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Over last few years this question has become increasing significantly among our clients of acne. World-wide there is growing recognition of the adverse effects of pollutants on human skin health. Several scientific studies have established that skin quality changes with prolong exposure to ambient pollution.
The sources of air pollution could be natural sources such as volcanic eruptions, forest fires, biological decay, pollen grains, marshes and radioactive materials or human-made sources such as thermal power plants, industries, vehicular emissions, household combustion devices, fossil fuel burning and agricultural activities.
Pollutants of the major public health concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The majority of ambient pollutants are derived from human activities.
There is growing evidence that these pollutants exert their harmful effects by generating free radicals and inflammation. Specialist at ACNE CARE CLINIC opines that free radical generation and inflammation has major role in formation of acne.
As keratinocytes (skin cells) and oil gland contain high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids and also have an outstanding ability to generate free radicals, so they are more prone to the effect of pollutants.
We have learnt in a previous article that at any point of time there are innumerable chemical reactions going on in our body, many of which produces “free radicals“. The free radicals are very unstable and react quickly with other compounds, trying to capture the electron from them. Generally, free radicals attack the nearest stable molecule, stealing its electron. When the “attacked” molecule loses its electron, it becomes a free radical itself, beginning a chain reaction. Once the process is started, it can cascade, finally resulting in the disruption of a living cell. The process of formation of free radicals is known as oxidative stress.
Anti-oxidants are the compounds which donate an electron and quenches these free radicals, thus protects the body tissues from free radical driven damages.
Expert at ACNE CARE CLINIC recognize that our body has two main types of antioxidant mechanism. One, enzymatic that includes glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase, catalase. Second non enzymatic, that includes vitamin E, vitamin C, zinc, copper, selenium and glutathione. He further opines that anti-oxidants could play a preventive role in acne genesis.
In conclusion, environmental pollutants are capable of inducing oxidative stress and inflammatory changes in our skin, thus are capable of inducing pimples (or acne).
To increase the chances of an excellent outcome, we regularly assess the risk of exposure to ambient pollution in our clients and incorporate protective antioxidants in their acne care regimen.