Advancement in skin aging: the future cosmeceuticals

Abstract 

Aging is a multifactorial process defined as the accumulation of damage. The aging of the skin is characterized by specific clinical end points, the cause of which is not always thoroughly understood. The skin is exposed to environmental aggressions and the reactive oxygen species produced during cellular metabolism. Damage to the cellular and extracellular components of the skin can be avoided or removed by the appropriate topical application of active ingredients. Sunscreens are essential to avoid damage from the most important damaging environmental agent: solar radiation. Liposomes containing deoxyribonucleic acid repair enzymes and accelerate the endogenous removal of pyrimidine dimers after exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Specific antioxidants reduce the rate of formation of secondary ultraviolet-induced damages, particularly those induced by singlet oxygen. Anti-inflammatory agents, immunostimulants, and enhancers of molecular and cellular detoxification could enter the panoply of new cosmeceuticals to avoid age spots, dark circles, wrinkles, and other clinical aspects of skin aging.