AGING IS A PROCESS........ NOT A DISEASE

The advance of age is an extremely complicated procedure utilizing every cell and part of our mechanism of physiology that we have. As we grow older things begin to go wrong with us. Our vascular system, digestive tract and respiratory system begin to show their age. But why does aging occur? This article is dealing with the aging process of the skin only. Since skin show the changes that draws the attention of the person and others. The skin is an organ with its surface area measuring about 1.52 square meters (16 to 22 square feet); it is not merely a protective barrier. It serves to regulate excretion of metabolic waste products, regulates temperature, and has receptors for pain, tactile sensation, and pressure. The health and appearance of the skin, reflects the lifestyle, dietary habits and the age of the individual. Aging process is associated with a loss of fibrous tissue, slower rate of cellular renewal, and a reduced vascular and glandular network. The barrier that maintains cellular hydration also becomes impaired. The subcutaneous tissue (hypodermis) flattens, particularly in the face, hands and feet. Aging of the skin is influenced by many factors as ultraviolet radiation, excess alcohol consumption, tobacco abuse, and environmental pollution. Increase in body weight and rise in blood sugar levels, disrupt the biochemical reactions and the very structural framework of the skin. All these factors lead to cumulative deterioration in skin appearance and function.


Aging starts at conception & Continues until death
rowing old is a natural process our body has to pass through.It's a natural course of action human must suffer 2 .Aging is a slow complicated process affecting the physiology of our body.It's a silent process passed unnoticeable.

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The advance of age is an extremely complicated procedure utilizing every cell and part of our mechanism of physiology that we have.As we grow older things begin to go wrong with us 2 .Our vascular system, digestive tract and respiratory system begin to show their age.But why does aging occur?This article is dealing with the aging process of the skin only.Since skin show the changes that draws the attention of the person and others.The skin is an organ with its surface area measuring about 1.5-2 square meters (16 to 22 square feet); it is not merely a protective barrier.It serves to regulate excretion of metabolic waste products, regulates temperature, and has receptors for pain, tactile sensation, and pressure.The health and appearance of the skin, reflects the lifestyle, dietary habits and the age of the individual 3 .Aging process is associated with a loss of fibrous tissue, slower rate of cellular renewal, and a reduced vascular and glandular network.The barrier that maintains cellular hydration also becomes impaired.The subcutaneous tissue (hypodermis) flattens, particularly in the face, hands and feet.Aging of the skin is influenced by many factors as ultraviolet radiation, excess alcohol consumption, tobacco abuse, and environmental pollution 4 .Increase in body weight and rise in blood sugar levels, disrupt the biochemical reactions and the very structural framework of the skin.All these factors lead to cumulative deterioration in skin appearance and function.
factors and allergens.The skin loses much of its strength and elasticity.Age 50 +: age spots start to appear; a common occurrence on more than 90% of fair skinned people. 5-The epidermal layer thins, but the number of cell layers remains unchanged.2-The number melanocytes cells decreases, but increase in size.The skin appears thinner, paler, and clear (translucent), with large pigmented spots (age spots, liver spots, or lentigos) appear in sun-exposed areas.3-The skin's strength and elasticity reduced due to the changes in the connective tissue, known as "Elastosis" in sun-exposed areas.The skin is leathery with weather-beaten appearance common to those who spend a long time exposing to sun as farmers and sailors.4-The blood vessels of the dermis become more fragile easily bruised with subcutaneous bleeding called senile purpura.5-The subcutaneous fat layer thins, reducing its normal insulation and padding.This increases the risk of skin injury and reduces the ability to maintain body temperature with danger of hypothermia in cold weather.6-Sebaceous glands produce less oil as skin age.Men experience a minimal decrease, usually after the age of 80. Women gradually produce less oil beginning after menopause.This can make it harder to keep the skin moist, resulting in dryness and itchiness.7-The sweat glands produce less sweat.This makes it harder to keep cool, and you are at increased risk for becoming overheated or developing heat stroke.8-Some medications are absorbed by the fat layer, and loss of this layer changes the way that these medications work.9-Growths such as skin tags, warts, and other blemishes are more common in older people.10-With advance age the skin is thinner, more fragile with reduced subcutaneous fat layer which makes the skin at higher risk for injury.The ability to sense touch, pressure, vibration, heat and cold may be reduced.11-Friction and rubbing on the skin can cause skin tears.Blood vessels are fragile and easily damaged.Bruises, and hematomas may form after even a minor injury, can occur anywhere on the body, as the outside surface of the forearms, 12-The older the skin the slower it can repair itself.Healing of the skin wounds may be up to 4 times slower to repair.This is the cause of pressure ulcers and infections.

