Damaged skin: A Science Backed Approach
Common Causes of Skin Damage: What You Need to Know
Stop skin damage in its tracks before it's too late! Some causes of skin damage are obvious while others are more unexpected. In any case, understanding the causes of skin damage allows you to protect your skin and maintain a healthy glow for years to come.
What Does Damaged Skin Look Like?
Before we talk about the causes of damaged skin, we first need to cover what damaged skin actually looks like. After all, if you don’t know the signs to look for, you may not even know that your skin is damaged in the first place!
Here are some of the most common signs of damaged skin so that you can identify them, treat them, and prevent any further damage:
The first sign that your skin is damaged is that it’s really dry. This is because damaged skin loses its ability to produce natural oils and moisture. As a result, you’re left with dry skin that can also be red and flaky.
Another sign that your skin is damaged is that you have a lot of wrinkles. Wrinkles are an inevitable part of aging, but if you seem to be aging prematurely, this could be a sign of damage rather than natural aging. If you notice that you tend to have more wrinkles and fine lines than other people your same age, you may be dealing with damaged skin.
While dark spots aren’t necessarily a sign of damaged skin, this skin condition is most often caused by sun damage that affects the function of melanin in the skin. As a result, you’re left with an uneven skin tone.
The last sign that you have damaged skin is that it’s constantly irritated. If you experience skin concerns like redness, burning, dryness, and irritation, you could be dealing with damaged skin.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Skin Damage?
Based on these symptoms, if you believe that you’re dealing with damaged skin, you next need to focus on the cause. Without knowing the cause of the damage, it’s impossible to treat it and prevent it from worsening!
Here are some of the most common causes of skin damage to be aware of:
The most common culprit of skin damage is the sun. While the sun certainly has its beneficial qualities, it also has the potential to cause irreparable damage to your skin as a result of its powerful ultraviolet rays. Over time, these rays can break down components of the skin, particularly collagen and elastin, and lead to wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging skin. Furthermore, these rays also affect the function of melanin within your skin cells, leaving you with dark spots or areas of hyperpigmentation. Finally and most importantly, sun damage can lead to different types of skin cancer that can be very dangerous if not caught early.
Unhealthy habits like smoking cigarettes and drinking excess amounts of alcohol can damage your skin over time. This is because the chemicals present in cigarettes damage your skin cells and reduce the production of collagen and elastin. As a result, you’re often left with signs of premature aging. Alcohol, on the other hand, is a diuretic that dehydrates the body, and in turn -- the skin. Dry skin is more prone to signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles.
This factor is harder to control than the others, but it can still lead to skin damage. In fact, you may not even be aware that pollutants are affecting your skin until you begin to see signs of damage. This is because pollutants enter your skin as tiny particles called free radicals. These particles generate oxidative stress within your cells and can damage cellular components such as proteins, DNA, and cell membranes. Pollution is particularly an issue for those living in more urban environments.
The ingredients within many of your household, cosmetics, and skincare products could potentially be damaging your skin. This may come as a surprise since all of these products are supposed to be safe for use. That being said, just because these products are “safe” doesn’t necessarily mean that they are healthy for your skin. While everyone’s skin reacts differently to certain ingredients and products, some potential chemical irritants include things like alcohols, sulfates, parabens, silicones, fragrances, phthalates, and formaldehyde.
Believe it or not, making facial expressions could be causing skin damage! Obviously, it’s impossible to remain totally expressionless for your entire life. That said, it’s still important to understand the relationship between facial expressions and skin damage. When you constantly use your face to make expressions like smiles, frowns, etc. you’re effectively stretching out your skin. Over time, your skin becomes less able to bounce back as it once did when you were younger due to decreasing collagen and elastin production. As a result, you’re left with wrinkles on your face that may affect the area around your mouth, forehead, and eyebrows.
How To Properly Treat Damaged Skin
Now that you know all of the potential causes of damaged skin, it’s time to move on to treatment. The good news is that just because your skin is damaged now doesn’t mean it has to stay that way forever! There are things you can do to repair and heal your skin so that it looks healthier and younger.
Here are some effective remedies for damaged skin:
Depending on the cause of your skin damage, topical skincare products could improve the appearance of skin damage. For example, you could use topical anti-aging products to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. You could use topical lightening products to reduce the appearance of hyperpigmentation. Finally, you could use topical anti-inflammatory products to reduce irritation and redness.
If you’re dealing with fine lines and wrinkles as a result of damaged skin, you may want to consider getting Botox injections to help improve the appearance of these problem areas. Botox injections temporarily paralyze the muscles in your face so that you’re unable to make the facial expressions that likely led to these issues in the first place! As a result, your skin can work to fill in these areas with collagen to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
If you’re not a fan of temporarily paralyzing your face with Botox injections, injectable fillers are another option. Problem areas with fine lines and wrinkles are injected with a filling substance, like hyaluronic acid, to smooth the skin and fill in lines.
If you’re dealing with skin damage in the form of wrinkles or hyperpigmentation, a chemical peel may be an effective remedy. A chemical peel uses chemical agents to remove the damaged top layers of skin -- revealing the healthy and fresh skin underneath. While mild chemical peeling solutions can be used at home over-the-counter, more intense chemical peeling solutions should be applied by a qualified medical professional.
If you’re dealing with stubborn signs of skin damage that just won’t seem to go away, you may want to consider laser skin resurfacing. This cosmetic treatment uses the light from lasers to remove layers of your skin to reveal the new and healthy skin underneath.
How To Prevent Skin Damage
While treatments are great, prevention is even better! Now that you’re educated on some unexpected causes of skin damage, you can take proactive steps to protect your skin before it becomes damaged.
Here are some things you can do to prevent damage to your skin:
The single most important thing you can do to prevent skin damage is to practice diligent sun protection. This involves applying an SPF product each and every day.
In addition to sun protection, you need to establish a comprehensive skincare routine that includes steps like cleansing, moisturizing, and exfoliating. Make sure that all the ingredients in your skincare products are healthy and beneficial for your unique skin. PROVEN Skincare utilizes a revolutionary skin genome quiz to make sure that our custom products do just that -- and more -- for damaged skin.
Living a healthy lifestyle is another way that you can prevent skin damage. By avoiding cigarettes and alcohol while embracing hydration, healthy foods, and exercise -- you can combat damage and maintain your healthy skin.
Customized skincare for a clear and radiant complexion
Now that you know all about the different causes of skin damage, you can take proactive steps to prevent it! Even if you’re already seeing the signs of damage, there are remedies that you can try to reverse that damage.
Be sure to start off with a comprehensive skincare routine that avoids irritating products in favor of more natural products, like those offered by PROVEN Skincare.
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Personalized skincare comes with a host of benefits
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OUR TEAM
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Dr. Yuan is a Computational Physicist from Stanford University
Proven co-founder, Dr. Amy Yuan, fixed her skincare woes by using her computer science background to analyze the effectiveness of more than 20,238 skincare ingredients, 100,000 products, 20 million testimonials, and more than 4,000 scientific journal articles. Now she is applying that to create the perfect skincare for you.
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