Aging Skin: Nourishing from Out-In. Lessons from Wound Healing

Abstract

Skin lesion therapy, peculiarly in the elderly, cannot be isolated from understanding that the skin is an important organ consisting of different tissues. Furthermore, dermis health is fundamental for epidermis integrity, and so adequate nourishment is mandatory in maintaining skin integrity. The dermis nourishes the epidermis, and a healthy epidermis protects the dermis from the environment, so nourishing the dermis through the epidermal barrier is a technical problem yet to be resolved. This is also a consequence of the laws and regulations restricting cosmetics, which cannot have properties that pass the epidermal layer. There is higher investment in cosmetics than in the pharmaceutical industry dealing with skin therapies, because the costs of drug registration are enormous and the field is unprofitable. Still, wound healing may be seen as an opportunity to "feed" the dermis directly. It could also verify whether providing substrates could promote efficient healing and test optimal skin integrity maintenance, if not skin rejuvenation, in an ever aging population.