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Saturday, February 11, 2012

An active campaign against aging

by Ana Valenzuela

(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on 2011/october/27.)

When your hand touches your cheek, notice the change in consistency of your skin, then you look in to the mirror, fine lines, especially in the eye area, are visible. It is not the same as before—unlike the times when your face was smooth and rosy. These changes are clear signs of aging. Aging begins early on, and is already a given fact that everyday and every second we age.

According to Ellaine Eusebio-Galvez, MD, member of the Philippine Dermatological Society and Member of the International Society for Dermatologic Surgery, “Everyday we age. There’s intrinsic and extrinsic aging. Intrinsic aging is something that happens inside our bodies, whether we like it or not. Our cells grow old, and they show signs afterwards. Extrinsic aging comes from the environmental factors, like exposure to sunlight, ultraviolet rays, stress, pollutants and chemicals that we apply to our skin.

“With these aging processes, we develop fine lines and wrinkles, pigmentations, open pores, sagging of the skin, deep lines. These are the things that anybody wouldn’t want to have, thus a need for an anti-aging regimen,” says Galvez.

Anti-aging would have to start early on, even in your 20s’ and when you get to your 30’s to 40’s that is the time it should be intensified. However there are many products out in the market, how would you know which is the best for you?

Neo Strata recently launched a new anti-aging line, Skin Active. It was launched February this year in the US and now has reached Philippine shores. Skin Active attends to women who have reached their 40’s and in need for a more comprehensive and strong anti-aging regimen. The brand launched the Skin Active Exfoliating Wash, Skin Active Matrix Support, Skin Active Cellular Restoration and Skin Active Eye Therapy.

The ingredients of the product are those of a promising anti-aging skin care regimen. “We combined not only our core technology, the alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) and the polyhydroxy acid (PHA),” says Leigh Ann Caitlin, vice president of International Business Development of NeoStrata Company, Inc., “but we combined them with other technology—peptides, apple stem cell extract, and antioxidants.”

The PHAs and AHAs enhance skin renewal or cellular turnover and exfoliation, resulting in noticeably smoother skin and a brighter, more even skin tone. They also plump skin resulting in fuller, younger looking skin with visibly fewer lines and wrinkles. While the new technology of peptides serves as a cellular messenger to stimulate new collagen, restoring a more youthful look and at the same time stimulates the natural process of extracellular matrix restoration, building the skin’s matrix or structure for a smoother, more lifted look. The new technology of apple stem cells has been derived from rare Swiss Uttwiler Spätlauber apples. It has been proven to protect and maintain the function of human skin stem cells, preserving the skin’s youthfulness and vitality.

“There is no single product that could address aging skin. This is why Neo Strata have combined all these active ingredients. Apart from the usual anti-aging ingredients that have already been proven to be effective and safe, the new super antioxidants are very good and have clinical basis,” says Galvez.

You need not worry of the results as Skin Active has been clinically proven. In a test done, Asian skin has shown improvement, with less wrinkles, uneven skin tones, fines lines, a big 36 percent from baseline. This was even better than the Caucasian’s which is 26 percent from baseline.

“People who don’t have the time or the budget to have a laser treatment or some other type of cosmetic procedure, they can get good effective results just by using these products at home,” Caitlin assures.

The Skin Active line could be used on a daily basis and should be infused to the daily skin care regimen. “We looked at many anti-aging ingredients and really picked these based on how they work together. You’ll get benefits from the individual products but it is designed to be used together. They have better benefits to the skin when they work together instead of separately,” says Caitlin.

Ask your doctor about it.

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