 indeed help modify the photoaging process, making them crucial in skincare products that prevent elastin damage and promote new collagen production. AHAs are important too in breaking up dead skin cells and revealing an even glow.

A combination of retinol, AHAs, and antioxidants in your skincare regimen can preserving your skin for years. Helpful picks that can have a great impact on your skin include the powerful retinol-based Pond’s Age Miracle line, which can reveal improvement in as quick as two weeks. Apart from retinol, its antioxidant content effectively neutralizes free radicals and “donates” electrons to molecules that lack to reduce and prevent Oxidative Damage.

Best of all, it comes in a complete anti-aging skincare range for every step—from the Cell ReGEN Facial Foam, Day Cream SPF 15, Deep Action Night Cream, Serum, Dual Action Night Cream, Anti-Aging BB Cream, and Overnight Repair Cream to the Firm & Lift Face and Neck Day Cream, Targeted Lifting Serum Massager, and Eye Miracle Firm & Lift. Formulated with retinol and retinol boosters, AHAs, and antioxidants, among other advanced formulas, the Age Miracle line is a great ally in the fight against the worst aggressors.

The skin expert is here! Learn more about skincare, consult the experts, address your every beauty concern, and future-proof your skin with the help of #TheSkinExpert. Watch out for the opening of the Pond’s Institute pop-up store this February! For more information, check out our Facebook page www.facebook.com/PondsPhilippines.

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Be a #PondsMiracleMom with the Pond’s Age Miracle 3-step regimen