7 minutes read.

Did you know it is elastin that makes your skin snap back like a new pair of stockings? Next to collagen, it is the other protein in the dermis; building only 2–4% of its weight but deserving more attention.

Unlike collagen, elastin hardly rebuilds in adulthood. You produce the majority of it as an embryo; by the time you are an adult, the production almost stops and you have to preserve what you have till the rest of your life. When elastin declines, the skin forms deep wrinkles and sags.

3D-imaging shows that the number of elastin fibers reduce to 44%, and is 10 times more fragmented by the age of 78 years (compared to 38 years of age). In a young skin elastic fibers are laid out horizontally and vertically to the skin surface. When the vertical fibers go from 25% to 10%, as they do when you get older, gravity takes over and your skin feels more like a parachute as opposed to a snug tight suit.

How much this precious protein breaks down is part natural, internal skin aging and part external factors. Stress, UV, air pollution, a high-sugar diet, and cigarette smoke are just a few of these factors.

Here is how external factors age the skin:

Air pollution activates enzymes (elastase and Matrix Metalloproteinase—MMPs) that break down elastin.

UVA and B from the sun also generate elastin-destroying MMPs. When this battered elastin isn't recycled but accumulates as excess, non-functional elastin; a cosmetic problem called elastosis appears. Elastosis is severely, externally aged skin; you have likely seen it in older people.

Ever paid attention to the cris-cross pattern on the back of the neck of some older gentlemen? Years of pounding sun on the hairless, unprotected skin formed a Tic Tac Toe-like grid. Or the famous photo of the truck driver? Left side of the face 90 years old, the other half 50 (bless him)—also elastosis (see photo).

The side where the skin got hit by sun has left him with deep wrinkles and sagging. Most people would think the sun itself caused this damage but the details are more nuanced.

The New England Journal of Medicine published this case report including photo and states the reason for the man's skin aging was due to the split of UV rays by the truck windows. Car windows shield UVB but not UVA. All the years of truck driving with windows up didn't burn, or tan his skin but destroyed the skin's recoil strength.

These are extreme examples but they show the outcome if you don't protect your elastin.

Research has contradicting opinions about which type of UV are more damaging to elastin, based on their differing study results. Some say it is UVA, some claim it the UVB.

Since elastin sits in the dermis, it makes sense that the deeply penetrating UVA is blamed for the destruction (the truck driver being evidence of that).

But, even UVB penetrates more superficially into the epidermis, research shows it triggers the elastin producing gene (8 times stronger than UVA) and causes the build-up of non-functional elastin. I'll come later to what we can learn from this but first 3 more things that ruin elastin.

Oxidative stress—the imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants—plays a big role in elastin breakdown. When your body has to deal with extra amounts of toxins (bad food, air pollution, alcohol), too much stress, not enough movement or too much movement, and a lack of antioxidants in your food, free radicals take over and butcher this springy protein.

Sugar is the next reason. Heard the term “sugar face”? Not as endearing is it sounds; it describes what a prematurely aged face looks like when eating too many sugary treats (and too many carbs). Glycation is the scientific term when protein reacts with sugar and turns the otherwise flexible elastin into easily breakable caramel—so called AGEs (Advanced Glycation Endproducts—also a notorious enemy of collagen).

And the third reason is rough treatment. Face massage is great and won't go out of fashion but repeated skin stretching fatigues elastic fibers.

Unfortunately, there is no treatment, peptide or magic potion that makes up for elastin loss. You cannot outsmart nature and stop the natural aging process. But you can preserve the elastic fibers you have by stopping habits that speeds the loss up.

Here is how with 9 solutions:

1 Living a low-tox lifestyle reduces oxidative stress and the burden on elastic fibers and fibroblasts.

2 Sunning smart without burning the skin. Protecting the skin from peak UV times with a wide brim hat.

3 Keeping your skin barrier strong, so air pollution isn't breaking down elastin. That means cutting back on retinol, retinoids, AHA/BHAS.

4 Gentle touches. Avoiding rough massage, overstretching, rubbing the eyes, and using a gliding agent like a face oil during face massage.

5 Limiting or cutting sugar from the diet is a simple step to protect your elastin. An occasional cookie is not a drama as long as you move your body afterwards, so the sugar is used up instead of circulating in the blood stream where it causes glycation and inflammation.

6 Stress reduction. Chronic stress is another driver of high blood sugar levels. Breaking the cycle of chronic stress by having intentional breaks with meditation, yoga and deep breathing is what works for me but stress busters can look differently for everyone.

7 Loading up with nutrients to rebuild elastin. Carotenoids, vitamin A, C, D, and E, zinc, amino acids (glycine, proline and valine), copper, and healthy fats.

8 Antioxidants protect from oxidative stress as they neutralize free radicals. Lycopene for example, found in simple tomato paste reduces oxidative stress, inflammation and elastin breakdown from radiation.

9 Living in harmony with the natural day and night rhythms.

Taking care of your elastin doesn't just save your face. Elastin is in your blood vessels, eyes, lungs, just to name a few.

Still have some energy left? I have one more important thing to say.

I mentioned in the beginning, there is only a small batch of new elastin made in the skin factory. And to keep that factory well oiled, we must take care of the stem-cells. Fibroblasts are the stem-cells that produce elastin and their health depends partially on us.

Again, UV and air pollution accelerate fibroblast ageing and reduces their viability by almost half. Aging fibroblasts are the reason you accumulate non-functional elastin because their self-recycle mechanism (autophagy) becomes unthorough.

While the autophagy speed in aged fibroblasts doesn't differ to that of a young one, the clearance is incomplete. Because of this incomplete recycling, fibroblasts are left with residues in the cell that create more waste products and inflammation. It's a catch 22, because inflammation ultimately causes more skin aging.

Here comes the kicker! Smooth fibroblast autophagy depends on natural sunlight. Studies show that a specific set of genes (PER) that regulate the circadian rhythm are less active in old fibroblasts and this downregulation of genes declines fibroblast autophagy. The circadian rhythm is the natural day and night rhythm, which your body is automatically in tune with through natural light signals processed by the brain. Even though the circadian rhythm decline is part of natural aging, given we confuse this day and night-rhythm with artificial light and screen time after dark, we can imagine how this habit accelerates the natural aging process. This makes circadian rhythm healing another meaningful solution.

What you and I can learn from this is that sunlight alone, even so vilified, isn't what ages us faster. It's the wrong behavior with it and modern habits plus technological advancements. 

We were never meant to sit for hours behind a window—unnatural.

We are also not meant to sit in the sun all day and unprotected at peak hours. Only Westerners who lost touch with their natural environment seem to do that. 

We were never meant to be in bright light after sunset.

We were never meant to feel constantly stressed.

We were never meant to eat kilos of sugar beet and then sit still.

We don't need to hide from the sun to preserve our skin. Treating this high energy healer with respect and common sense. Living in harmony with nature is what ultimately keeps you and your skin in shape.

I hope you had fun reading. What was new to you?

Photo: The New England Journal of Medicine