As we move into autumn, it is often the time we start looking more closely at our skin.
Perhaps pigmentation seems more noticeable after summer. Skin may feel drier or more sensitive. Or we may simply be thinking about restarting our retinoid, increasing our actives or introducing something new.
There are now so many exciting ingredients available to us – retinoids, peptides, growth factors, exosomes, acids and increasingly sophisticated technologies.
But where should we actually start?
At Medifine, we think it helps to look at skincare as a hierarchy. Not a rigid routine and certainly not a suggestion that everybody needs everything. Instead, it is a way of understanding where different ingredients belong and what our skin may need before we simply add more.
Good skincare starts with understanding the skin, not choosing the product.
First: Evaluate the Skin
Before thinking about products, we need to understand the skin in front of us.
- Is the skin comfortable and resilient?
- Is the barrier healthy?
- Is there dryness, sensitivity or inflammation?
- What has happened to pigmentation over the summer?
- What products are already being used?
- And importantly, what are we actually trying to improve?
Sometimes the answer will be correction or stimulation. Sometimes the skin needs repair first. And sometimes the best advice may simply be to protect what we already have.
The Medifine Skincare Hierarchy
EVALUATE
Understand the skin and establish what it needs.
FUNDAMENTALS – PROTECT + REPAIR
SPF • Antioxidants • Barrier Support • DNA-Repair Support
TRANSFORM
Retinoids • AHAs • Targeted Correction
OPTIMISE
Peptides • Growth Factors • Exosomes • Emerging Technologies
Skincare isn’t about reaching the top of the pyramid. Each layer should have a reason for being there.
THE FUNDAMENTALS: Protect + Repair
Before we move into increasingly active skincare, there are some fundamentals worth considering.
SPF – protecting against further damage
Broad-spectrum sunscreen remains one of the foundations of a good skincare programme. And that doesn’t suddenly become irrelevant because summer is over.
UV exposure is cumulative and much of the exposure our skin receives doesn’t result in obvious sunburn. If we are investing time and money trying to improve our skin, reducing further UV damage makes sense.
Antioxidants – another layer of defence
UV exposure and our environment can contribute to oxidative stress within the skin. This is where antioxidants can form another part of a well-considered skincare strategy.
Rather than thinking about one ‘hero’ antioxidant, we are interested in how different antioxidant ingredients and formulations can help support the skin’s defence against oxidative stress.
But protection is only one part of the story. What about damage that has already happened?
Repair – but what exactly are we repairing?
The word repair is used constantly in skincare. But it can mean very different things.
Barrier damage and UV-induced DNA damage are not the same thing.
Barrier repair
Our skin barrier is the outermost protective layer of the skin. When it is functioning well, it helps retain water and protects us from the outside environment.
When that barrier becomes disrupted, skin may feel:
- Dry
- Tight
- Sensitive
- Irritated
- Reactive
It may also become much less tolerant of the active skincare we are trying to introduce. In this situation, adding another acid or simply increasing the strength of a retinoid may not be what the skin needs. Supporting the barrier – through appropriate lipids, moisturising ingredients and gentler skincare – may need to come first.
UV damage happens deeper within the skin
But there is another type of damage that we cannot necessarily see or feel. Sunlight can affect our skin at a cellular level.
UVA and UVB behave differently, but both contribute to the cumulative effects of UV exposure.UVB is particularly associated with direct DNA damage, including the formation of specific lesions known as cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs). UVA penetrates more deeply and is strongly associated with oxidative stress and photoageing, while also contributing to DNA damage.
Our cells already have sophisticated mechanisms for identifying and repairing damaged DNA. But repair is not always complete.
This has led to an interesting area of skincare research:
Can topical skincare help support the repair of particular types of UV-induced DNA damage?
DNA-repair enzymes
This is where DNA-repair enzymes such as photolyase have attracted scientific interest.
Photolyase recognises a particular type of UV-induced DNA lesion and can help reverse that lesion when appropriately activated. Other DNA-repair enzyme technologies have also been investigated. For us, this represents a very different meaning of the word repair.
Barrier repair is about supporting the function and integrity of our outer skin barrier. DNA-repair technology is concerned with particular forms of damage occurring at a cellular level following UV exposure.
