Hand skin care at home

As you know, a person’s age does not give out a face or even gray hair. Small wrinkles can be easily corrected or smoothed out using cosmetic methods, and gray hairs can be easily painted over. Age is given out, first of all, by the neck and skin of the hands. Hands are the first to respond to age-related changes in the body. To keep your skin young and supple for a long time, you need to start looking after it as soon as possible. It is worth knowing how and why to do it right.

Hand skin feature

In general, the histological structure of various skin areas is similar. The upper layer of the skin is covered with epidermis. It consists of a stratified squamous epithelium. The epithelium lies on the basement membrane and includes from four to five layers. The epithelium of any area of ​​the skin has the following layers:

1. Basal. The lowest layer, it provides the growth of cells and their attachment to the basement membrane.
2. Prickly. The cells of this layer have processes, they are necessary so that the layers of cells fit snugly against each other.
3. Grainy. In this layer, cells begin to decay. Their protein structures turn into keratogialin grains, which are necessary for the formation of horny scales.
4. Horny. There are no cells in this layer, only their remains are horny scales.

Each layer, in fact, is a stage of cell maturation. Each cell goes through all stages from the basal to the stratum corneum. The flakes are then exfoliated, which contributes to the renewal of the epidermis.

The skin of the palms is different from the rest of the sites. Its epidermis contains between the granular and horny layers another layer - brilliant. It consists of eleidine, an intermediate between keratogealine and the substance of horny scales. The shiny layer makes the skin more dense and firm. He is also on the soles of the feet.

Under the epidermis lies the dermis. It consists of connective tissue fibers running in different directions. This layer contains vessels and nerve endings responsible for tactile, pain and temperature sensitivity. With age, connective tissue becomes less elastic. She loses a large amount of water and hyaluronic acid. That is why the skin becomes wrinkled and wrinkled. The more harmful factors affect the connective tissue, the faster it changes.

Under the dermis is the deepest layer - the hypodermis. It consists of adipose tissue, which acts as a shock absorber, insulator and protective coating. Depreciation is necessary to ensure skin mobility. Insulation contributes to the preservation of heat in the underlying tissues. In addition, the hypodermis protects the underlying muscles and neurovascular bundles from damage.

Different parts of the hands contain different amounts of hypodermis. For example, on the back surface of the hand it is not, on the palms it is very weakly expressed. There is almost no adipose tissue in the area of ​​the posterior surface of the elbow, but there is a lot of it on the front surface. The forearm is in an intermediate position, but the adipose tissue on the shoulder depends on the constitutional features of the body. The thinner the person, the less hypodermis he has. A large amount of hypodermis makes the skin visually younger.

Causes of hand skin changes

As already mentioned, the histological features of the skin can vary depending on what affects its surface. So what factors lead to adverse hand changes? In fact, there are a lot of them, but the following are most often found:

1. Cold weather. Hands should always be protected from adverse weather conditions. In the cold, the dermis vessels narrow and all skin tissues receive less nutrition.Because of this, they experience hypoxia, become pale and cold. Any hypoxia is dangerous for the tissues, it leads to dystrophic changes, which also affects the appearance of the skin.
2. Wind and damp. Increased humidity, combined with wind and cold affect the skin even worse than frost. The fact is that under such conditions, the tissues give off to the surrounding atmosphere all the heat that they had, which is why they experience even more hypoxia. That is why, in the wind, the skin often dries and cracks.
3. Ultra-violet rays. Between epithelial cells are melanocytes. They contain a pigment substance that protects the body from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. However, with prolonged and frequent exposure to the sun, melanocytes can not cope with their task and ultraviolet light begins to gradually destroy various tissue structures. It has been proven that under the influence of sunlight, the skin ages much faster.
4. Mechanical impact. Constant friction contributes to the formation of coarsened areas of the skin. They, in turn, significantly spoil the appearance of the hands. For example, "callus" on the middle finger of the working hand is formed in those who daily write with a regular ballpoint pen. With a prolonged absence of friction, these changes disappear. By the way, the rule not to put your elbows on the table arose precisely because of the coarsening of the skin. Several centuries ago, young unmarried ladies were forbidden to lean on their elbows in order to keep the skin of this area soft.
5. Chemical substances. First of all, this includes all detergents, cleaners and other household cleaning products. They have a fairly aggressive chemical structure. This allows them to fight dirt, but also determines their detrimental effect on living body tissues. The systematic contact of such products with the skin of the hands contributes to its peeling, coarsening and dryness.
6. Age. Unfortunately, it is absolutely impossible to influence this factor. You can take care of your skin and delay its aging, but it will inevitably come. Age-related skin changes are normal. However, with proper care, their external manifestations can always be minimized.
7. Injuries. Superficial injuries and injuries affecting only the epidermis disappear without a trace. In the event that the basement membrane is not damaged, damage to any area will heal completely. With deeper damage, the completeness of regeneration depends on the area of ​​the lesion. If it exceeds a couple of centimeters, a scar will occur at the site of a wound, burn or other injury. Scar tissue is denser, it differs from normal loose connective tissue of the dermis. The skin color at this location may be pale, white, brown or cyanotic. Scars significantly spoil the aesthetic appearance of the skin, and getting rid of them is very difficult.

Hand Skin Care Rules

We have already figured out what leads to a change in the skin of the hands. It remains to understand how to protect her from the harmful effects and keep her beautiful for a long time.

There are a few simple rules:

1. Protection against wind and cold. In adverse weather conditions, gloves should always be worn. The colder the weather, the warmer the gloves should be. Also, outside in the wind and cold, it is not recommended to come into contact with water. This is especially true for people who have their own garden or perform various types of work in the yard.
2. Protection against aggressive chemistry. Cleaning the house must be done in special tight household gloves. Only they are able to protect hands from aggressive household chemicals. After cleaning and removing gloves, hands should be washed and then treated with greasy cream.
3. Minimizing sunbathing. Hands, like other exposed areas of the body, from April to October must be protected from ultraviolet radiation. To do this, it is enough to apply a cream with a UV filter on the skin before each exit from the house.
4. Elimination of friction. Keep in mind the adverse mechanical effects of any solid objects on the skin. Sometimes, it is impossible to eliminate this effect (as in the example with a pen), then the skin should be protected. To do this, it is enough to moisten some of its areas with hand cream or apply special rubbing agents to the areas of corns and coarsening.
5. Prevention of scar formation. In order to keep the skin as beautiful as possible, with any deep injury, you should consult a doctor. Sometimes a few stitches are enough for the skin to grow together correctly and not form a scar. If there is already a scar, you can try to remove it with a laser. However, there is no guarantee that dense scar tissue will not appear again in this area.
6. Skin nutrition. Fat-soluble vitamins have a beneficial effect on the condition of the skin. They easily penetrate through all layers of the epidermis into the dermis. It is enough to apply daily a mixture of an oil solution of vitamin A and vitamin E for 10-20 minutes. Then the solutions can be washed off the skin.
7. The use of vitamins. This is especially true for the autumn-winter period, when the skin is most vulnerable. To avoid its dryness and tarnishing, it is necessary to take multivitamin preparations. There are special complexes for skin, hair and nails, they can be found in the pharmacy.
8. Proper care Twice a week, the skin of the hands must be cleaned. To do this, you can massage the body with a massage for several minutes. In addition, a special cream that suits you personally should be applied to your hands daily in the morning and evening.

Thus, we can conclude that the hands are the most vulnerable part of the body. The skin of this area is affected by many adverse factors. Some of them are simply impossible to eliminate. However, you can keep your hands beautiful by simply following a series of simple rules.

Video: mask for dry hands with egg yolk and olive oil