Initially, the formulas I developed were only available to patients in my care. Then, my experience using Alas in thousands of patients and spa clients and seeing how exfoliation improved their skin convinced me to formulate a line of AHAbased products. In 1990 I introduced AHAs to the professional skin care industry with home care products and the AHA Rapid Exfoliator Professional Treatment, both of which are now standard treatments. With AHAs, "feel good" facials became true treatment facials.

COSMETICS GET SERIOUS

Products with AHAs are included in a category of skin treatment products called cosmeceuticals, a term introduced twenty years ago by dermatologist Albert M. Kligman to describe agents applied to the skin that are more active than cosmetician but not so active that they have uncomfortable or harmful side effects, as drugs do. Cosmeceuticals have been medically defined as "products with an  activity that is intended to treat or prevent a (mild) skin (abnormality)." Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not officially recognized cosmeceuticals and doesn't regulate them, other countries have acknowledged that some cosmetic ingredients have a biological effect on skin. In Japan, for example, these active ingredients are called "quasidrugs" and must be proven mild and safe.

Several of the ingredients I'm going to suggest you look for are in
Facial products. However, keep in mind that since the FDA does not regulate these products, the activity of the ingredients will vary You'll need to pay close attention to how your skin reacts to them, and perhaps modify your regimen to suit your own skin.

FEEDING THE SKIN

Skin is a responsive, active organ. In a sense, it's a factory, because it continually maintains its own supporting structures and manufactures skin cells and the gel-like material that holds them together.

Whatever goes into the body affects how the organs function.

So if you want healthy skin, you have to supply it with the necessary building blocks for cell membranes and connective tissue. These include proteins or amino acids; water-bonding elements such as phospholipids; fatty acids; lecithin, vitamins Band C; and trace minerals.

The concept behind my program is that as this skin cell factory ages, it becomes less efficient. (There are several theories for this decline in efficiency-or aging-which are discussed in chapter 6.) I have found that by increasing the supply of raw materials-protective and reparative agents-the factory can resume normal, more youthful production.

This concept is also the basis for the rapidly developing field of nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals are nutrients that act like pharmaceuticals to prevent or treat chronic conditions and disease. When it comes to aging skin, nutraceuticals are one more means to replenish the skin cell factory I began recommending nutraceuticals in the 1980's and became especially partial to pomegranate extract. It is a powerful natural antioxidant, and after my research confirmed it could boost the effectiveness of sunscreen, I began including it in sunscreens and supplements in 2000.

Because the skin is such an efficient barrier, and its upper layer has no blood supply, it's difficult to get nutrients and other vital materials from the skin's surface down into the deeper layers of the epidermis, where the cells are nourished. By seeing what could be accomplished with nutraceuticals in other health conditions, it became clear to me that supplements-nourishing the skin from within, from the bloodstream-could make up for deficiencies in the skin.

Now scientists are on the cutting edge of techniceuticals, a term I coined for enhancing new technologies with other agents. Along with laser resurfacing, for instance, I use vitamin C infusions and nutritional supplements to directly restore nutrients to the dermis. With infusion technology, for example, it is possible to deliver antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, hydrating chemicals, and collagen-building materials directly to the dermis. For the last two years, I have been using the infusion technique to flood the skin with high concentrations of vitamin C with excellent results that you willieam about in chapter 11.

A DIFFERENCE YOU CAN SEE

Some improvements, such as the glow that comes from removing dead, dry skin cells and improving circulation to the skin will be .

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