We’re told that wrinkles are a fact of life, the inevitable effect of aging on the skin. Cosmetic companies have capitalized on the fear of wrinkles and sagging skin, making billions of dollars marketing anti-aging products and topical “miracle” creams that promise to rejuvenate aging complexions.
Of course, most of these products fail to live up to consumer expectations, often ending up tucked away in the shadowy corners of the medicine cabinet.
The problem with most of these topical products is that they attempt to treat the patient from the outside, while ultimately overlooking the underlying, biological factors responsible for aging skin. The effects of age on the skin are biological, not chronological. After all, your skin has no idea how old it is; it simply responds to the internal chemistry of the body. By treating these internal factors, the effects of aging can be delayed and even reversed!
At Abundant Living Medical, our skilled medical professionals treat patients through a holistic, natural approach, optimizing a patient’s diet, lifestyle, and body chemistry. Our innovative treatment regimen addresses the core factors impacting skin, treating the body from the inside out. Our inside-out approach is what sets us apart from the typical dermatological treatment; we analyze our patients’ blood to determine what hormonal and nutritional deficiencies the body may be struggling with. By correcting these fundamental deficiencies, we’re able to provide a level of treatment and results that no other clinic can match! We invite you to visit us today and let us put you on the path to vibrant, glowing skin.
Abundant Living & Skin Solutions
Abundant Living Medical and Skin Solutions have partnered to develop the only skin-focused lab test in the state of Kentucky. Our practice offers cutting edge, state-of-the-art skin diagnostic technology, ensuring the highest standard of medical care to our patients. Our innovative treatments provide a permanent, lasting solution to skin complications, while also balancing hormone and vitamin levels within the body. In addition to improving skin health, our hormone and vitamin therapy promotes overall health and wellness by properly regulating the body’s chemical makeup.
Skin: From the Inside Out
Your skin can reveal a lot of things about you. Our complexions are fantastic communicators, often exposing latent anxiety and repressed emotions. We’re all familiar with expressions like “turning red-in-the-face” and “blanching with fear.” For many people, these buried emotions can manifest themselves in the skin, resulting in hives and pimples. In fact, two two Japanese researchers, Makoto Hashiro and Mutsuko Okumura, have published studies in the Journal of Dermatological Science showing that eczema, or atopic dermatitis, occurs more frequently in people prone to anxiety and depression than the general population.
In addition to emotional stress, skin can also reveal a great deal about one’s physical health. Consider a houseplant; the surest sign it needs water is its droopy leaves. You could revive it slightly by spraying some water on the surface of the plant, but the only way to truly restore the plant’s vitality is to water its roots. Likewise, the only way to fully restore the vitality of the human body is to treat a patient’s internal chemistry, the complex system that governs the body’s most basic processes and functions.
It’s important to keep a close eye on the health of your skin, and listen to what it can tell you about your body. Often, when complications take place within the body, they will eventually surface on the skin. Giving your skin the love and care it needs will ultimately promote overall bodily health.
Skin Biology 101
Inflammation
Most skin issues can be linked to one common source – Inflammation. Inflammation is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it is a protective attempt by the body to remove harmful stimuli (pathogens, damaged cells, irritants) and initiate the healing process. The key is not to stop inflammation, but rather, remove the elements or stimuli that produce inflammation.
For example, one common cause of inflammation in the United States is our high-sugar diet. Too much sugar or high glycemic food ultimately leads to a metabolic process called glycation (or glycosylation), in which sugar molecules in the blood bond to proteins and DNA, which over time become chemically modified. These new bonded proteins are called AGE’s, or advanced glycation end-products. AGE’s create unnatural crosslinks with collagen proteins and change their shape, flexibility, elasticity and function. These changes ultimately result in premature aging.
Inflammation and glycation disrupt the body’s natural chemical balance, impacting all of the organs, especially the skin.
Mitochondria
Systemic inflammation has been linked to the destruction of mitochondria, the fuel factories in cells. Mitochondria are responsible for converting the food we ingest into energy. When mitochondria fail, the cell dies. Thus, the performance of mitochondria has a significant impact on how quickly we age, and our vulnerability to disease. By preventing inflammation, one can promote healthy mitochondria function and improved overall health.
