What?
Your skin’s barrier system (aka Acid Mantle) is your skin’s first line of defence. This layer within the skin is often the most “abused” layer as most people spend hours trying to remove it for many reasons such as oiliness, dryness, scaliness, patches, breakouts etc.
A dry, red, sensitive skin can all be signs of an impaired skin barrier which means proper functioning of the skin is impaired, creating a never-ending cycle of degeneration. This type of skin almost always contributes to other skin concerns such as acne, dehydration and ageing. A healthy skin barrier is vital for a healthy and happy skin that functions optimally.
Incorrect facial product use and harsh substances are often the primary culprits for causing this layer to not work properly, resulting in a damaged Acid Mantle.
Who?
About 60-70% of clients that we see at our clinic have an impaired Acid Mantle. We have seen increased amounts of people coming in with dry, sensitive, red skins.
It really is a condition that many therapists/clinics fail to treat as they are unaware of it or overlook it and immediately start treating secondary, more obvious conditions such as oiliness or pigmentation. However, when this is done, it only aggravates the skin resulting in little to no improvement. Often the skin worsens.
Our first priority is assessing the Acid Mantle and 7/10 times we would need to treat and recover the acid mantle first before any secondary conditions can be treated.
We see the Acid Mantle in the same way that we see a foundation of a building. If a building doesn’t have a strong, well-built foundation the building will ultimately crumble and falter. The same goes for the skin. Ensure the ”foundation” is strong, well-built and intact and much more can be achieved with the skin.
What we also see more and more is that when the Acid Mantle is not intact it often causes other conditions to rear their ugly heads (such as oiliness, acne, dryness or ageing). Often by simply restoring the damaged acid mantle most of the above-mentioned conditions improve or disappear altogether.
Treatment
To start off we recommend a Skin Analysis of the skin. This allows us to identify a damaged Acid Mantle. From our findings we are able to draw up the best treatment plan indicated to treat this condition.
The best treatment for this condition is to start slow. Slowly building up the strength of the skin will ensure that there are no set-backs in the skin. This will also ensure that all end results are realistically achieved.
Products such as Lamelle and Collagen are great when combined with treatments such as gentle facials for treating dry, sensitive skin.
