advanced skin care
the g factor Karen Deehan discusses the important role of growth factors
MotherNature has a lot to answer for when it comes to ageing skin, but she has also given us a secret weapon to keep it looking youthful for as long as possible.
Skin has a seeminglymiraculous ability to regenerate itself and growth factors are the latest beauty buzz word because they play a fundamental role in this
process.They are so powerful that their full potential is only now starting to be understood.
Growth factors are a type of peptidemade from proteinmolecules, which are produced naturally by our
bodies.They play a fundamental role in stimulating new tissue growth and facilitating collagen production. They work in a similar way to hormones in the sense that they act asmessengers between cells and instruct themto behave in a certain way i.e. tomultiply and replenish.
“The key to getting the best results is stimulating the skin to produce its own, natural growth factors”, says Tracy Tamaris, Training Director at the International Institute forAnti-Ageing. “Recent advances mean that therapists are able to do this in-salon, so it’s very empowering. They can get results that far exceed anything they’ve been able to achieve before.”
getting to the point
One of the keymethods of encouraging the body to producemore growth factors ismicro-
needling.This relatively new treatment, which trained therapists can performin-salon, harnesses the body’s own powers of healing to boost collagen and elastin in order to tighten lax skin. It’s particularly effective for clients with wrinkles, sun damage, scars, stretchmarks and burns and the science behind it is backed by a wealth of well-respected clinical research.
The procedure involves using a special roller covered in needles (1mm-3mmlong).An anaesthetic creamis applied to the client’s face and the therapist rolls the instrument over the skin, creating hundreds ofmicroscopic ‘pricks’ which causes
bleeding.This tricks the body into thinking it’s been ‘injured’ and it responds by sending a cascade of healing growth factors to the affected
area.The blood is vital to the treatment because it contains platelets and these
are what trigger the release of growth factors. If you just roll until the client is pink but not bleeding it won’t achieve the desired effect.
Unlikemore abrasive treatments, needling does not damage the epidermis and there is very little recovery time. Clients will look red for a day or two afterwards, but this can easily be concealed with high qualitymineralmake-up. “What’s unique about needling is that it encourages scar-less, regenerative healing”, explainsTracy. “Unlike ablativemethods such as Laser re-surfacing and heavy peeling, which produce scar tissue, needling increases Transforming Growth Factor Beta 3 (TGFB3), which is usually only seen in
foetuses.This createsType 1 collagen which has a ‘basket weave’ appearance and results in tighter, healthier skin. Other treatments produce TGFB1 and 2, which are present in natural wound healing and createType 3 collagen (scar tissue).”
The fact that needling uses the body’s own powers of healing taps into the trend of treatments that give natural results, rather than a paralysed ‘mask like’ appearance. Unlike fillers, or other salon treatments where the results can fade, needling encourages the skin to keep laying down collagen in the weeks following treatment, so the results actually improve in the months following treatment. For best results, clients should have one needling session a week for six weeks and combine it with topical vitaminA creams for at least two months prior, to provide the building blocks for healthy skin. Taking oral vitaminA and C supplements is also essential to maximise the benefits.
the new a-peel
Another way to stimulate growth factors is by using a light, repeated peel with amild level of
LacticAcid. Dr Des Fernandes, a leading aesthetic surgeon and founder of Environ Skin Care, has pioneered ‘Cool Peels’, which work in a different way to their heavier counterparts and do not damage the epidermis. “I firmly believe that you don’t have to destroy skin to make it look better”, says Dr Fernandes. “The ‘Cool’ type of light repetitive peel with acids in lower concentrations, left on the skin for long enough, offers a far better way to get skin smoother and in
optimumhealth.An acidic pH, left on the skin formanyminutes, stimulates the keratinocytes to release various growth factors –Transforming Growth Factors (TGF), Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) andVascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) – and produces a thicker, healthier, smoother skin, without killing epidermal cells.”
The one hour Cool Peel is recommended as a course of six salon treatments, carried out at weekly
intervals.The low levels of LacticAcid mean that it can be left on the skin for longer, depending on the clients’
needs.The individually tailored treatment involves applying one ormore layers of LacticAcid creammasque (LACM2) which is left on the skin for 10 to 20minutes. It finishes with the application of a soothing, alginatemasque through which a Galvanic current is pulsed. This step aids the absorption of a vitaminA based gel which helps speed up the growth of epidermal cells, and leaves the skin feeling cool and looking refreshed.
Although a certain amount of skin ageing is inevitable as we get older, it’s reassuring to know that therapists can harness the body’s own remarkable powers to keep skin looking youthful for longer. Stimulating the body’s growth factorsmay not be able to turn back the hands of time indefinitely, but it can certainly slow themdown.
Karen Deehan works for the International
Institute for Anti-Ageing (iiaa), UK distributors of Environ skin care, Jane Iredale Mineral
Cosmetics and Advanced Nutrition Programme t: 0208 450 2020 w:
www.iiaa.eu @iiaaLtd
112 GUILD NEWS
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