Neither should be confused with claiming that skincare can simply erase decades of sun damage.
DNA repair does not replace sunscreen.
Instead, we can begin to think more broadly:
- Protect against further damage.
- Support the barrier where necessary.
- Consider how we may support repair of damage that has already occurred.
TRANSFORM
Retinoids, AHAs and targeted correction
Once our foundations are in place, we can start thinking about transformation. This is where familiar active ingredients such as retinoids and alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) can have an important role. Perhaps we are addressing pigmentation, texture, fine lines, breakouts or some of the visible signs of photoageing.
But this is also where evaluation becomes so important. Not everybody needs an acid. Not everybody should immediately increase their retinoid. And if someone’s skin is already irritated and struggling to tolerate their existing routine, simply adding stronger actives isn’t necessarily progress.
Transformation should have a purpose.
OPTIMISE
Peptides, growth factors, exosomes and newer technologies
This brings us to some of the most interesting areas of modern skincare.
- Peptides
- Growth factors
- Exosomes
- Regenerative and signalling technologies
We are fascinated by this area and continue to research the science as it evolves. But ‘newer’ doesn’t automatically mean that an ingredient should replace the fundamentals.
We see optimisation as asking: once the skin is appropriately protected, supported and treated, is there anything else that may help us achieve our objective?
For some people the answer may be yes. For others, a relatively simple skincare programme may be exactly what they need.
Optimise doesn’t mean better. And reaching the top isn’t the goal. You don’t graduate from SPF to retinoids and then eventually earn the right to use growth factors or exosomes!
Why Autumn Is a Good Time to Evaluate
After summer, it can be tempting to look at our skin and immediately reach for something stronger. Instead, autumn gives us a useful opportunity to reassess.
- How is my skin barrier?
- What UV exposure has my skin accumulated?
- Am I protecting it adequately every day?
- What am I actually trying to correct?
- Is my skin ready for more stimulation – or does it need support and repair first?
These are the conversations we enjoy having with our clients.
Where Do Our Skincare Ranges Fit?
The ranges we choose at Medifine reflect much of what we have discussed throughout this blog.
Across our brands, we can support the different levels of the skincare hierarchy – from daily photoprotection, antioxidants, hydration and barrier support through to retinoids, exfoliating acids, peptides, growth factors and some of the newer technologies entering skincare.
We don’t expect one brand to do everything, and we don’t choose a range simply because it contains the latest fashionable ingredient. We look across different brands and formulations to find what we believe has a useful place within an individual skincare programme.
Why DNA Repair – and Photozyme MD – Caught Our Attention
One area that has genuinely changed the way we think about skincare is DNA repair.
For years, much of our approach to sun damage has understandably concentrated on prevention – particularly broad-spectrum SPF and antioxidants – followed by ingredients such as retinoids and acids to address some of the visible consequences of photoageing.
But what about the UV-induced damage that has already occurred at a cellular level?
This is why we became particularly interested in Photozyme MD and the science surrounding topical DNA-repair enzymes.
The concept is fascinating: rather than simply concentrating on what we can see on the surface of the skin, researchers have
investigated whether specific enzymes can assist the repair of particular types of UV-induced DNA damage.
That doesn’t mean we can claim to erase years of sun exposure, nor does DNA-repair skincare replace sunscreen.
It gives us another piece of the skincare picture:
- SPF helps reduce further UV damage.
- Antioxidants help support our defence against oxidative stress.
- Barrier-supporting skincare helps maintain and restore the outer protective barrier when it is compromised.
- DNA-repair technologies take us into the emerging area of supporting the repair of particular forms of UV-induced cellular damage.
For us, that is an incredibly interesting development. It is also why Photozyme MD has become a range we feel deserves particular attention within our skincare offering.
Not because everybody needs every product in the range, but because the science behind DNA-repair enzymes has added another dimension to how we think about protection, repair and long-term skin health.
Our Brands Are Tools – the Recommendation Comes First
Having access to sophisticated skincare is only useful if we understand where and when to use it.
But we don’t believe the answer is to put all of these ingredients onto everybody’s skin. Our role is to evaluate first, understand what you are already using, identify what your skin needs and then recommend appropriately.
The product should follow the skin – not the other way around.
Medifine Aesthetics