There is absolutely no substitute for staying out of the sun if you want to keep youthful skin. Not even SPF 100 skin screen is going to protect you. Though you should certainly use it if going out into the sun. It’s a choice you have to make especially as we are on a road to greater life extension.
Don’t believe it? As I have posted before: Look at the skin of your inner thigh compared to the skin of your neck, hands, forearms, or any other part of your body that has been exposed to the sun.
Fortunately rapamycin can reverse some of this damage.
Nothing will do more for skin aging than frequent extended fasts once a month for 4 to 5 days. Do this for a year and it’s like having a new body. Colors with be much more vivid and luminous. More than you could ever get from a placebo effect. Skin gets smoother and tighter. My nose shrunk. My ears changed. My ear lobes became thicker. I can’t describe it but it’s undeniable. But the greatest difference i noticed was in my brain. Almost like science fiction. The clarity, like I had as a kid. But I was also eating a healthy diet, exercise and sauna. Plus particular supplements to protect against AGEs like mega Benfotiamine ( Life Extension) with each meal, Lipoic acid, Carnosine 500 with each meal, and pyridoxal-5-phosphate. Etc
100% agree, the very first and best intervention is sun protection and sun avoidance. This is more important than any other topical you could use by HUGE margin. If you aren’t using daily sunscreen, don’t even bother with the rest.
I think we need to look at some nuance. Staying out of the sun completely is a risk factor of its own. I don’t mind being a bit more wrinkled if the benefits of sun exposure reduces the incidence of cancer and heart disease (Queirós CS, Freitas JP. Sun Exposure: Beyond the Risks. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2019 Oct 31;9(4):249-252. Sun Exposure: Beyond the Risks - PMC ). We evolved to get vit d from the sun. And sunlight exposure on skin increases levels of nitric oxide which lowers blood pressure. Check your blood pressure in summer vs winter. It is a significant difference.
Being in a far northern latitude - I seek out the sun. I wear a hat with brim, tinted glasses, avoid peak sun for long periods of time, avoid the burn, use clothing instead of sunscreen or use a zinc based ointment. (I think sunscreen has its own risk factors) But don’t avoid the sun. It is life itself!
Assess your genetic risks (eg skin tone) and adjust to where you live on the planet in how to live with sun exposure.
Only mad dogs and Englishman march in the noon day sun - I agree, just don’t avoid it completely.
Vitamin D supplements are very effective at making up for a lack of sunlight. My parents got tested for vitamin D levels and they were off the charts. They have since stepped down from 5,000 IU to 1,000 IU daily. Enjoy the shade not the sun!
Our skin biological age calculations include a full-body, 60+ point measurement system using Merz, Visia, and autofluorescence imaging. The April 2021 biological age score is an approximation because the full suite of measurements were not yet completed
“Mesotherapy with Hyaron Video” After watching this video I say nope, not today! I think I’ll pass on this particular process. Of course, I’m not a doctor. So, I don’t really know if this process is safe or not. The thought of infection comes to mind, but “What do I know since I’m not a doctor?”
You are right about infection. It’s easy to get it if you are not familiar with the rules of aseptics and antiseptics. This procedure is not for everybody, even though technically it’s very easy to do. I do it on myself for many years because I did have formal training in injections. I never had any infections or even bruises.
Is there some sort of attachment that these needles plug into? What additional thing do you need (if any) to do what you’re doing?
I just watched the video above on mesotherapy… have to say, from perhaps the typical guy’s viewpoint this stuff looks pretty over the top (needles in the face just seem like something that could go horribly wrong… but I’m sure I’m over-reacting as I’m not much of a fan of needles in general).
An interesting paper, related to this general thread topic:
Benefits of topical hyaluronic acid for skin quality and signs of skin aging: From literature review to clinical evidence
Skin aging goes beyond a chronological process and also results from extrinsic factors referred to as the exposome. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is an important component of the extracellular matrix, with loss starting at 25 years old. While many studies of HA concern topical use, few literature reviews only address the use of topical HA in dermatology. This review describes the different characteristics of HA-containing cosmeceuticals, with a focus on skin aging and the impact of exposome factors on HA synthesis and degradation. A review was performed using the terms HA, hyaluronan, topical, dermatology, cosmetic, aging treatment, exposome, and cosmeceuticals. Results are also presented from a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT), which investigated the additional benefit of using a HA epidermic filler (HA-filler serum) combined with Botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA) to treat signs of skin aging. Subjects were randomized to two groups: HA-filler serum starting 24 h after the BoNTA injection then twice daily for 24 weeks, or the control group, which received BoNTA. HA is a key ingredient used in cosmeceuticals for its hydration/antiaging properties (hygroscopic, rheological, and viscoelastic). Several clinical studies indicate that HA is both well tolerated and effective, adjuvant to both post-surgical and facial rejuvenation procedures. In the RCT, one of few studies to combine BoNTA and HA with a 6-month follow-up, the HA-filler serum lengthened the duration of BoNTA’s effect in reducing wrinkles. Numerous studies support HA-based cosmeceuticals as a noninvasive, effective solution for improving skin hydration and rejuvenation.
In the MesoTherapy video I linked to above the woman mentions the “EZ mesotherapy gun” - do you know anything about them and if they are generally a good idea. The seem to make the process easier for people, and perhaps a little less scary.