Free Radicals
Free radicals are highly unstable oxygen molecules missing a single electron from their outer orbit. Because electrons like to travel in pairs, these free radical molecules will attempt to steal electrons from other healthy cells. This process sets off a complicated intracellular inflammatory response.
These extremely destructive free radicals surround us, both internally and externally. They form on the skin within five minutes of unprotected sun exposure, quickly damaging the collagen layer of the skin. Other factors such as exposure to pollution, x-rays, chemicals, and toxins can cause significant external damage.
Within the body, free radicals fuel inflammation. Various factors like smoking, hormonal imbalance, and poor diet can spawn billions of free radicals. Other, often overlooked contributors include undiagnosed food sensitivities, ingesting high amounts of heavy metals, and excess prescription drug use.
Antioxidants – The Natural Skin Salvation
Fortunately, our immune system relies on certain nutrients to defend our cells from free radicals. Often derived from plants, these essential nutrients, known as Antioxidants, neutralize free radicals and relieve minor inflammation by offering one of their available electrons without any adverse effect.
Because we are constantly bombarded by inescapable free radicals, it is crucial that we maintain a constant supply of antioxidant nutrients to ensure proper skin cell health. In addition to protecting against cell damage, antioxidants also stimulate our cells’ healing enzymes to repair cell damage.
Some of the major antioxidants include:
• Vitamin C (found in plants and fruits)
• Vitamin E, specifically high-potency tocotrienols (HPE; good sources are rice bran oil and palm fruit oil)
• Coenzyme Q-10 (found naturally in our cells but decreasing after age 20)
• Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA; found in plant and animal sources)
• Dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE; found in fish)
• Carotenoids (phytonutrients found in the red, yellow and orange flesh of plant leaves, flowers and fruit)
• Flavonoids (found in green tea, soy isoflavones, and red wine, among other food sources)
Common conditions linked to inflammation:
Inflammation often results in one of the following skin conditions:
Acne: Acne and chronic outbreaks of pimples, whiteheads and blackheads are caused when oil (also called sebum) and dead skin cells build up in the skin and clog pores. In the case of chronic acne, the walls of the skin cells become damaged and vulnerable to the infiltration of bacteria. The bacteria colonize within the clogged skin follicle, creating an infection and subsequent inflammation.
Acne can affect people at any time, not just in puberty. In fact, dermatologists categorize several forms of acne by life stages: baby acne, related to lingering levels of estrogen from the mother; teenage acne, caused by hormonal imbalance; and adult-onset female acne, which usually appears on the nose, cheeks, chin and jaw line, and is triggered by fluctuating hormone levels during perimenopause.
Rosacea: Rosacea is another common inflammatory skin condition that affects many women. This occurs when the tendency to flush easily thins and breaks the tiny capillaries at the surface of the skin, resulting in a permanently rosy complexion. Many women see the first signs of rosacea in their late 30’s. It is exacerbated by poor diet, hot temperature, alcohol, caffeine, stress, and anything that increases the body’s internal temperature.
Dermatitis: Dermatitis is general term for inflamed skin disorders. This class of disorders includes chronic conditions such as dandruff and eczema.
Eating Right: Healthy Diets Yield Healthy Skin
At Abundant Living, we recognize the intimate link between a nutritional diet and healthy skin. Our comprehensive treatment regimen pairs you with a Certified Nutritionist to discuss the best nutritional plan for you and your skin.
In addition to evaluating your current eating habits and suggesting various meal options, our treatment regimen tests patients for food sensitivities. Many patients suffer from undiagnosed food sensitivities that, left unchecked, can lead to severe inflammation. Our rigorous 138-food allergy test prevents stealthy sources of inflammation from slipping into your diet!
Try Us Today!
We invite you to visit our clinic today to try this incredible breakthrough for yourself. Our comprehensive program can help you achieve the healthy, glowing skin you’ve always wanted. To make an appointment and receive your FREE consultation, please contact the clinic today at 859-263-4900.
