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Opinions are divided over the term cosmetic: while
for some, beauty care is a part of personal well-being, other cosmetic
dermatologists are more sceptical.
In earlier times there was no exact partition between medicine and
cosmetics. Hippocrates, the "father of medicine", left behind an extensive
collection of cosmetic formulas. Galenus of Pergamon, the founder
of pharmaceutical formulations, researched besides anatomy, hygiene,
pathology and pharmacy, the art of cosmetic preparation. In the late
Middle Ages cosmetics and medicine were separated. At the beginning
of the 14th century, Henri de Mondeville wrote a text book on surgery
in which he drew a clear distinction between the pathological and
cosmetic aspects of treatment.
Since then, dermatology has dealt with the problems of pathological
skin alterations that requiring medical therapies and cosmetics with
questions of skin beauty. The unity of health and beauty was sacrificed
for the benefit of purely scientific considerations. Thus science
stopped taking into account the more general aspects of well-being
and cosmetics forgot the medical aspects.
Modern medical skin care
Medical skin care results from the restoration of that unity of medicine
and cosmetics that was lost in the Middle Ages. Body hygiene and body
care are of fundamental importance to the maintenance of good health,
and play a vital role in disease prevention and adjuvant care. In
recent years various expert bodies have been established, to develop
the concepts for cosmetic dermatology.
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Dermatology is defined
as the diagnosis and treatment of skin and venereal diseases. It also
encompasses, along with parts of aesthetic and cosmetic surgery, skin
pharmacology. |
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The
aims of medical skin care
The primary aim of medical skin care is to restore and maintain eudermia.
Eudermia describes a state where physiological skin conditions prevail.
Healthy skin is for the most part, the result of a balance of moisture
and oils, along with the physiological pH of the skin's surface that
determines the resident skin flora.
In the course of medical skin care, various active ingredients are
applied in order to reinforce the skin's protective functions and
to correct imbalances. Thus, skincare products are able to protect
the skin from damaging environmental influences, such as dryness and
the cold. In addition, the application of moisturizing factors and
lipids normalizes disturbed skin conditions and so prevents the development
of disease. In the case of certain dermatological diseases, it can
support the appropriate medical therapy, as a complementary care programme.
While the damaging actions of exogenous environmental
influences can be ameliorated by skin care, the endogenous
factors, such as biological skin ageing, cannot be altered. |
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Eudermia describes a state
where all physiological skin conditions prevail. This includes the
intactness of the permeability barrier, the hydrolipid film and the
protective acid mantle. |
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Moisture
supply - hydration, moisturising
Introducing water into the horny layer - hydration - is very easy.
The water phase of a skincare emulsion can supply the skin with an
abundance of water in a very short time. However, the desired effect
of moist skin lasts for only a short time: The skin quickly loses
moisture through evaporation. A longer lasting hydration of the skin
can be achieved with the help of other components: a supply of hygroscopic
substances known as moisturisers and/or
an improvement of the moisture retaining capacity by occlusion.
Lipid supply - sebaceous lipids, barrier lipids
The lipid phase of a skincare emulsion restores to the skin the lipids
it requires. Two types of lipids are especially important:
 sebaceous lipids:
constituents of sebum. They form a more or less occlusive film on
the skin. The addition of sebaceous lipids to dry, oil-deficient skin,
restores the normal skin condition.
barrier lipids: Primarily
ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids, especially linoleic acid,
are found among the lipids of the stratum corneum. The make-up of
the horny layer's permeability membrane is mostly determined by the
content of these epidermal lipids. It can be improved by the topical
application of skin-related lipids.
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Exogeneous
factors include temperature, wind and climatic influences such as
UV exposure and the penetration of noxae, such as aggressive surfactants,
solvents, acids and alkalies.
Moisturisers are substances that are capable
of binding water, so that it cannot escape by evaporation.
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