Elastin and Elastosis
Maybe nibble on some chocolate while reading this! There’s bad and good news below, but the chocolate might help you cope as eating cocoa flavanols has been proven to improve skin elasticity and thereby reduce wrinkles. We like that great news!
The bad news — up until around puberty, our bodies produce elastin which forms a natural structure within the dermis that bounces our skin back when pinched or stretched. As we age and new elastin is no longer naturally produced, our skin loses elasticity. You may have noticed this when applying lotion under your eye, as you slid your hand across your skin, moving it to the side, that it did not restore to its original position. Or maybe when you pinch the skin on the top of your hand, it does not bounce back the way it used to.
What is elastin and elastosis?
Elastin is the second most common protein in your body; it’s found in your arteries, ligaments, cartilage, and organs, including the body’s largest organ, the skin. Its main function is to provide elasticity and resilience to the tissue.
Elastosis is the natural process of losing skin elasticity as we age, causing skin to look crinkled, crepey, leathery, or saggy as we lose elastin.
Solar elastosis (actinic elastosis) also contributes to this weathered look of skin exposed to the sun. (Another reason to apply and reapply that sunscreen every day.) And elastosis may also be caused by smoking, air pollution, poor nutrition, and rapid weight loss.
(Thanks to Obagi Medical for the graphic.)
Back to some good news before you stress-eat too much of that chocolate — elastin can be re-stimulated!
Ask us about:
• retinol and retinoids,
• Ultherapy,
• Scarlet RF Non-Surgical Facelift,
• Lumenis ResurFX Fractional Resurfacing,
• Microneedling Collagen Induction Therapy,
• chemical peels,
• Venus Viva,
• and Obagi Medicals ELASTIderm Serums.
Introducing ELASTIderm Serums!
The experts from Obagi Medical have found that re-developing elastin in the dermis requires three crucial stages: create, convert, and organize. ELASTIderm Facial Serum and Eye Serum — containing proprietary and patented technology named Bi-Mineral Contour Complex™ — activate these three processes and are clinically shown to improve the quality of user’s elastin.
IN A CLINICAL STUDY:
• 100% of participants reported their face looked firmer
• 97% of participants noticed their skin felt more elastic and resilient
• 97% of participants saw a diminished appearance of crepey facial skin
• 97% of participants reported, “my skin has bounce back”
After 8 weeks of use. Results based on a 12-week clinical study.
What else can be done?
Wear your sunscreen. Eat more blueberries and chocolate. Follow a healthy diet. Sleep well. Make an appointment to chat this all out with one of our skin care, anti-aging experts!
And a final note from our Founder and Director of Nursing, Linda Behla, RN, “Our medical treatments which intentionally and safely damage the skin to stimulate a wound healing response, form fibroblasts, the skin cells that produce elastin and collagen.”
