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Chemical Peeling/Inflammatory Methods vs. Dermal Remodeling

 

INTRODUCTION

Before making a decision on a new skin care line please take a moment to review Osmosis’ revolutionary and yet common sense approach to skin health restoration. Our philosophy begins with the understanding that aging and most skin condition issues occur primarily in the dermis. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of skin care companies target the epidermis instead. Research shows that the average absorption of skin care is 2% no matter what pH is used. This means that 98% of most skin care products remain in the epidermis exfoliating and irritating (which actually ages the skin) and creating a temporary plumping that has fooled us into thinking our skin is healthier when it is not.

CHRONIC EXFOLIATION AGES THE SKIN

This concept is based on a series of simple truths. The body makes several layers of stratum corneum using keratin filled cells called corneocytes that we lovingly refer to as “dead”. For some reason we have been convinced that their existence is a mistake and therefore we follow the commonly stated belief that the “skin needs exfoliation help”. The top epidermal layers are critical to our health and survival and they do not need to be exfoliated. The epidermis slows down for the same reason the dermis thins, the skin is starved for nutrition. Everyday the skin is bombarded with nutritional demands and free radicals from diet, stress and the sun. When we are young, our dermal blood supply (which also feeds the epidermis) keeps up with the workload. As we get older, the amount of blood supply declines which forces the skin to make some hard choices. We know the dermis thins about 1% a year and yet it will not let the epidermis thin at all (due to risk of infection/death) so it slows the turnover rate in response to the lack of nutritional/immune support). In other words, the skin is starved and it accommodates to keep from completely falling apart. Most of the world addresses the slowdown by damaging the epidermis (exfoliation) which compromises the health of the skin (see “Benefits of Barrier Health Restoration”) and forces the dermis to divert scarce resources to fix the barrier as soon as possible. This means that the very thing that caused dermal thinning, nutritional/antioxidant deficiencies, is being made worse by new demands we are placing on the skin as a result of epidermal damage. Therefore the long term result of chronic exfoliation is greater starvation which leads to more rapid dermal thinning…aka…aging skin. At Osmosis, our line delivers ingredients to the dermis and restores the epidermal barrier so that the skin is healthier, more efficient and actively restoring itself.

BENEFITS OF BARRIER HEALTH RESTORATION

Besides the advantages of more efficient skin remodeling, there are well known benefits to an intact barrier that have been overlooked by most skincare companies who exfoliate routinely. We know that the skin is more hydrated which also means oil production is normalized. UV protection is better because the skin reflects light better. There is less inflammation and sensitivity because environmental toxins and other foreign particles are prevented from entering the skin. As you can see, virtually every skin condition benefits from an intact barrier. Restoring the epidermal turnover rate to 30 days is also our goal but we do not want to achieve it by damaging the barrier and aging the skin. Osmosis increases the blood supply (for increased nutrition/antioxidants) and uses strong fibroblast stimulators to restore the dermis and epidermis to its original healthy state.

REMODELING THE DERMIS

Not only does the dermis thin at 1% a year but it also begins filling with scar tissue. Osmosis is the first company to addresses both issues by scavenging foreign bodies and utilizing a total of eight fibroblast stimulators that have all been liposome coated which is proven to increase their penetration by 1000%. To remodel the dermis you must have adequate absorption, you must increase capillary flow to feed the process, you need to remove “dermal debris” to make room for new collagen and, finally, you have to stimulate fibroblasts at all times.

NATURAL AND CHIRALLY CORRECT

With our absorption rate proven to be 1000% better than virtually everyone else, we have a duty to make sure potentially harmful ingredients do not get into the skin. For this reason we only use natural and chirally correct ingredients, we do not use damaging ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate, hydroquinone, parabens or any other artificial additives. Chirally corrected ingredients means we use the most active and least irritating form of an ingredient (i.e. L-ascorbic acid, R-lipoic acid). There are two main benefits to this strategy; one is that natural ingredients communicate better with the skin because they are often recognized and more easily utilized by the skin, and two, artificial additives are more prone to cause inflammation or adverse effects and since every skin condition has inflammation at its core, minimizing it makes it easier to achieve excellent results.

In summary, Osmosis has developed the most active line of products available by addressing skin care’s first problem, absorption, and by utilizing the most research proven actives found in the industry. Our liposome delivers 1000% more product into the skin and we are using the most proven ingredients available (we have over 100 research articles supporting our ingredients). The best part is that we are seeing such incredible results without traumatizing the skin or damaging the barrier. The combined effect means that rather than seeing the “plateau effect” which reflects epidermal swelling and only leads to a thinner dermis, we continue to see the skin improve month after month.

Ben Johnson, MD, Founder/Formulator Osmosis Pür Medical Skin Care