Also - it seems some people use multi-needle heads, do you have an opinion on the benefits or not of that approach?
And, after poking around on youtube a bit on this topic, I’ve quickly come to realize that women seem to be way ahead of men on the whole area of biohacking. It seems that beauty / skin biohacking (if youtube videos are any indication) is already a huge and growing market. Taking rapamycin seems like a pretty minor biohack (to me) compared to all this skin / injection stuff.
Absolutely true - the core mission has to be (in my view) slowing the fundamental pathways / hallmarks of biological aging. But I also think that culturally women have had more of a focus on visible signs of aging, than men. Additionally, if you are (or think you are) addressing the fundamental hallmarks/biology of aging, then a natural next step (for some people at least) is to desire to have the visible appearance of aging mitigated also.
Its interesting, but I’m amazed at the number of times I see comments on the appearance of different “longevity leaders” as being a key indicator of the relative merits of what they are “promoting” or discussing. If they think the person looks older than their biological age, they disregard the advice or protocols, if the person looks younger than their biological age, then they pay extra attention to the advice and protocol. Though of course, the appearance of a person (from an aging perspective) has very little to do with the biological age of the person. Lots of Hollywood stars look young for their age, but I doubt their longevity biomarkers are doing so well. I’m much more interested in the bloodwork / biomarkers of the person, but people go for the simple proxy of appearance (as I guess humans have done for the past 1,000 generations of the species).
I think part of David Sinclair’s success is because he “looks” younger than his biological age. Of course, who knows what skin protocol he uses (or if he uses the Rivertown formula for his head to keep the gray hair at bay)…
I have made topical hyaluronic acid serum and found it quite easy to do so. The confusing part was figuring out the molecular weight of the products sold on the Internet. This is important given the information from your Wiley article - “HMW-HA has very limited permeability through the skin and primarily stays on the skin’s surface, forming a thin protective hydration layer, while LMW-HA can permeate the stratum corneum, epidermis, and deeper dermal layers”
A recent purchase of HA showed that the HA was sourced as Sodium Hyaluronate. I did some research on this and cosmetically Sodium Hyaluronate will generally have a lower molecular weight. That weight can vary though A recent HA purchase on Amazon had the manufacturer reply to a question on molecular weight by the following:
Q: What is this made from and what is the molecular weight?
A: Pure Organic Ingredients Hyaluronic Acid is plant-based. While the exact molecular weight can vary depending on the batch. Our current batch has a molecular weight of 776.651 g/mol.
I have seen responses from other manufacturers that molecular weight is determined after the batch is made. Getting a real low MW HA product is probably more costly.
That said, your review article shows that in some experiments, a range of “low” molecular weights are effective. Low being relative to high. (Low being less than 1.000.00 and High being greater than 1.800.000)
I also add ascorbic acid powder (vit c) to the serum I make. It helps deliver higher concentrations in the skin applied topically and is essential to collagen production. (Keep the solution well sealed and out of the sunlight as vit c is highly unstable and will yellow.
Needle is connected to a sterile syringe. Syringes are sold separately. You can also buy an injection gun. It has a setting for injection depth. It’s an expensive tool though and you’ll have to learn how to use it. I don’t use them. I recommend using a single syringe (3-5 ml). If you use a 4mm needle, insert only the half into skin, which will measure 2 mm. 1mm is a good depth to start. Try to do it on your hand at first. Use alcohol preps to disinfect. If there’s little blood, press on it with alcohol prep for 10-15 sec. May be one day I’ll make a short tutorial video.
Multi-needle heads leak a lot of product. It’s a handy tool (gun + multi-needle head). It is great for a professional technician who does it all day long on many people. It saves time. For applications on yourself (once a month or so) it’s not practical. It’s much easier to use a single 3-5 ml syringe with a 4-6 mm needle.
Thanks! As I read about this “mesotherapy” approach I realize that really its just a delivery method - i.e. injection of X under the skin at a low depth (e.g. 2mm).
What I’m realizing is that people are injecting all kinds of things into the skin with the goal of increasing the health of the skin. There are all kinds of “cocktails” of ingredients that people are using.
So - the big issue is, are there any third-party independent validation on what mixtures / cocktails of ingredients that actually work, or work better than others? It almost seems like the wild west of cosmetics all over again - companies claiming great results, and no 3rd party clinical validation, so no way to know what is true and what is snake oil.
Lara - do you know of any good, independent sources for evaluations of different mesotherapy cocktails?
Below are some examples - but if you search on “mesotherapy cocktail” you get thousands of options (which I find more than a little amazing and interesting - I had never heard of this stuff until this week).
You are right there are thousands of them. I prefer to use well known brands, like Allergan (Volite Juvederm), Revitacare (CytoCare). Once I tried a Filorga cocktail and it gave me rash for 48 hours.
Yes - I guess if its a larger, well-known pharma company you are much more likely to at least avoid any bad results (they are more likely to have been tested to a larger degree with more people prior to selling, larger companies just have a lot more budget for testing, and more to lose if they compounds harm people).
When I search on “marketshare leaders” in the the mesotherapy market it seems these are the largest companies:
The major players in the Mesotherapy market seem to include:
Probably not a bio hack but I’ve been using RetinA for a few years now. It has really helped with discolouration. I have to use a lot of moisturiser though as it drys my skin out.
