Skin is the largest organ in the human body. It’s the “exposed part” which we see in other people, and this “exposed part” plays a big role in impressions about other people: how they take care of their look, their healthy, and their hygiene as well! Since ever, maintaining a healthy and beautiful skin is considered the most important beauty and personal care criteria. You can think of your skin as a cover that engulfs our whole bodies and organs, and skin functionalities are very wide and diverse, most importantly: protecting your body from external hazard (microbes, harmful radiations…etc), and to be able to achieve its function, you will see now a sophisticated skin structure that enables it to achieve different biological activities.

Skin consists of 3 layers:

1. The Epidermis, a very thin and superficial layer. Important components include melanin pigment and keratinocytes.

2. The Dermis, a thicker and deeper layer. Most important component is the collagen (protein), which is the main contributor to skin structure and elasticity.

3. The subcutaneous, the deepest layer, and consists mainly from adipose (fat) tissues. Dysregulation of this layer usually causes what’s known and cellulite.

In the next image you can see different skin layers: their structures and how they interact. You can see the three layers numbered above, and make sure to notice the difference in their thicknesses. Today we will focus on the superficial layer of the skin: the Epidermis.

Epidermis is the first and outmost, superficial skin layer, and it’s the part of the skin we see with the naked eye! It’s a very thin layer, mostly less than 1 mm, and it plays a primary role in skin texture and tone through the following mechanisms:

1. Epidermis is always renewing itself, new keratinocytes grow, older keratinocytes die and change regularly. This process impact skin texture and smoothness.

2. Epidermis contains the melanin, which is the pigment that contribute to our different skin tones. Melanin is distributed evenly in the epidermis, and any malfunction or maldistribution of the melanin would lead to appearance of skin pigmentations.

“Even Skin Texture” usually means a healthy epidermis that grows regularly. Normally, epidermis is soft, mushy, and relatively moist. When a problem occurs in epidermal moisture (e.g. dryness) or dysregulation in keratinocytes renewal, we can see uneven skin texture and changes in skin smoothness and appearance.

- Continuous exposure to harmful environmental factors and sun exposure. As you may know, UV in sun radiation is (at some point) harmful to the skin, and causes multiple changes in its tone, pigmentations, wrinkles, and other aging signs. Sometimes, sun-damaged skin would react by increasing epidermis thickness, and accumulated layers of the skin contributes to a rough skin.

- Skin renewal and regeneration process become slower with aging, and skin becomes slower in changing older and accumulated keratinocytes on its surface, which gradually leads to uneven skin texture and skin tone. Collagen-related skin functions also are affected by aging and appears as changes in skin elasticity (e.g. wrinkles).

- Improper skin care routine: either not using a proper cleanser and exfoliant, or not applying a good moisturizer, in both cases, accumulated skin layers and dryness are not addressed by your skin care routine.

- Some skin diseases may also affect skin smoothness, such as dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, amyloidosis, scars, and others.

If your skin is very rough with either obvious redness (erythema), skin cracks, or inflammation and puss, or if you think that your skin condition might be related to a health issue, we highly advise you to visit a dermatologist to assess your skin condition and check if it requires any kind of prescription. Once you restore your normal skin, you can reimplement you skin care routine again.

Epidermis regenerate itself daily, so you should help it removing accumulated dead keratinocytes on skin surface by using exfoliants, so your epidermis and entire skin can breathe and glow. Exfoliation and cleansing skin of its dead cells helps against enlarged pores, clogged pores, whiteheads, blackheads, acne, and many other issues related to skin texture and tone.

Exfoliation promotes skin smoothing and motivate regeneration process, and also maximize the benefits of any skin care product applied right after, so if you apply a moisturizer after exfoliation, absorption will be deeper and higher.

Skin exfoliation can be done using either by a physical method (scrubs), or a chemical method (peels).

Scrubs exfoliate the skin and contribute to its smoothness by physically removing dead skin cells by friction (by massaging the scrub on your skin, and the feeling of the little particles as if they scratch your skin? Yes, that’s the mechanism). Scrubs usually contain rough particles as in little tiny sand crystals, and those particles are massaged to skin surface and by friction, they remove the dead cells.

Active ingredients in scrubs include nut shells, fruit pits, sugar, and salt. You can also use sponges and brushes (either manual or electrical brushes). Usually you can feel the effects immediately.

Skin peels act differently, as they exfoliate the skin by dissolving dead skin cells by utilizing chemically active ingredients such as fruits acids and enzymes. Dissolving dead skin cells leads to smoother skin.

Active ingredients in peels may include Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA), such as Lactic acid, Glycolic acid, and Mandelic acid. They may also contain Beta Hydroxy Acids (BHA), such as salicylic acid, and addition to fruits enzymes.

The following advice will help you improve your skin smoothness and texture, and more importantly, to help you maintain a skin care routine suitable for your skin type to keep it healthy and beautiful.

1. Drink adequate water daily. It’s recommended to drink 2 liters daily.

2. Use a good moisturizer suitable for your skin. Moisturizing your skin helps maintaining a fresh and young look especially if you live in areas of dry weather. We have multiple moisturizers to recommend, some of them acts as a basic moisturizer, most useful if you don’t have additional skin issues (e.g. skin pigments). For a basic moisturizer, we recommend Marigold cream from Talya. Other moisturizers act as multifunctional moisturizers to improve skin tone and pigments, such as Anti-freckles moisturizer from Salkom. Other multifunctional moisturizers improve signs of aging, such as Anti-aging moisturizer from Rochcell.

6. Follow a holistic skin care routine, in which you should identify your primary skin concern, and choose proper products that would help in maintaining you skin as healthy as beautiful.

7. You can also consider energy-based treatments using different devices in dermatology clinics such as crystal peeling and different laser types. Those devices promote excellent results if used properly by trained personnel and after carefully characterizing your skin type. Results may differ between different technologies and different settings/parameters used, but generally, those treatments are expensive and can’t be easily adapted in your regular routine to maintain a smooth skin. After any treatment, you need to maintain the results as long as possible by using proper skin care routine.