Environ: Discover The Breakthrough That May Help Prevent And Even Halt Sun-Related Damage

There's nothing like feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin during the summer months. However, it's difficult not to worry about the constant warnings regarding the devastating effects it can have on your skin.

Of course, regularly applying high SPF sunscreens, wearing a hat and covering up as much as possible, are essential ways of helping to prevent sun-related damage. But many experts believe this alone may not be enough.

The Holy Grail for dermatologists is a therapy that can actually prevent and reverse sun-related damage. Now, the answer may finally have been found in the form of cosmeceuticals - a new class of active dermatological products that can limit sun-related damage caused by ultraviolet rays.

The benefits of cosmeceuticals don't end here. They are also able to enhance collagen formation, tighten up and firm sagging skin, moisturise and plump up fine lines around your eye and lip area.

One of the most promising cosmeceuticals is Environ, a range of creams developed by Dr Des Fernandes, a South African cosmetic surgeon, concerned about the ravaging effects of the sun on his patients' skin. The key to the effectiveness of Environ skin creams is the unique blend of protective antioxidants and ultra-violet blocking agents that the individual formulations contain.

Environ creams help reverse the harmful effects of damaging free radicals
When the sun shines on your skin, its short wavelength UVB rays are absorbed by the superficial epidermis (the outer layer of your skin). Free radicals are generated, and these highly-reactive molecules can destroy cells or trigger mutations that may eventually cause skin cancer - including the most deadly form, malignant melanoma.

Recent findings reveal that it is the longer wavelength UVA rays which cause skin ageing - also known as photo-ageing. They penetrate 30 to 40 times deeper than the UVB rays, damaging the dermis (the thick layer of skin beneath your epidermis).
UVA rays also generate free radicals, which destroy collagen and elastin layers in your skin and protein bonds in skin cells. Studies show that only 9 moderate doses of UVA - each dose lasting approximately one hour - are necessary before damaging changes become evident.1

Dr Fernandes' creams help combat this damage because they contain a range of specific therapeutic agents. This includes potent free radical scavengers, namely the antioxidant vitamins A, C, E and beta-carotene.

Tests at the Medical University of South Africa show that the profile of ultraviolet absorption of the creams is excellent - providing up to 97 per cent absorption for all wavelengths, and safeguarding your skin from their damaging impact.

Sun exposure can rapidly deplete your skin's levels of vitamin A
Vitamin A plays an essential role in combating sun damage. But each time that you go out into the sun, this photosensitive vitamin in your skin is damaged by harmful UVA rays.

Once your skin's vitamin A is depleted it takes several days before diet alone is able to restore normal levels. Best food sources of vitamin A are liver, carrots, yellow and orange fruit and vegetables, spinach, broccoli and watercress.

However, application of vitamin A cream can restore the level within a few hours.
The vitamin A present in Environ creams is in the form of retinyl palmitate (in the milder creams) and retinyl acetate (in the stronger creams). These two forms of vitamin A are less irritating to the skin than the original retinoic acid or Retin A - which was used in many creams in the early 1980s.

Dr Fernandes has found these formulations to be both safe and effective in the dose recommended by extensive international research.2

'In order to promote the levels of vitamin A in the skin, I advise the use of these day and night creams especially in younger people where they act against photo-damage,' says Dr Fernandes.

To boost the effect of vitamin A, beta-carotene and vitamin E are added to provide additional photo-protection.3

Vitamin C is essential for skin tissue growth and repair
The presence of vitamin C is also essential to the efficacy of Environ creams as it stimulates collagen production.

In a study published in the European Journal of Dermatology, a group of 20 females aged between 55 and 60 - all suffering from photo-aged skin on their necks - were given either vitamin C cream to apply or placebo. Where vitamin C was applied topically, researchers found that there was a significant decrease in neck wrinkles and furrows.4

Another study at Duke University in the US and published in Skin Aging and Photo-aging, found that vitamin C is able to neutralise the harmful chemical reactions that occur with ultraviolet light. As ultraviolet light, and even light from computers, damages vitamin C in your skin, it is necessary to replace it daily in a form that is both stable and absorbable.

The most effective form of topical vitamin C is magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, as found in the Environ range. It is stable for around 200 days and it passes readily through your cell walls. Once inside your cells, the compound is converted to its useable form, ascorbic acid.

How to get maximum skin protection
As well as helping sun-damaged skin, research has also highlighted the stunning effects of Environ creams on pigmentation problems, acne, and stretch marks.
The Environ cosmeceuticals range is suitable for men and women of all ages. The Proactive day creams contain vitamins A, C, E, beta-carotene and sunscreen. Apply every morning for best results. In the evening it is recommended that you apply a Proactive night cream (containing the same vitamins as above but without the sunscreen) to enhance antioxidant penetration.

1. Lavker et al. J Am Acad Derm 1995
2. Kligman AM Current status of topical tretinoin in treatment of photo-aged skin Drugs Ageing 1992 Jan _ Feb; 2(1): 7-13
3. Fryer MJ Evidence for photo protective effects of vitamin E Photochem Photobiol 1993; 58 (2): 304-12
4.Humpert P Topical vitamin C in treatment of photonaged skin Europ J of Derm 2001; vol 11, pp 172-173