08/13/2025
Understanding aging is about understanding the way the dermis and the epidermis function together.
It's simple physiology. Skin slows down as you get older, and you cannot force it to work faster, just because YOU want it to.
Both parts of your skin are reliant on each other to function optimally. And when one is depleted, the other suffers.
Here's how it works: Your dermis thins at the rate of 1% a year from age of 25. So, as the dermis thins, the epidermal cells slow down and thicken to keep the dermis protected.
The dermis is continually thinning because of age, UVR exposure, poor nutrient diet, and a host of other things that exhaust its energy and resources.
Along comes you and your chemical peel, your scrubs, microdermabrasion, and dermapeeling. You peel off the stratum corneum, the granular layer, and often into the spiny layer of the epidermis, or possibly even down to the DEJ (dermal epidermal junction).
You just peeled off the immune system communication cells, the protective bilayer (which is made from all the fish oil you have been taking, and which holds in all the moisture your skin enzymes need to function), your vitamin D stores, the protective shield to the pigment cells, and living cells that were creating a healthy, tight, barrier to the outside world which allows the dermis to thrive.
The epidermis never recovers 100% after an exfoliation with acids, scrubs, microdermabrasion, or dermaplaning.
Now, because the epidermis has no blood supply, the dermis has to reallocate some of its dwindling resources to the epidermis to repair the damage. This takes away nutrition and energy that the dermis would have used to keep itself functioning and healthy. THIS is called AGING.
Keeping the integrity of the epidermis, with tight-fitting, healthy skin cells is the foundation to alleviate, not only the signs of aging, but also the onset of various skin conditions that are exacerbated by a thin, loose, unhealthy, epidermis.
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