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Preventive Skin Care During Skin Aging

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Textbook of Aging Skin

Abstract

Aging causes various anatomical, physiological, and psychological changes. Skin aging can be broadly conceptualized into intrinsic and extrinsic aging. The geriatric population is particularly vulnerable for developing certain skin diseases. The prevalence of pathological skin diseases increases substantially with age. The most prevalent skin diseases in aged populations are fungal infections including onychomycosis and tinea pedis, various forms of dermatitis and xerosis cutis with pruritus, as well as actinic keratosis, benign skin tumors, and pressure ulcers. Prevention is a powerful strategy to avoid, to delay, and/or to treat diseases at first clinical signs. Prevention of skin health can be defined as interventions to support skin barrier function and to restore or increase immune function and protection of the skin across the life span. This concept includes primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Primary skin health prevention includes activities to protect healthy individuals from skin diseases. Lifelong sun protection, for example, reduces the risk for the development of accelerated extrinsic skin aging and cancer. Secondary skin prevention is the early diagnosis and treatment of existing skin diseases, e.g., skin cancer screenings. Targeted interventions and therapies for the stabilization and avoidance of deterioration of skin diseases is tertiary skin health prevention, e.g., treatment of incontinence associated dermatitis. A formal and well-implemented skin health preventive approach across the life span might reduce the frequency and severity of cutaneous problems and diseases.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Clinical Research Center for Hair and Skin Science, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Andrea Lichterfeld, Elisabeth Hahnel, Ulrike Blume-Peytavi & Jan Kottner

Authors
  1. Andrea Lichterfeld
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  2. Elisabeth Hahnel
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  3. Ulrike Blume-Peytavi
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  4. Jan Kottner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrea Lichterfeld .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Miranda A. Farage

  2. Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Kenneth W. Miller

  3. Department Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

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Lichterfeld, A., Hahnel, E., Blume-Peytavi, U., Kottner, J. (2015). Preventive Skin Care During Skin Aging. In: Farage, M., Miller, K., Maibach, H. (eds) Textbook of Aging Skin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27814-3_133-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27814-3_133-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27814-3

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