Dark spots
Wrinkles/Sagging Comedones Rough, red or scaly

Aging Factors
A. Intrinsic (chronologic) 1 : Skin is at risk for degenerative effects seen in other organs, yet due to its visibility, the skin on the surface reveals many aspects of our inner health.1) Genetic predisposition: cell aging is the process by which the cell becomes old and can't replicate, a process called "replicative senescence".This phenomenon could be due to: (a) Random occurrence DNA mistakes: Skin cells are some of the most rapidly dividing cells in the body.Persistent accumulation of DNA damage induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is proposed to be a major contributor toward the aging process.The rapid replication of skin cells causes them to be intrinsically vulnerable to replicative senescence, especially if efforts to protect skin cells from damage are not taken 6,7 .(b) Telomeres: it's the protective DNA cap at the end of the chromosome that ensures chromosomal stability.It serves to protect our genetic data, make it possible for cells to divide, and hold some secrets to how we age and get cancer.Each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter.When they get too short, the cell no longer can divide and becomes inactive or dies.This process is associated with aging and cancer formation.So telomeres have been compared with a bomb fuse 8,9 .
2) Hormones: With aging, there is a decline in the level of sex hormones (estrogen, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate), and growth hormone 10,11 .These particular hormones have great influence on the skin.While escalating sex hormones during puberty increase the incidence of skin acne, declining hormonal levels with aging accelerate skin deterioration 12 .In women, changes of hormonal levels e.g.estrogen during menopause are associated with significant changes within the skin.Estrogens influence skin thickness, wrinkling, and moisture 13,14 .
3) High blood sugar levels: Glucose is a vital cellular fuel.Chronic glucose exposure has long been known to affect how the body ages by a process called glycation based on the accelerated rate of aging seen in diabetics 15 .Hyperglycemia accelerated skin aging, results in gradual development of diabetic complications.When sugars enter the circulation, they attach themselves to the amino groups of tissue proteins such as collagen to slowly rearrange their structure into damaged structure called "advanced glycation end products" which is destructive because they can undergo extensive cross-linking with other proteins to form strong chemical bridges.Once healthy collagen fibers lose their elasticity, becoming rigid, more brittle, and prone to breakage 16 .The skin will show widespread complications, such as thinning, discoloration, loss of elasticity, and tendency to rashes and infections.4) Metabolic "Oxidative stress": The skin is the outermost barrier separating internal tissue from the environment.The regularly exposure to UV radiation and air pollution stimulate the production of "free radicals", which cause chaos in the skin cells.Prolonged exposure to free radicals leads to the appearance of pigmentation, wrinkles and sagging skin 17 .Oxidative stress breaks down protein (collagen), alters cellular renewal cycles, damages DNA, and promotes the release of proinflammatory mediators (cytokines), which trigger the generation of inflammatory skin diseases 18 .It also decreases the population of immune Langerhans cells, and the ability to migrate in response to tumor necrosis is significantly impaired in elderly subjects, which affect skin's ability to defend itself against stressors or infection that may impact its health 19 .B. External (photoaging) 3 : The intrinsic factors of skin are exacerbated by environmental (extrinsic) factors.One of the most important extrinsic factors in accelerated skin ageing is solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), which induced chronic low grade inflammation through increase of cytokines, cyclooxygenase (COX-2) and metalloproteinases.Epidemiological and clinical studies have identified excessive sun exposure as the primary cause in various skin diseases including, premature aging, inflammatory conditions, and melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers 20,21  (e) Increase destruction of collagen by increase enzymes which result in loss of skin structure occurring with age.
