Saggy skin, tried acupuncture?

Acupuncture improves collagen production and resumes younger looking skin.

How the skin looking, young or old depends on the nature and organization of dermal collagen and the elastic fibers network. The collagens give the mechanical strength of the skin, whereas the elastic fibers are responsible for elasticity to the skin. They give skin elasticity and provide firm skin so that skin can bounce back when stretched.

The patterns of collagen organisation depend on the collagen types and other characteristics such as fiber length, fiber volume fraction and collagen molecular stretching, as well as the tilt angle of collagens determining its orientation. These change with age, becoming denser and begin to disorganise and contribute to the appearance of wrinkles and sagging skin. Both elastin and collagen production decline as people age. These two proteins can also become deteriorated by external factors over time, such as: UV exposure, smoking, pollutants in the environment, excess alcohol, poor nutrition etc. Not taking care of your skin or health can speed up the process of skin aging. This can make your skin look saggy and wrinkled at a younger age. Saggy skin, on both the face and body, is also associated with the loss of fat.

Saggy skin can happen almost anywhere on the body. Common areas include eyelids, jaw, chin, throat, upper arms and stomach.

Acupuncture improves collagen and elastin production resulting in younger looking skin. This is proved by recent research study. In this study, 52 patients were participated. The result was assessed by an independent dermatologist. The result shows that skin laxity and tone had markedly improved in all patients resulting in a younger, fresher, healthier and brighter appearance of the patients' skin. Moreover, a reduction of wrinkles and fine lines was observed, as well as an increase in skin collagen and elasticity, with the skin looking more plumed and naturally ‘lifted’ without the aid of foreign substances that can sometimes alter facial features.

The laboratory analysed samples from a biopsy pre- and post-treatment and found that both the macroscopic, as well as histological characteristics of the skin were significantly improved. Trichrome staining demonstrated a more compact dermis, with a healthy matrix network Specifically, the collagen fibers were larger and thicker with a more ordered alignment of fibers of the treated skin as compared to the pre-treatment condition.This finding was also confirmed by electron microscopy which demonstrated an increased dermis thickness compared with the pre-treatment condition. collagen the fibers were disorganized and of poorer quality before treatment and were better organized, good quality fibers of a more ordered alignment after the treatment.

References

Maria Sifaki et al Exp Ther Med. 2020 Jan; 19(1): 717–721.