Chemical Peels

COSMETIC SURGERY

Chemical Peels

Mar
2002
Vol. 21. No. 1
Eric F Berstein

IN ORDER TO understand the beneficial effects of topical treatments on photoaged skin, we must first gain an understanding of the alterations that occur as a result of chronic sun exposure. Most of the changes we attribute to chronological aging actually result from long-term sun exposure. To illustrate this fact, one can compare the pigmeniary alterations, sallow color, fine lines, and wrinkles of sun-exposed skin to the smooth, supple sun-protected skin on the same individual. Our skin attempts to protect itself from the effects of chronic sun exposure via a number of mechanisms. These include our baseline melanin content that responds with an increase in synthesis and deposition of melanin in response to sun exposure, as well as our endogenous means of preventing oxidative damage. As much as half or more of the photodamage that occurs may result from oxidative mechanisms. Our natural defenses against oxidative damage include superoxide dismutase, glutathione-based systems, and the antioxidant vitamins C and E. As we age chronologically and gain cumulative damage from repeated sun exposure, these systems begin to fail. As a result of the decline in our defenses and repeated assauhs on our cellular DNA from the sun, both the epidermis and dermis start to show signs of chronic photoaging

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