Month: May 2016

There are so many reasons to put your best face forward and there’s never been a better time than now to consider a COSMEDIX treatment.

What is a Peel?
The ultimate goal of any peel is the removal of the skin's outer layer of primarily dead cells and the stimulation of collagen and elastin to tighten and firm the healthy layer beneath. When performed properly, this procedure can effectively diminish the appearance of wrinkles, age spots, blemishes and more with little to no trauma to healthy skin cells.

The key to a successful treatment lies in the peel's contents. Using botanical, chirally correct ingredients, COSMEDIX peels work with the skin to prompt the renewal process. With COSMEDIX peels, there is a mild sloughing of the skin. This process €”known as metabolic peeling €” achieves dramatic results without the irritation and consequent recovery time of a traditional chemical peel.

Is a Peel Right for Me?
Whether you're looking to correct a specific skin concern, defy your age or simply refresh your complexion, a COSMEDIX peel can be customized to fit your needs. Before you schedule an appointment, your skin care professional will assess your skin to see which peel is right for you and your goals. Peels can vary in intensity such as a superficial peel like Pomegranate Peel to deep epidermal exfoliation of Purity Peel to a mid-depth dermal peel like Timeless Peel. By identifying certain key traits €” such as skin density and natural hydration €” your physician or aesthetician can better determine the appropriate peel type, depth and duration for your skin.

When should I get a peel?
While peels are not contradictory in the summer, they are not recommended for all clients due to lifestyle choices that often include increased sun exposure. After a thorough consultation and thorough skin analysis, your aesthetician will determine what the best treatment options are for your skin. Generally speaking, clients who spend significant time outdoors during the summer months are recommended to refrain from medium-depth peels like Timeless Peel or Deep Sea Peel until fall and instead go for a COSMEDIX facial or treatment.

What Are the Possible Side Effects?
While the side effects of traditional peels can range from minor discomfort and inflammation to post-peel pigmentation and increased skin sensitivity, COSMEDIX peels minimize such reactions through advanced ingredient technology. In addition to using chirally correct, plant-based ingredients, COSMEDIX peels contain exclusive, state-of-the-art compounds including encapsulated Retinol, which are designed to affect change with minimum irritation.

Do I Need to Prep Before a Peel?
Depending on the type of peel and your skin care provider's recommendations based on your skin assessment, pre-peel prep may or may not be required. While your physician or aesthetician may suggest additional steps based on individual needs, these gentle yet effective peels can often be applied at your convenience to help correct blemishing, skin discoloration, hypersensitivity and mild photodamage without prep. Medium-depth dermal peels such as Timeless Peel or Deep Sea Peel require a minimum ten-day, at home, pre-peel regimen. These peels are specifically designed to minimize the signs of aging.

What treatments can I receive during the summer months? Will my pre-treatment prep be different?
As a rule of thumb, clients who are appropriate candidates for peels during the summer months will prep longer, use a skin brightener like COSMEDIX’s Simply Brilliant serum to help surpress melanocyte activity and be advised to regularly apply a broad spectrum sunscreen like Peptide-Rich Defense to protect the skin from the elements. For those who are not candidates for a medium-depth peel, there are many treatments that are safe and appropriate for summer use. We recommend COSMEDIX’s Pomegranate Exfoliator and Blueberry Smoothie treatments, which are designed to refresh and exfoliate the skin without prior preparation.

What Can I Expect After My Peel?
Post-peel recovery has typically been one of the treatment's biggest drawbacks. Before such breakthroughs as chiral correction and metabolic peeling, a particularly unforgiving peel might mean spending weeks in a vulnerable, post-operative state. However, thanks to advancements in peel technology, you can now enjoy your rejuvenated skin sooner. COSMEDIX peels have virtually no down time. Our age-defying peels only average a week of recovery time.

Once a peel treatment is applied to the skin, it penetrates to the desired level and begins to stimulate and induce collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycans. The treatment will normalize the skin, regulate oil production and diminish free radical activity. After a superficial peel, you may experience micro-flaking. With the deeper peels, you will undergo a layered flake that can last two to three days. Most patients will see immediate results following their peel, such as improved texture, clarity of the skin and diminished fine lines.

In the mid 1990s, professional skin care offered few corrective options capable of safely transforming the skin’s appearance without harsh irritation. While natural products smelled wonderful, they lacked the power to treat serious concerns. Meanwhile, cosmeceutical products that could produce results often did so by damaging the skin, leaving potentially long-term consequences.

Unsatisfied with skin care products, a group of forward-thinking aestheticians, physicians and chemists came together with one goal in mind: to create a skin care line capable of delivering visible results with botanical ingredients and reduced irritation. However, they soon discovered why no such formulas existed. The chemistry needed was far more complex than most formulators could handle. Highly purified, plant-based ingredients were expensive, hard to come by and nearly impossible to stabilize.

Unwilling to give up, the group continued to invest into what would become one of the most complex and effective professional skin care lines in the industry: COSMEDIX. Their one-of-a-kind formulas answered significant technical challenges by focusing on four core pillars:

• chiral correction
• better botanicals
• exfoliation
• skin matrix support

What is chiral correction?

