Skin Aging: Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment

Abstract

Skin aging is a consequence of genetically programmed processes of intrinsic aging and extrinsic aging caused by ultraviolet light and other environmental insults. There are many different approaches to reduce or postpone the untoward effects of intrinsic programmed aging and extrinsic environmental injury. The prevention of extrinsic aging utilizes various methods of photoprotection and antioxidants. Treatments of aged skin are not limited to a single procedure but may consist of a combination of many adjuvant treatments each of which offers different degrees of effectiveness, risk, duration and cost. It is important to have an understanding of the likely benefits and limitations of available treatments. Scientific evaluation and education about the modalities available for treatment of aged skin can help to achieve these goals

Perspectives on the FDA’s Sunscreen Policy: New Aging Theory, Sunlight Benefits, Enhanced Immunity, COVID-19 Mortality, Modelling Analyses, Melanoma Risks and Etiology

“…Numerous studies have elegantly demonstrated that UV radiation can simultaneously reduce collagen synthesis and increase collagen degradation thereby resulting in a reduction of skin collagen with age in an accelerated manner [1,2,[15][16][17][18][19]. However, this concept seems inconsistent with a widely cited pioneering study in 1975 demonstrating that total collagen contents from skin exposed or not exposed to sunlight in Caucasian whites over a wide range of age were practically the same [20].…”