Dry skin: why
Few people know, but dry skin is such a delicate problem that even a “moisturizing” cream can provoke it. How to avoid its appearance? And how can you help your skin recover?
Leakage protection
The skin can be compared to a brick wall, where keratinocytes (dead cells) serve as bricks, and three types of lipids serve as cement:
fatty acids (Omega-3),
cholesterol
and ceramides.
The main function of this “structure” is to control transepidermal water loss and perspiration, as well as to protect against the penetration of pathogens and chemicals.
In addition, the cells of the upper layer of the skin themselves contain a natural moisturizing factor (NUF), the main components of which are:
free carbolic and amino acids,
urea,
lactates,
citrates
and minerals.
These substances allow the stratum corneum to retain moisture and thus maintain firmness and elasticity.
The hydrolipid mantle, which covers the stratum corneum and makes the skin soft, also helps to retain water in the skin. The mantle is formed from the secretion of the sebaceous glands and lipids synthesized by keratinocytes, and its violation is one of the very first causes of dryness and inflammation.
Dryness factors
1. External
dustiness of the air,
hardness and poor water quality,
excessive UV radiation,
free radicals,
improper care.
2. Internal:
lack of vitamins, minerals and fatty acids,
some chronic diseases,
heredity.
In the first case, factors act on several fronts at once. Air dust and “wrong” minerals in tap water draw water from the skin, acting as a powerful adsorbent.
An excess of free radicals (chronic stress, all the same atmospheric pollution, UV radiation, smoking and others) destroys the protective layer of the skin.
As well as the use of cleaning agents containing surfactants (surfactants), alcohol and its derivatives, as well as drying care products and decorative cosmetics.
Internal risk factors “work” only in one direction – they disrupt the normal renewal of the skin and weaken its stability.
In fact, healthy skin can withstand the onslaught of adverse influences, at least for a long time. Therefore, the appearance of skin problems is always a sign of internal trouble.
How to support your skin
It is obvious that it is virtually impossible to “hide” from most external risk factors. While the internal ones are controlled.
First of all, it is recommended to assess the level of “beauty” nutrients:
vitamins A, C, E,
minerals: iron, zinc, copper, selenium and silicon,
Omega-3 fatty acids,
as well as cholesterol,
the content of which is “lame” in most patients with dry skin. And what matters is both the lack and the excess of some of them (the competitive interaction of nutrients with each other).
It is worth paying attention to the health of the thyroid gland, the deficiency of hormones of which is manifested, among other things, by dryness and flabbiness of the skin, and the pathology itself is very widespread and represents a serious medical problem.
Liver disease and chronic renal failure, as well as cancer and blood diseases, can also lead to dryness.
In addition, dry skin is the main symptom of atopic dermatitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatitis, which can be confirmed or refuted by a blood test for general immunoglobulin E.
Few people know, but dry skin is such a delicate problem that even a “moisturizing” cream can provoke it. How to avoid its appearance? And how can you help your skin recover? Leakage protection The skin can be compared to a brick wall, where keratinocytes (dead cells) serve as bricks, and three types of lipids…