Dr. Shawana Vali explains how psychological stress triggers oxidative damage that inflames fibroblasts in the skin's deeper layers, impairing their ability to produce collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid. The result is visible aging: laxity, fine lines, wrinkles, and dullness.
We talk about stress being so detrimental, but what is it about stress? What is the link between stress and the skin?
What stress does is it causes something called oxidative stress for free radical damage. If we go back to cellular cause, pathophysiologically, on a cellular level, you've got the beauty layer of the skin, which is the epidermis. You've got the medical layer of the skin, which is the reticular dermis. In reticulodermis, you've got these great things called building blocks called fibroblasts. They produce collagen, elastin, hyaluronic acid. When you've got oxidative stress and free radical damage going on, this gets enlightened and inflamed.
Because this is in the deep layers of the skin.
That means you're going to get the collagen breaking down, you're going to get the good stuff, the robust architecture of the skin breaking down. So you're going to get the laxity, you're going to get the fine lines and wrinkles, you're going to look dull. So we're like, let's work on the inflammatory cause of your acne first before we come on the outside and start contouring you unnecessarily.
