Photo-aging is the name given to skin that has been exposed to environmental elements - sun, smoke, and pollution - which causes free radicals to form. These free radicals attack the skin's collagen layer which leads to wrinkles, facial lines, dullness, and blotchy skin. By nurturing our skin now, we can help reduce the signs of premature aging due to sun exposure and other hazardous environmental conditions. Vitamin C has been used as a health benefit for centuries. This essential beauty vitamin also has many great antioxidant properties that makes it an ideal age defying treatment as well. The way that this ingredient defies lines and wrinkles is by getting underneath the skin to help repair damaged skin cells and help keep the new skin cells in tip top shape.

If Vitamin C is the chief anti-oxidant and exposure to sun depletes this vital ingredient, why not
replace it? Oral supplementation, although great for many ailments, does not work as quickly as
direct topical application of ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Studies have shown that repeated
application of ascorbic acid to sun exposed skin for 3-4 days can result in levels 20 times higher
than that achieved by oral supplementation. Vitamin C penetrates the skin effectively when
applied topically, while ingested Vitamin C gets directed mainly to internal organs with about 2% going to the skin.

Human trials have shown that vitamin C application to sun burnt skin decreases redness in the skin. If
redness is decreased then there is an anti-inflammatory effect, if we decrease inflammation then
we are well on the way to stopping other skin changes that occur with inflammation, changes that
lead to aging more rapidly. Trials with psoriasis patients have also shown a decrease in
inflammation and scale to areas where vitamin C was applied.

Why are Vitamin C products so expensive when Vitamin C is so abundant?
To start with, just because Vitamin C may be written on a label does not mean there is enough present to be effective or that it is stable. Vitamin C is water-soluble and therefore oxidizes very quickly when exposed to air or sunlight. Aesthetic consultants point out that original formulations using this cheaper form of Vitamin C were unstable and the formula went brown as it oxidized within a few weeks, thus making the formula useless. Vitamin C can now be stabilized and this proposition is much more expensive. (Uspa "encapsulated" vitamin C, is purchased from high tech laboratories in America, and has undergone extensive testing for its functionality, delivery systems, and purity.) Products must contain at least 10% vitamin C to generate the anti-aging benefits.