ARK Skin Fact Sheets

At ARK, we want to tell you the truth about skincare and share with you the knowledge and information needed to truly understand your skin.

We also want to encourage the individuality of your skin by giving you the tools required to achieve your own personal skincare solutions.

Our ARK Fact Sheets have been written with all this in mind. When we come across information that is too important not to be shared with you, we'll write it up into a Fact Sheet and put it here.

Happy reading!

Your skin as you age

Skin Ageing

The skin is at the mercy of two threatening environments, the outside world and our inner health. They both impact the integrity of our skin, its response to injury, its appearance and the speed with which it ages. The influence of the two environments is of equal importance, and both need to be addressed if we are to be successful in our skin therapy. Let us look at the important factors associated with skin ageing and determine the influence of each environment.

Cells and Proteins

The skin demonstrates a very rapid turnover with new cells being continually produced in the deepest layer of the epidermis (germinativum), migrating toward the surface, maturing and dying. The rate at which our body replaces lost and damaged skin cells decreases as we age. In fact, it drops by 50% between the ages of 28 and 80 years of age. As I have already described, the dermis consists of a gel-like ground substance made up of large molecules (glycoproteins, GAGs) and water. Running through this are strong reinforcing collagen fibres (98%), which provide strength, and elastin fibres (2%), which provide elasticity. Fibroblast cells within the dermis are responsible for manufacturing collagen and elastin. Unfortunately, they stop making elastin soon after puberty, and we are left then with a finite amount, one of the factors associated with loss of skin elasticity during ageing. In addition, the amount and quality of collagen formed deteriorates over time.

To view the full case study, please download the pdf below.