Mediterranean botanicals to reduce skin irritation

While the sun’s energy is essential for life as we know it, the energy of the sun is constantly penetrating and damaging the fragile nature of the skin’s structure and function.  In addition, daily exposure to cleansing and pollution expand the threats that can disrupt the skin’s functional benefits.  The daily life style of constant running and exposure to fluorescent lights and lack of sleep can also impact the integrity of strength of the skin’s protective benefits.  When this kind of disruption occurs, it manifests itself on the skin through the formation of dry skin and redness (erythema).  We counteract these daily threats by employing a battery of cosmetic preparations containing ingredients designed to offer protection and to reinforce and rebuild our defenses. Most certainly, the expanding use of ingredients designed to block or absorb the sun’s radiation is a primary way to avoid a key damaging effector.  This paper will discuss the development of a unique blend of botanical actives, sourced from the sun-drenched Mediterranean, that have been scientifically designed to enhance the ability of the skin to recover from harmful radiation.  This blend, known commercially as Skin Save®, includes extracts from Capparis spinosa(Caper) buds, Opuntia ficus-indica (Prickly pear) cactus cladodes, and Olea europaea(olive) leaves. The paper will examine the extensive scientific studies that each individual extract has undergone and then will explore how, when optimally blended, they function better than an approved pharmaceutical product in improving skin damaged during breast cancer radiation treatments.  Such intensive studies are rarely conducted on ingredients intended for cosmetic use and demonstrate the strength that scientific design of natural blends can bring to unique cosmetic ingredients. 

The protective benefits that the human skin provides to the body are enormous. Without intact skin, the human body becomes vulnerable to numerous external hazards.  A disrupted skin barrier can lead to enhanced penetration of extraneous threats like bacteria or chemicals that normally would remain benign and nonthreatening.  Having an improperly functioning skin barrier also enhances the rate at which the body’s internal water evaporates (referred to as Trans-Epidermal Water Loss or TEWL).  Additionally, a damaged barrier can be more susceptible to the ravages of UV radiation which is one of the most hazardous threats that the human body is exposed to repeatedly. 

Skin barrier disruption manifests itself in various ways. It can be simple and subtle such as an appearance of dryness or skin flakiness that indicates a diminishment in skin moisture.1 Often, barrier disruption can appear as redness or irritation which happens, for example, when the skin is exposed to strong surfactants or possibly to light sunburn.  Or, it can be a manifestation of a mild to moderately severe skin disease like acne or atopic dermatitis.  The barrier can begin to show signs of significant disruption that can be due to allergic responses or to harsh chemicals or severe energy burns.  When the barrier is damaged to this significant extent, then the potential threat of external hazards is greatly increased.2,3 A good example of a more severe kind of energy disruption can be found when human skin is exposed to radiation as is common in cancer treatments.  The damage inflicted to the skin during cancer treatments is referred to as radiodermatitis and can be imagined to be like a person getting repeated sunburns for many days, sunburn upon sunburn.4 In the case of acute radiodermatitis, the barrier function of the skin can be significantly impacted and so treatments that help to accelerate barrier repair are particularly appreciated in this case.