Skin Aging & Modern Age Anti-aging Strategies

Urbanization, Environmental Pollution & Skin Aging

Urban people change their environment through their consumption of food, energy, water, and land. And in turn, the polluted urban environment affects the health and QoL of the urban population. Exposure to PM2.5 accounts for about 4.2 million premature deaths in 2016. NOx, CO, SO2, ozone, and VOCs are the most common gaseous pollutants. Short-term exposure to O3 elicits an oxidative stress response in human, which leads to aberrant transcriptional expression of genes consistent with increased skin aging. PM10 contributes to skin inflammation and skin aging via impaired collagen synthesis via generation ROS, which which leads to induction of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Use of fossil fuels for cooking was associated with skin aging. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an Endocrine disruptor , capable of interfering with hormone related pathways and cause adverse effects. Specified exposomes of atopic dermatitis are humidity, UVR, diet, pollution, allergens, water hardness. Air pollutants together with UVA, can act synergistically in initiation of skin cancers. O3, PM and UVR can directly affect the cutaneous production of vitamin D and also causes dose dependent depletion of antioxidants vitamin C and E in the skin. There is evidence that metals in PM cause DNA, protein damage as well as apoptosis of skin cells through the mitochondria-regulated death pathway. Pb can affect Langerhans cells (antigen-presenting cells in the skin) in the production of interleukin 1β and expression of appropriate surface antigens (CD54, CD86, HLA-DR). Smoker's face typically has lines or wrinkles radiating at the right angles from the upper and lower lips or corners of the eyes, deep lines on the cheeks, or numerous shallow lines on the cheeks and lower jaw. At the end, some of these environmental exposures are preventable by protecting the skin against sun exposure or by quitting smoking, but there are other environmental exposures like air pollution where up to now no protection is available.