Hyaluronic Acid in Anti-Aging Skin Care – Benefits

Hyaluronic acid (aka glycosaminoglycan) is touted by beauty chemists and experts for its ability to stop or reverse the effects of aging.

Ever heard of hyaluronic acid skin care?

On a quest to find the best beauty boosters for this site, I recently discovered that Hyaluronic acid skin care might be the best beauty cure for a woman’s dry and thirsty skin.

If  you are a true beauty bargain lover who will skip the $700 dollar European serum for the drug-store vat of skin cream, here are a few “hyaluronic acid” tips to plump up your skin and add a little more moisture to your epidermis.

Here is the hyaluronic acid beauty scoop:

1. Discovered in 1934, this glucose-based skin builder is one of the most common skin ingredients (next to water) used in the beauty biz today.
2. Hyaluronic acid is a natural humectant that creates shape and volume as a structural component of skin.
3. It is a component of connective tissue and is important in skin repair and renewal.
4. With age, our skin produces less of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid, causing undesirable wrinkles and lines.
5. After we hit out late teen years, somewhere around the age of 21, our skin starts to lose moisture. As a result, fine lines appear.

“Hyaluronic acid skin care” creams act like a huge sponge, allowing your skin to hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water. When applied topically, hyaluronic acid hydrates every layer of the skin from the epidermis to the dermis.

What should you look for in a hyaluronic acid skin cream?

A minimum of 0.1 to 2.0 of hyaluronic acid should be included in the magic, water-holding potion. The acid also has strong hypoallergenic properties for those who have sensitive skin and are prone to breakouts.

Popular fillers like Restyalane (approved by the FDA in 2003 to treat facial wrinkles) and Juvederm (reduces folds in lips, removes scars and is primarily used in lip augmentation) all contain the mighty punch of Hyaluronic acid.

Here’s what the FDA’s Stephen P. Rhodes, M.S., chief of the FDA’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Devices Branch says about Hyaluronic Acid:

“The hyaluronic acid in Restylane, although biosynthetically produced (formed of chemical compounds by the enzyme action of living organisms), is almost identical to that in all living organisms.”

Here are a few hyaluronic acid skin care tips :

• A cocktail of hyaluronic acid and Vitamin A is recommended for maximum skin hydration
• Known side effects of hyaluronic acid injected into the skin include: lumpy skin, swelling skin rashes, and acne.

Picture Source: Illustration by Renée Gordon. Source: National Institute on Aging.

Source: Science Meets Beauty: Using Medicine to Improve Appearances