How Pollution Accelerates Aging: Preventive Tips For Healthy Skin

The environment isn’t the only victim here: pollution is bad for your skin too. All the way from fine lines to mere dullness and appearance of dark spots on the skin, polluted air will do skin a lot of havoc. Prolonged exposure to toxic substances and particle hastens the aging process and your skin is left exposed and frail. 

But here is the best part: All the above effects are manageable if you know the ways to prevent them from occurring in the first place to make your skin youthful again.
 
Want to know more in detail? Continue reading to understand the effects of pollution for your skin and some recommendations on how to prevent it as shared by Dr Preeti Yadav, Expert plastic & cosmetic surgeon in Gurgaon.

Preventive Tips for Healthy Skin

Environmental pollution is one of the sneakiest factors affecting youthful skin and triggers skin aging by subjecting it to negative environmental influences. Here’s how pollution affects your skin and why it speeds up aging:

● Free Radical Damage: Smog, such as fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, as well as toxins release free radicals whenever they make contact with your skin. These unstable molecules not only denature the proteins that make up your skin’s structures but also destroy collagen and elastin – the proteins responsible for your skin’s tone and tone elasticity.

● Oxidative Stress: These are pollutants to which the skin is exposed often and with prolonged period; they overwhelm the normal antioxidant defense mechanism of the skin. This reduces the skins elasticity hence vulnerability to wrinkles, sagging and dullness.

● Inflammation: Such pollutants such as One of the skin polluting effects is inflammation brought about by irritation. Scar tissues form through ongoing inflammation that interferes with the normal skin repair mechanisms leading to early signs of skin aging such as, fine lines, pigmentation.

● Disruption of Natural Barrier: Pollution does elimite natural oils and wears down the skin’s capabilities to hydrate itself. Dehydrated skin is prone to formation of wrinkle as compared to the well moisturized skin Most skin most types undergo a decreased level of moisture as they age hence it is recommended to moisturize the skin Frequently.

● Pigmentation Issues: Many chemicals cause skin to produce more melanin than required thus forming dark spots and blotchy skin as well as causing skin to age faster.

● Accelerated Breakdown of Hyaluronic Acid: Given that toxins can degrade natural hyaluronic acid in your skin leading to the skin losing elasticity and firmness associated with young skin, toxins need to be removed.

How Does This Happen?

● Direct Contact: Pollutants accumulate and then adhere to your skin, altering the skin’s ability to maintain its balance, which leads to inflammation.
● Systemic Effects: The toxic compounds can penetrate deeper into the skin or even get into the blood stream, hence aggravating aging from inside.
● UV Synergy: The effects of UV radiation are worse when there is pollution as it deepens the skin aging process.

Thus the first step towards overcoming the effects of pollution on your skin is to understand how it happens.