Skin is the largest and one of the most important organs of your body. It is the first line of defense against any invading substance. The primary function of the skin is to protect your body from unwanted influences from the outside environment. Your barrier function is responsible for this protection.
It not only keeps harmful substances from entering your body, it also keeps your natural skin hydration and ceramides in.
Persons with breached barrier function membranes such as persons with eczema will often complain of sensitive inflamed skin.
What is your barrier function membrane?
The skin has several types of barriers that protect your body, including circulatory vessels, cellular walls, lymphatic vessels, and the walls that separate each layer of your skin. Each of skin barrier types only allows specific substances to enter or leave the barrier.
The most important of these barriers is the outer skin’s “hydrophilic barrier”. This hydrophilic barrier is composed of sebum, water and dead skin cells, and it is present on top of the “stratum corneum”. The stratum corneum is composed up of lipids including free fatty acids, cholesterol and ceramides. A strong barrier function is also essential for moisture retention and nourishment of your skin.
The stratum corneum has three primary functions in your body:
- Preventing water loss and maintaining hydration through the outer skin and (Keeping moisture & nutrients in).
- Avoiding environmental substances, harmful bacteria & microbes from penetrating into living dermal and epidermal layers of the skin. (Keeping toxins and bugs out).
- Maintaining the correct mildly acidic skin pH of approximately 5.5. This is sometime’s called the skin’s acid mantle.
Skin also provides barrier against chemical, mechanical and microbial factors by a process known as “keratinization”. Skin barrier also protects you from harmful ultraviolet radiations and extremes of cold and hot conditions.
Your protective barrier function acts against different conditions, mainly by functioning as:
- Antimicrobial barrier
- Permeability barrier
- Antioxidant & free-radical barrier
- Photo-protection barrier
- Immune response barrier
A damaged hydrophilic barrier can make you more vulnerable to aging as your skin is laid bare to every attack.
Moreover, if your skin barrier functions are compromised, then the skin care benefits are only temporary.
Dehydration, itching, redness, sensitivity, lines, stinging skin, wrinkles, excess oil and blackheads are major concerns that depict that your skin barrier is compromised. If you are facing one or more of these conditions, you need to strengthen your skin barrier.
The Melanopeel® Barrier Function Repair Protectors:
- Step 1 – Gentle, soothing antioxidant cleansers that maintain a healthy skin pH and protect against free radicals. Asian White Tea Cleanser
- Step 2 – Gentle antioxidant toners that maintain a healthy skin pH and treat the skin with soothing repair factors. Asian White Tea Toner or Dermal Replenish Anti-Acne Toning Mist
- Step 3 – Antioxidant and skin repairing treatments with tranexamic acid, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, ceramide lipids and peptides.
- Step 4 – Skin restoring and nutritive oils with anti-inflammatory botanicals.
