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Beauty,health&fitness
 Saving Face
 
Lazing by thè pool, having a drink with a friend, shopping in New York. Typical Vogue pastimes, I know, and though they sound like firn, and I hate to be thè bearer of bad news, they are really bad for your skin.
Not thè pool, thè friend, thè dancing or thè shopping, you understand, but thè inevitable by-products of such scenarios - thè sunlight, thè alcohol, pollution on thè streets. These environmental factors generate free radicals that cause oxidative stress, injuring thè skin. In particular, it is thè damage to DNA, which provides thè blueprint for healthy celi replication, that skincare scientists are most concerned about. Injure your DNA and you'll know about it - age spots, dry patches, wrinkles, uneven pigmentation and skin cancer are ali consequences of DNA modificaton.
"The most reliable way of seeing if there is DNA damage is measuring thè expression of thè P53 gene," says Dr Marko Lens, leading authority on skin cancer, plastic reconstructive surgeon and thè specialist behind thè Zelens skincare brand. "P53 is known as thè guardian of thè genome and with DNA damage there is an increase in its activity. P53 is part of thè repair process - it is thè molecule that kills damaged cells, because you don't want these replicating in your skin." Too little P53 activity results in skin cancer, where damaged cells proliferate unchecked, but too much active P53 can lead to skin ageing, so thè aim is to normalise production.
Zelens' approach to protecting DNA from environmental damage lies in neutralising free radicals, thè agents that trigger thè skin's defensive reaction, using a cocktail of 14 potent antioxidants in Zelens Cellular DNA Protection Day Cream SPF20, £120, at Space NK.
With Kòrner skincare, thè approach to safe-guarding DNA differs. "We are particularly concerned with UV-induced DNA damage," says CEO Rebecca Kòrner, who found that duringin-vitro tests on human fìbroblasts, thè skin cells that produce collagen, it was discov-ered that not only does UV cause oxidative stress to thè nuclear DNA but also that it generates mitochondrial DNA dele-tions, causing missing fragments in these energy cells and subsequent skin-damaging free-radical action. Kòrner's solution in Loaded The Serum, £75, involves harnessing
thè naturai sun-protective properties of Cassia alata, a tropical plant rich in fìavonoids that inhibit fragmentation of DNA and promote its repair.
Lancòme's Dr Veronique Delvigne has also focused her research on thè sun, fmding that skin cells exposed to high doses of UV react by activating a naturai protective System of heat shockproteins. " These are known as chaperone proteins," she says, "because they protect and repair DNA, cleaning up and removing thè damaged DNA fragments to thè outside of thè celi nucleus where they can't replicate." Lancòme has discovered that white-willow extract stimulates thè action of heat shock
proteins and has included this ingredient along with antioxidant polyphenols from jasmine in its Sóleil DNA Guard sun care range of face and body creams, £20.50 each.
The alternative to protecting skin from oxidative damage is to stimulate its own repair mechanisms. Amatokin, £135, exclusively at Harvey Nichols, developed by Russian scientists to treat burns victims, uses peptides to help stimulate reparative stem cells; while Revive's Peau Magnifique, £1,050, at Space NK, uses one of skincare's most expensive ingredients - an enzyme called telomerase - to assist in switching dormant stem cells back on.

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