Keeping your skin barrier intact and damage-free is essential in maintaining hydration, elasticity, and health. That’s why researching and finding the best ingredients that can help you achieve this effect should be a crucial part of your skincare routine. One of the most raved-about substances when it comes to repairing your skin barrier is hyaluronic acid.
Hyaluronic acid can significantly help to repair the skin barrier. Studies have consistently shown that it is highly effective at repairing skin damage, helping your skin retain its elasticity, and ensuring your skin’s overall health.
This article will take you through everything you’ll need to know about your skin barrier and how hyaluronic acid can help it immensely in its regenerating process.
How Does Hyaluronic Acid Repair the Skin Barrier?
Hyaluronic acid is a simple sugar produced naturally by the body in the skin, joints, and eyes. Its function in the body is to provide highly needed moisture to these areas, which can help them better retain hydration and elasticity.
Hyaluronic acid holds 1,000 times its weight in water, which helps boost your skin’s health and appearance immensely. This quality also makes hyaluronic acid a strong humectant, which allows it to heal any skin barrier damage and keep it firm, elastic, and hydrated.
While most acids are generally used for exfoliation purposes, hyaluronic acid draws water from the environment and binds it to the skin. This replenishing process will help revitalize your skin barrier, allowing it to work and look better. For this reason, hyaluronic acid is also an essential ingredient in anti-aging products.
Its moisture-retaining quality does not only help repair existing damage to your skin, it can also help prevent further damage from stress, pollution, and UV lighting. This is why a high-quality hyaluronic acid serum or supplement is recommended for people suffering from skin barrier damage.
I personally recommend either the Cosmedica Skincare Pure Hyaluronic Acid Serum for those looking for a serum and the NatureBell Hyaluronic Acid for people who prefer a supplement. Both are available on Amazon.com and are highly effective at healing your skin barrier.
Why Does the Skin Barrier Matter?
Simply put, your skin barrier is the most important layer of protection between you and the outside world. It’s made out of the two outer layers of the epidermis, composed of 15 to 20 subsequent layers of dead skin cells.
Your skin barrier matters because it protects the deeper, living layers of epidermal cells from outside pathogens, pollution, and other dangerous free radicals. At the same time, it helps maintain your skin’s hydration.
Although some damaging factors such as age and genetics can be out of your control, following a skincare regime designed to keep your skin barrier impact and damage-free is crucial for maintaining your skin’s health.
How To Detect Damage to Your Skin Barrier?
You can detect damage to your skin barrier by paying attention to what your skin is telling you. If you feel excessive dryness, sensitivity, redness, inflammation, or itching, you may have skin barrier damage. Another sign of damage is if your skin has become more prone to infections and rashes.
When your skin barrier is damaged, the usually unbreakable arrangement between some skin cells is lost. This allows external pathogens and free radicals to get into your skin easily while allowing water to get out. When this happens, your skin will be not only red, itchy, and flaky, it will also be oily at the same time.
There are many causes, both internal and external, that can lead to a damaged skin barrier. While the damage caused by aging and genetics is hard to avoid, damage caused by external factors is more controllable and treatable with a proper skincare regime.
You are more susceptible to a damaged skin barrier if you:
- Overwash, over-exfoliate, or over treat your skin
- Not getting enough sleep
- Stress out easily
- Live in a highly-polluted area
How Can You Heal a Damaged Skin Barrier? How Long Does It Take?
You can heal your damaged skin barrier by using gentler products and simplifying your skincare routine. To help the repair process, you’ll need to introduce a powerful form of hydration to your regime, such as a moisturizer with ceramides or hyaluronic acid.
You will first need to assess the root cause of your problem. Take a look at all the possible agitators, and see if there are any that can be the cause of your damaged skin barrier.
You can also narrow down the list by removing each of the possible alternatives from your regime, one at a time, and keeping track of your skin condition throughout the process. By monitoring how your skin reacts to each change, you’ll be able to determine the cause of the problem.
Once this is done, it’s time to work on repairing your skin. You will need to avoid using all active products and exfoliants for a few weeks to a month so that you avoid overtreating your skin. Instead, start introducing gentler, more moisture-retaining products to your regime, such as hyaluronic acid.
Overtreating with harsh products isn’t the only way in which your routine can be harming your skin barrier. You should also make sure to avoid overwashing your face, as doing so can throw off its pH balance.
Additionally, try using cooler or room temperature water when you wash your face – hot water can act as an agitator. Finally, try sticking to a consistent routine and don’t experiment with new products too frequently, as constant changes can damage your skin.
Lifestyle choices can often affect your skin quality as well. Living in extreme weather conditions, consuming too much caffeine or alcohol, smoking, and overconsumption of ultra-processed foods can all contribute to damaging your skin barrier.
You should also keep an eye on your medications – long-term use of specific formulations can damage your skin barrier. If you suspect your medications are causing a problem, do not stop taking them. Instead, speak to your primary care provider and a dermatologist about your concerns, and ask them for advice. Stopping medication without a medical recommendation is not advised.
After removing any agitators, it’s time to introduce healing treatments to your routine. This is where you start using a gentle moisturizer and hyaluronic acid serum. Adequate hydration can take you a long way when it comes to skin recovery, so make sure you don’t skip this step.
Barrier restoration usually takes at least four weeks, though it may take longer in some more severe cases. Recovery time can vary from person to person and depends on genetics, skin type, damage level, and more. Patience is of the essence when repairing your damaged skin barrier.
You should also speak to your dermatologist for help. This is always a good idea, even if there are no medications involved. While it is possible to treat skin barrier damage on your own, some situations require medical intervention. Having a dermatologist involved ensures that you will not accidentally damage your skin further.
Conclusion
Hyaluronic acid is an excellent moisture-bounding ingredient that can immensely help repair the damaged skin barrier. Maintaining a damage-free skin barrier is essential in ensuring skin health and vitality.
Try your best to avoid harsh treatments and other damaging agents while treating your skin with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid. Always consult a dermatologist if you’re experiencing severe symptoms.
Sources
- ScienceDirect: New treatments for restoring impaired epidermal barrier permeability: skin barrier repair creams
- Dermalogica: What is hyaluronic acid?
- NCBI: Hyaluronic acid: A key molecule in skin aging
- California Skin Institute: Do These 5 Things to Strengthen Your Skin Barrier
- Health Line: Skin Barrier Function and How to Repair and Care for It
- Glamour: How to Repair a Damaged Skin Barrier and Why It’s Important
