Skincare peri and post menopause

Our life expectance is increasing and the average age when menopause occurs didn't change much in the last decade. This is why more women will have to care for post menopause skin for a longer time. During and after menopause our skin will go through some changes and might even become problematic. In this blog post I will have a closer look into these changes.

Change
During the start of menopause, also called peri-menopause, women will notice some changes to their skin. This is because estrogen levels start to decline (-35% between age 35-50) and as estrogen level decline, androgen level proportionately become more dominant. As a result, the majority of women experience drier skin. Or when the hormone levels are differently balanced they may get a more oily skin or develop acne tarda (adult acne), because the oil gland activity is increased. Another problem is that the skin's pH level will increase, which will impact skin health, barrier and microflora or microbiome. A higher pH value may result in problematic skin.

Loss of biological activity 
Around this period the metabolic biological activity in the skin will decrease faster than in our 20s or 30s. The production of important components like hyaluronic acid (filling + hydration), collagen (strength + structure) and elastin (flexibility + stretch) by fibroblasts (a very important skin cell) isn't sufficient, while the speed of their degradation is inclining because the skin's natural resilience against damaging free radical activity is reduced and the activity of degradation enzymes, like hyaluronidase, collagenase and elastase is elevated. Therewith the presence of those important skin components is declining 30% in the first years. This leads to more advanced signs of ageing skin and an overall loss of skin quality: skin firmness, skin surface eveness, skin tone eveness and glow (Goldie, Clin Cosmet Invest Dermatol, 2021). 

Solution
Skin ageing is a multifaceted continuous biological degenerative process, with an impact on overall skin quality, self perceived attractiveness, confidence and comfort (Quality of Life). The optimal solution should improve all 4 emergent perceptual categories or EPG's of skin quality (an important component of human attractiveness) as mentioned above. This can be achieved by supporting skin's own resilience against the inclined loss by degradation (reduce free radical and enzymatic activity) and increase skin's own biological activity, hence skin's own production of hyaluron, collagen and elastin with bio-active ingredients or bio-stimulators and inhibit human tyrosinase activity (reduce age spots). I will explain the 4 key actions below:

1. Bio-stimulators
Some evidence based bio-actives we can find in skincare are:

• 52 kDa Micro-Hyaluron (stimulation of hyaluron production with 209%: hyaluron-filler)
• Creatine (stimulation of collagen I and IV by + 35%  and elastin with +36%)
• Glycine Saponin (stimulation of hyaluron production +256% and collagen +49%) which is also a powerful anti-oxidant

2. Enzyme inhibitors
Some ingredients in skincare which inhibit enzymatic degradation are:

• Enoxolone (reduces hyaluronidase I activity by >50%)
• Arctiin (reduces HN-elastase activity by 79%) and is also an anti-oxidant

3. Anti-oxidants
Damaging free radical activity is increased in mature skin and ROS (Radical Oxidative Species) increase degradation of all components, enzymatic degradation and human tyrosinase activity, a powerful cocktail of anti-oxidants is a "must-have". The combination of fresh activated L-Ascorbic-Acid (primary defence with instant neutralisation of extra-cellular free radicals) and Licochalcone A (secondary defence with long-lasting intracellular stress protection is a valuable addition in any day or nighttime skincare regimen. Licochalcone A is moreover one of the most powerful anti-oxidants (if not the most powerful one) proven to reduce (deep) oxidative stress from High Energy Visible Light or HEVIS. As we know, free radicals from HEVIS damage the important skin-cell called the fibroblast and increase the risk of age spots. A product which development was initiated, supported and clinically tested by me is Eucerin's Hyaluron-Filler Vitamin C Booster. I highly recommend this product, especially after a collagen-stimulating in-office procedure.

4. Human tyrosinase inhibition
A relatively new, effective and safe ingredient in skincare which was tested on inhibiting human tyrosinase is Thiamidol. Other ingredients in skincare were tested on mushrooms (Hornyak, Journal of Investigative Dermatology 2018 & Mann et al. 2018) and are not potent in reducing human tyrosinase activity. It took 10 years of pioneering research (dr Ludger Kolbe) and comparing 50.000 actives to patent and market it. In the mean time Thiamidol is loved and recommended globally by many dermatologists and evidence based with 35+ studies including >2000 participants with all Fitzpatrick phototypes. 

Every AM routine should at least have a skincare product with SPF of 15 or higher.
An improvement of skin quality leads to an improvement of quality of life (van Geloven et al. EADV 2022). 
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Hope this was helpful.
Take care

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