COSMEDIX uses a pharmaceutical-grade purification process known as chiral correction to select only the molecular form of an ingredient that benefits the skin. This process produces formulas designed for optimal efficacy and safety.

Why botanical ingredients?

Combining the very best of science and nature including plant-based actives, all-natural colors and pure essential oils COSMEDIX formulas deliver powerful results with reduced irritation. However, what is omitted from a formula is often just as important as what’s included. In addition to being the industry’s leader in plant-based skin care, COSMEDIX stands apart by using no animal byproducts, parabens, chemical fragrances or artificial dyes.

Why is exfoliation important?

Exfoliation is the key to optimal penetration and efficacy. Exfoliants work by sloughing away the rough outer layer so that ingredients like retinoids and growth factors are able to better penetrate the skin and trigger cellular renewal. Proper exfoliation, however, is a fine balance. Overly aggressive actives, like Benzoyl Peroxide and Glycolic Acid, can cause unnecessary inflammation. Instead of these harsh ingredients, COSMEDIX uses naturally occurring Alpha and Beta Hydroxy Acids (AHAs and BHAs), Protease Enzymes and Retinoids to stimulate turnover without causing excessive damage or discomfort.

What is skin matrix support?

To effectively fight the signs of aging, a skincare regimen must support the skin on three levels: the cell, the cell membrane and the extracellular matrix. Oxidative stress, DNA damage, mitochondrial burnout, glycation and inflammation can deteriorate the skin’s structure and break down cellular defenses at each level, so products that support optimal performance and regeneration is critical. Combining pure, nature-based ingredients with perfect chemistry, COSMEDIX consistently delivers noticeably smoother, softer, younger-looking skin without the long-term complications.

 

Any time skin professionals talk about environmental damage the discussion inevitably turns to free radicals molecules that have lost an electron by interacting with oxygen. In the body, these free radicals can wreak havoc upon living cells, stealing their electrons and causing oxidative stress. Scientists have linked this stress to a litany of adverse health effects including skin aging.

Free radicals have their roots in a variety of sources. However, the most common culprit in free radical damage is the sun. When the skin is overwhelmed by UV rays, emerging free radicals can lead to a breakdown in collagen and elastin connective fibers that provide the skin its firmness and suppleness. The result often takes the form of lines, wrinkles, roughness and sagging skin.

Antioxidants to the Rescue
Antioxidants are the heroes that come to your skin's defense. Produced by the body and obtained from food, antioxidants seek out the volatile molecules, sacrificing one of their own electrons to neutralize the threat of oxidative damage. Antioxidant products help to fill the gap to help protect the skin from the free radicals it faces every day.

Not All Antioxidants are Created Equal
Antioxidant products are only as effective as their chief ingredients. Because individual antioxidants function in different ways, products that contain only a handful of common or non-skin-specific antioxidants may still leave the skin open to harm. However, by combining multiple skin-specific antioxidants, users can give their skin maximum free radical protection. COSMEDIX products like Affirm and COSMEDIX ELITE's Pepoxide delivers a cocktail of targeted ingredients designed to minimize the appearance of existing damage and counteract daily threats to ensure a more radiant, youthful tomorrow.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a naturally occurring polypeptide (small proteins) that stimulates significant cellular growth and proliferation. By switching on fibroblasts, cells responsible for supporting the skin matrix, EFGs stimulate collagen production, helping to dramatically improve skin density and elasticity. When applied to treated skin, the prolific proteins help repair cellular damage and encourage the appearance of fresh, healthy cells.

How it Works

EGF works by binding to specific epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) on a cell, where it initiates cellular DNA replication and, consequently, cell division and proliferation. Produced naturally by the body, EGF can also be synthesized from a variety of natural sources, including plant extracts and yeast. Because skin cells naturally recognize EGF, their interaction with the ingredient is flawless.  Originally used to speed wound recovery, EGF's discovery won researcher Dr. Stanley Cohen and his collaborators a Nobel Prize in 1986. A patent for cosmetic use followed three years later.

Speeding Up Recovery and Rebooting Aging Skin

Because all resurfacing treatments (i.e. peels, laser rejuvenation, microdermabrasions) damage the skin to some degree to achieve results, recovery has typically been a drawback of professional resurfacing treatments. The thought of spending days €” sometimes weeks €” in a vulnerable, post-operative state has inspired fear in many. However powerful EGFs accelerate the recovery process to bridge the gap between being a before and an after. It is critical to incorporate EGFs products, like COSMEDIX’s Cell ID Serum, into any post resurfacing treatment regimen because directly stimulating the more rapid release of skin cells (resurfacing) without directly stimulating the rapid replacement of these cells will cause immune stress. By applying EGF products to resurfaced skin, the window of new cell vulnerability €” and post-procedure recovery time as a whole €” is abbreviated.

In addition to its recovery function, EGFs are a key player in the fight against premature aging. While we have EGFs in our skin, our natural supply diminishes with age and exposure to ultraviolet light. Unable to refresh itself at a healthy, youthful rate, the skin accumulates dead surface cells and starts to show visible signs of aging €” most notably dullness, roughness and prolonged healing time. By topically adding EGFs, a more youthful rate of renewal is achieved.