(f) Depletion of anti oxidants (vitamin E & vitamin C) in the surface epidermal layer.
2) Environmental Toxins a) Tobacco smoking: associate with increased plasma homocyteine.It contributes to many chronic diseases and reduced life expectancy 22,23 .The tobacco smoke produces oxidative stress, impairs circulation, and triggers DNA damaging reactions, making the skin more vulnerable to disease and aging 24,25 ."Smokers skin" is characterized by increased lines and wrinkles, uneven tone, dehydration, dull and frail skin 24 .Quitting smoking improves skin conditions and skin aging effect 24 .Smoking is a strong predictor of facial wrinkle formation and other aspect of premature skin aging 25 .b) Air Pollution: Effects of air pollution on the skin alone include dryness, premature aging, skin rashes, eczema and acne in both human and animal studies 26,27 , in particularly hyper-pigmentation, wrinkles, and sluggish skin renewal 28 .An increase in soot and particles from traffic was associated with 20% more pigment spots on forehead and cheeks 28 .
3) Emotional stress effect on the skin: "Stressful emotions age your skin 29 " When stress signal send out by the brain, the responds is as follows: 1. Activating immune cells in the skin and inflammation results which may affect the skin aging.2. Production of adrenaline: blood directed away from the skin towards the muscles which tends to get stiff results in more decrease of normal blood flow to the skin.Nourishment and Oxygen will be less and removal of waste and toxins will be inhibited.Eventually the skin will appears dull, pale, sallow and lifeless.3. Stressful emotions as anger, frustration, anxiety and excitement stimulate the release of hormones and enzymes which increase oil glands production and results in clog pores, pimples and unhealthy pale appearance.4. Increase production of cortisone hormone which weakens the body natural defenses and natural process of skin renewal and leaves the vulnerable to environmental pollution.5. Stress increase the population of free radicals which speed the aging process by harming the DNA and results in premature aging.6. Stress inhibits digestion; the body can't absorb nutrients from the food and undigested impurities will accumulate faster than the body can get rid of them.4) Dramatic changes in weight: Obesity requires special attention to skin, as the forces gravity grow, they place greater stress on healthy skin.The thin, elastic layer of skin becomes more delicate and easily broken with venous stasis and dermatitis.Because the immune response is less efficient in obese people, the likelihood of infection is greater.As the body weight increases and the blood sugar level rise, the biochemical reactions disrupt the structural framework of the skin 30 .Combination of these factors leads to cumulative deterioration in skin appearance and function.UV energy in its smallest form is a "dot" of energy particle traveling as a wave.Its energy has enough force to pass between the Silicon Oxide nanoparticle (NC, Sio) through the electron field into the interspaces of the crystalline structure.But the energy spent in getting into the nanoparticle leaves less energy available to escape out of the intermolecular spaces of the silicon oxide nanocrystal, i.e. there is little energy available to allow the UV energy to exit from the other side of the nanoparticle.The trapped UV energy simply converts to vibration and then to heat energy and is dissipated as heat.This is a very low heat and would not cause body surface to heat up more than one degree, so there is no discomfort nor heat damage.

What Are the Free Radicals 1 ?
A Free Radical is any atom or molecule that has one or more unpaired electrons and is capable of independent existence.Totally new concept now perfected by James Beckman (USA) and Anatoli Ischenko (Russia).It's a Silicon composite nano-particle which can give broad-spectrum protection against UVA, UVB, and UVC spectrum action (99% effective).Its characteristics are: 1. Transparent to visible light (clear not white) 2. Chemically inert-no toxicity 3. Potential actual SPF of 1000 The nanocrystal bulk is a crystal lattice with average size of several tens of nanometers.It works as follows: