What Causes Weak And Impaired Skin?

How do you know if you have weak, impaired skin?

• Have you noticed a change in your skin texture, such as roughness or dullness?
• Do you experience symptoms of true dryness—like scaly, itchy skin?
• Do you characterize your skin type as “sensitive”? Intolerant, with any stinging, inflamed areas?
• Does rosacea, acne or other skin diseases seem to have gotten worse?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions, you may have weak, impaired skin—a temporary or ongoing condition. It is often characterized by elevated water loss, exacerbated signs of aging and increased fragility that allows irritants to enter and cause inflammation.

Causes Of Weak + Impaired Skin

The causes of weak skin can vary from external to internal factors, like sun exposure and pollution to genetics and stress. These causes are often hard to control but can be mitigated with a physician-prescribed skincare protocol, lifestyle changes and by practicing self-care.

Anticipated reactions can also cause temporarily weak skin. As active, high potency ingredients like retinol begin to increase skin’s natural exfoliation cycle, it’s normal to experience redness, itching and peeling. Anticipated reactions usually subside with continued use as your skin becomes accustomed to the active ingredients and builds resiliency. These reactions can also be calmed or controlled by simply reigning in product usage or including skin calming additions to your current protocol.

Though it may seem strange, improper skincare could also be a direct cause to skin sensitivity and impairment. Over washing and over exfoliating can damage a healthy skin barrier by stripping the skin of much needed oils and protection. Depending on your skin type and skin concerns, most ZO® physicians only suggest cleansing twice a day, AM + PM, and exfoliating two to three times a week to maintain skin health.

But cleansers and exfoliators are not the only culprit—have you ever thought that your moisturizer could be the cause of your sensitive skin?

Conventional Moisturizers

Conventional moisturizers tend to offer a quick solution to a variety of symptoms—they provide temporary comfort, artificial smoothing and plumping. They can flood the skin with high moisture saturation, causing the skin to produce less natural hydration from within. Then, because your skin isn’t creating its own hydration anymore, you may feel the need to continue to overuse moisturizers.

Don’t get us wrong, the temporary use of moisturizers and hydrators is completely okay, especially when trying to control anticipated reactions or redness. However, real issues can arise if your skin become dependent on conventional moisturizers, and they can interfere with your skin’s natural exfoliation cycle—dead skin cells can start building up on the surface of the skin and the production of new, healthy skin cells slows down. Over time, the skin becomes drier, weaker and more sensitive. Your pores can become clogged, causing acne or rosacea to manifest or worsen. 

Real issues can arise if your skin become dependent on conventional moisturizers

Real Hydration With ZO®

So, you may be asking yourself, if you want to alleviate the symptoms of dry skin, how do you go about it without conventional moisturizers?

ZO’s solution is simple—functional hydrators.

To avoid negative effects caused by overusing moisturizers, ZO® Skin Health has developed a line of clinically proven functional hydrators, uniquely engineered to boost natural hydration, and normalize a healthy barrier to refortify the skin.

Enhanced with new ingredients and ZO-proven technology, Renewal Crème and Recovery Crème can be temporarily added to any protocol to deeply nourish the skin, soften fine, dynamic lines, soothe redness, and restore the appearance of weakened skin. Which ZO® hydrator is right for you?

Renewal Crème is a weightless, fast-absorbing hydrator for mildly dry, red skin. Probiotic-derived technology and a naturally derived humectant helps revitalize stressed skin to enable a more uniform, healthy appearance. It’s a great option for daytime use or for those with normal to oily skin types that need to boost their skin hydration during the winter months.

Recovery Crème is a luxuriously rich alternative to Renewal’s light-weight formulation, more suitable for moderately dry, fragile skin. Its rejuvenating formulation has been augmented with ZCORE^™, an exclusive ZO® complex and breakthrough for visibly firmer skin. Apply on dry, aging skin, especially the delicate skin of the neck area.

Sensitized, weak skin can be a challenge, but by providing your skin the support it needs through innovative ingredients and proven technology, you can achieve a stronger, protective skin barrier—the first step in attaining skin health.