When you talk about skin, one is quick to trace aging back to the simple Appearance of macroscopic changes: all the signs of the passage of years Instead, they are the result of somewhat articulated phenomena that are much more complex than than one might have thought until recently.
There are two types of skin aging: chronoaging, due to the passage of time, and the photoaging, related to damaging effects on the genome and cellular structures of the skin of exposure to solar radiation.
As for the Chronoaging are determinants of free radicals, oxygen derivatives that are very reactive that can damage various cellular structures, from membranes to the proteins to genetic material. With regard to photoaging, it should be remembered that “UVB is low wavelength, very energetic radiation that interact directly with DNA, promoting aging and cancer, the UVA is longer wavelength radiation, less energetic, but able to to penetrate deep into the skin, with an indirect genotoxic action through the formation of free radicals, and UVCs are very energetic but restrained by the ozone layer,” observes Edward Zattra, head of the Outpatient Dermatology Clinic at the Hospital. St. Anthony in Padua on the occasion of the 24th World Congress of Dermatology, held in Milan from June 10 to 15.
Research has made significant progress and focused on the role of inflammation, coining the term “inflamm-aging.” “Acute inflammation represents a defensive mechanism through which the body tries to temporarily counteract dangerous situations without leaving consequences in our bodies,” Zattra points out. Inflamm-aging, although seemingly symptomless, can promote the onset of cell-to-tissue damage. The condition that most requires attention is of course the persistence, or rather the chronification, of inflammation, which occurs, for example, in some diseases such as atopic dermatitis or psoriasis. In short, low-grade and protracted inflammation is the real insidiousness. Two reflections arise from this more recent conception of skin aging. First, aging is no longer seen as an autonomous and inescapable factor but as a process strongly hinged on inflammation, evoking curious analogies with numerous degenerative conditions, such as atheroclerosis, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration. Second, it is necessary to review strategies to counter aging, which must make use not only of specific topical preparations but also of supplements, to be taken at appropriate dosages and for appropriate intervals of time, and the adoption of a proper lifestyle. One promising molecule is isopalmide: it is a new synthetic endocannabinoid, belonging to a new class of cosmetics active in the regulation of inflamm-aging. Studies conducted on centenarians, still healthy and without serious disease despite advanced age, have shown significant levels of pro-inflamm-aging markers along with high levels of anti-inflammatory mediators, suggesting that “aging well” is not related to the absence of inflammation but to a favorable balance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors.
