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What is it?
What does it do?
HA is non toxic, non irritating and non sensitizing – so it can be used on all skin types. But injecting hyaluronic acid is not necessary – as it is the cosmetic ingredient that penetrates the skin the deepest and imparts its moisturizing effect to the skin, and also “holds” moisture in the skin – giving a far more youthful looking appearance.
It’s so effective that it will penetrate the dermis and epidermis within 30 minutes of application and this fact was well documented in clinical trails, which show that it not only passively diffuses into the skin, but is made possible by active transport into the skin. Clinical data has also proven that hyaluronic acid is very important in controlling tissue hydration – which is a boon for anti-aging cosmetics.
Use of Hyaluronic Acid in Cosmetics
Apart from its moisturizing capabilities, it is also extremely effective to “piggy-back” other ingredients into the skin – and for this reason it has been used extensively in medical applications for drug delivery. Although we use HA in a cream for for application – it in actual fact works in hydrating and moisturising the skin from the inside and with this helps to smooth out wrinkles.
Apart from moisturising and hydrating the skin plus the smoothing-out of wrinkles, the increase of hydration in the skin is of critical importance as it helps in getting essential nutrition to the skin cells, as well as providing the vehicle for proper waste removal from the cells as it helps to increase the amount of water held in the extracellular matrix of the skin.
This is an important point – as it not only supremely hydrates the skin, but also assists with the proper functioning of the actual cells in the skin and has a structure stabilizing function as well.
Hyaluronic Acid and Ageing
As stated previously, hyaluronic acid is naturally present in the skin, but as we age the percentage of hyaluronic acid in the skin decreases, which also accounts for the loss of hydration and moisture in the skin. The decrease of hyaluronic acid starts at around the age of 20, but becomes apparent when people get into their 30s and 40s. The decrease also affects the way that the skin operates and ultimately results in wrinkling and loss of elasticity and a decrease of collagen – the support of the skin. Furthermore, it negatively impacts on the fibroblasts of the skin – and this leads to even less collagen being made, which also cause the skin to become far less elastic. An enzyme action in the skin – hyaluronidase – breaks down hyaluronic acid, and for this reason it needs to be replenished if strong, supple smooth skin is to be maintained.
Hyaluronic Acid and Wound Healing
During clinical trials it was also shown that this ingredient is effective to promote healing and to fight inflammatory conditions of the skin. Inflammation of the skin is also one of the factors that cause skin aging.
Different types of Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid can basically be divided into high and low molecular weight molecules – with the low molecular weight, being the preferred one to use in cosmetics, as it is a smaller molecule which penetrates the skin more effectively, yet has the ability of holding and binding the same amount of moisture in the skin as its higher molecule weight cousin.
The low molecular weight (LMW) hyaluronic acid has also shown to increase important and needed enzymes in the skin, to increase skin health in general.
It is also of importance in keeping the normal functioning (homeostasis) of the skin on track - and actively helps with cell differentiation when the “baby” cells are formed in the epidermal stem cells (basal layer), and then start their journey through the skin to finish off as dead flattened cells that normally shed.
This whole process can be thrown off kilter as we age, by environmental factors as well as environmental chemicals and Hyaluronic acids helps to balance this entire process as well - thereby normalising and maintaining healthy skin function.