Skin Inflammation and the Triggers

To correctly treat your sensitive skin.
You have to understand neurogenic and immunogenic inflammation

Is your skin red, sore, and irritated?

Does it often feel hot or sore to the touch?

Then chances are you are suffering from skin inflammation

You may be interested to learn you are not alone.

Shockingly over 50% of women are thought to be concerned with inflammation at some point in their life.

35% of men also experience sensitive skin issues at some point.

This is a worrying statistic.

Why? Be aware inflammation is at the route of premature ageing.

That’s right; if you subject your skin to continuous inflammation, you could be causing your skin to age.

Scientific research (1) is now suggesting that two triggers create inflammatory responses in the skin:

Immunogenic inflammation, triggered by the immune system to fight off warding invaders
Neurogenic inflammation, triggered by the nervous system

So without further ado, let’s jump into inflammation and what you can do to keep it under control.

Causes of Inflammation in Your Skin

But when you consider all the assaults your skin is under daily, it’s hard to control

• damaging UV rays
• toxin accumulation
• poor lifestyle choices
• astringent ingredients
• chemicals and fragrances
• environmental aggressors
• emotional  and physical stress

Could it be that your skincare routine is failing you? And if so, how? Aren’t thousands of skin care products claiming to solve sensitive skin issues?

Yes, but the problem is that most products only address ONE TRIGGER, which is the relationship between the immune system and skin inflammation.

Understanding Immunogenic inflammation

It sounds technical; it is, so please bare with us as we get a little skin sciency.

Your immune system triggers immunogenic inflammation.

When your body is under attack from allergens, suffering from emotional stress or hormonal changes, an immune response is stimulated, resulting in inflammation in your skin.

This inflammation is a natural process in your body created by the warrior white cells ta-da!

That’s right, lovely warrior cells come in whenever they sense danger and fight off invading foreign bodies, thus aiding in the healing process.

This creates all that pain, redness, swelling, and inflammation when you would like yourself.

This cycle of inflammation caused by immunogenic inflammation is a subject we discuss in greater depth in this article.

Understanding Neurogenic inflammation

Next up, more skin science, jeez! Trust me; I’m an esthetician. It’s just that it’s essential to understand why your skin is sensitive and inflamed.

Neurogenic inflammation is the lesser-known form of inflammation related to the nervous system.

When your skin comes into contact with potential irritants, it activates sensors in your nervous glands, releasing a cascade of neuro-peptides.

These neuro-peptides help to end the inflammatory cycle in your skin and aid in tissue repair.

They are responsible for severe inflammatory conditions, including psoriasis, dermatitis, rosacea, and itchy skin when aggravated.

When your skin is under emotional stress or comes into contact with pollution, a painful neurogenic response is created; this leads to inflammatory conditions such as itching, psoriasis, and dermatitis.

Both immunogenic and neurogenic inflammation can cross over to the same conditions, including redness, irritation, swelling, and itching.

To conclude. The naked truth

So to recap, we have established there are two significant triggers behind inflammation:

1. 1. As this study demonstrates (2) in your skin, allergens that stimulate an immune response are called immunogenic inflammation.
   2. Chemicals that stimulate a nerve response are referred to as neurogenic inflammation.

And inflammation from both these triggers creates the same redness, itching, and swelling that results when the body is injured or irritated.

You can be forgiven for thinking these are the only causes of skin inflammation, but sadly that is not the case.

Both physical and emotional stress has a lot to answer for, kicking a once-healthy skin entirely off balance.

Elevated levels of CORTISOL, our stress hormone, cause inflammatory reactions in the body; it aggravates inflammation, causing extreme itchiness and inhibiting wound healing.

Toxin accumulation and poor lifestyle, and environmental conditions can also be stressors.

When you look at the bigger picture, you can see several factors that trigger inflammatory skin conditions:

1. 1. • nerve activity
      • poor gut health
      • immune disruption
      • genetic susceptibility
      • impaired acid mantle
      • epidermal barrier function

What is crucial to healthy skin is pairing effective skincare treatment with the right lifestyle choices.

Reduce exposure to the sun, and try to keep stress levels to a minimum; take care to nourish your skin, preserving its natural protective barrier.

Combining all of this with a healthy diet plan will undoubtedly positively affect the health and appearance of your skin.

All of our products, especially these two kits here and here, address both of these triggers of immunogenic inflammation and addresses neurogenic inflammation.

This highly customised range is designed to stop inflammation in its tracks, repair the acid mantle, and rebuild thin, fragile, delicate skin.

Ultimately restoring your skin to health so you can be the best version of yourself.

References

1. Neurogenic Inflammation – The Peripheral Nervous System’s Role in Host Defense and Immunopathology

2. Atopic Dermatitis: A Disease of Altered Skin Barrier and Immune Dysregulation