Firm, youthful skin, that's what I want before summer! Dermatologist Dr. Johannes Neuhofer talks about so-called "cosmeceuticals" or "dermatocosmetics". Article published by Die Bundesländerinnen.
The pursuit of beauty is in human nature. Today, the social value of attractiveness is increasing even more. A wrinkle-free face, a perfect body, more and more people want to be flawless. Even the pandemic could not change that.
Beautiful and sexy. External beauty is closely linked to success and social recognition. People we perceive as beautiful are attributed professional skills and social competence. They are considered sexually desirable. Advertising makes us believe that attractive people have it easier than less attractive people, not only when choosing a partner, but also in their free time and at work.
Healthy lifestyle. “More and more women and increasingly men are striving for the ideal of a perfect body, they make every effort imaginable and spare no expense,” says Dr. Johannes
Neuhofer, dermatologist in Linz. If you want to keep young skin into old age, it is important to rethink your lifestyle, says the dermatologist. "We know that UV rays and smoking cause the skin to age prematurely."
Beauty in the socio-cultural background. People in the Stone Age had a preference for voluminous body shapes with big bellies, large breasts and bottoms. In ancient Egypt and Greece, a slim, athletic body corresponded to the current ideal of beauty. People with aesthetic and perfectly balanced body shapes were considered "beautiful" at that time. The "beautiful woman" of the Middle Ages was a girlish, delicate creature with small, firm breasts. At this time, the fashion for the "high forehead" also emerged. The hair at the base of the forehead was plucked out or shaved in order to have the highest possible forehead. In the Renaissance and Rococo, voluptuous shapes were again considered attractive. In the 19th century, a soft, rounded body shape was favored. In the 20th century, the ideals of beauty changed ever more rapidly. At the beginning of the century, a voluptuous breast size was considered desirable. In the 1950s and 1960s, Marilyn Monroe dominated the ideal of beauty with her feminine curves. In the 1970s, the media propagated thinner images of women. The skinny model Twiggy embodied the new female ideal of beauty. From the 1980s onwards, the ideal of female beauty became more and more extreme and moved away from the biologically natural physique. The popular ideal was to look young, slim and natural ("girlie" look). The effort made to be "beautiful" was supposed to seem as if it had happened purely by chance. Today's ideal of beauty is physically fit and youthful with firm skin and a supple, well-trained body.
Dermocosmetics work. The cosmetics market is booming. But do the numerous creams, lotions and serums work as promised? "The term 'cosmeceuticals' or 'dermatocosmetics' has been on everyone's lips for some time now," explains Dr. Neuhofer. Cosmeceuticals contain the highest possible concentration of active ingredients and are high-quality cosmetic products that have been developed according to scientific criteria.
"Dermocosmetic preparations differ from conventional anti-wrinkle creams and other beauty products. They are developed under the supervision of dermatologists and subjected to strict quality control in various effectiveness studies," says the dermatologist. The difference between dermocosmetics and cosmetics lies primarily in the fact that the health effect is the main focus. The preparations are developed for specific skin problems such as wrinkles, acne, neurodermatitis, rosacea, dry skin or even cellulite.
Cosmeceuticals penetrate the skin. Thanks to modern technology, the corresponding ingredients are transported to the desired location in the skin using ultra-fine liposomes and develop their effect at the site where the cellulite originates. As a study with a liposomal anti-cellulite day and night serum shows, the liposomal transfer technology resulted in 29% firmer skin, a 26% reduction in dimples and increased
Firmness was increased by 17%. The circumference of the upper thigh was reduced by an average of 1.6 cm and the circumference of the lower thigh by an average of 1 cm. The result is a firmer silhouette.