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Here is the most pathetic but clear-cut demonstration
of how insane the world of cosmetics truly is. After selling
us products to ward off oxygen's effects on the skin (the
word antioxidant means anti-oxygen), the beauty industry
then sells us products that claim to provide oxygen to
the skin. Doesn't the beauty industry have anything better
to do?
Oxygen depletion is one of the things that happens to
older skin. Unfortunately, delivering extra oxygen to
the skin doesn't reverse it. Oxygen on the surface may
affect the very top layer of skin, but so what? How much
extra oxygen does skin need? No one knows. Can it be absorbed?
No. Plus, none of this answers the question about oxygen
generating more free-radical damage.
How did this caprice of oxygen booths get started? Oxygen
booths (hyperbaric chambers) are used medically to repair
skin ulcers and wounds that have difficulty healing. According
to the American Diabetes Association, "Diabetes Forecast"
(June 1993, pages 57), "When you have a stubborn
[wound] that won't heal, the white blood cells that fight
the infection in the [wound] use 20 times more oxygen
when they're killing bacteria. Also, the more oxygen your
body has to work with, the more efficiently it lays down
wound-repairing connective tissue. But it is the inhaled
oxygen, which is then absorbed by your blood after you
breathe it, that speeds wound healing, not the oxygen
drifting past the wound."
Moreover, leg ulcers and wounds are a temporary condition,
but skin aging is ongoing. The notion that oxygen treatments
affect aging or wrinkles is a joke. No studies exist to
support those ideas, though there is research showing
that the oxidative process generated by oxygen is partly
responsible for wrinkles and skin aging in general.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Given what is now known about free-radical damage, I no
longer recommend hydrogen peroxide as a topical disinfectant
for acne. Oxygen is clearly a problem for skin, and hydrogen
peroxide is a significant oxidizing agent. The way hydrogen
peroxide works is by releasing an unstable oxygen molecule
onto the skin, and that generates free-radical damage.
The extra oxygen molecule that makes up hydrogen peroxide
is extremely unstable. That's why hydrogen peroxide is
packaged in a dark brown, airtight container.
On exposure to air, hydrogen peroxide's extra oxygen
molecule is released and the product becomes plain water.
For skin prone to acne this extra oxygen molecule is capable
of killing the bacteria that cause blemishes. Acne bacteria
are anaerobic, meaning they don't like oxygen. But because
of the problems that stem from impacting the skin with
a substance that is known to generate free-radical damage,
other options need to be sought. Please see Battle
Plans for Blemishes, for different treatments to combat
the bacteria that cause acne.
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