DEMYSTIFYING GROWTH FACTORS IN SKIN CARE

Growth Factors is a highly misunderstood recent cosmetic buzz word that I really wanted to demystify. Growth factors are still regarded as fairly new to the industry, so I wanted to explore this topic further to share some interesting facts about this topic.  

Growth Factors occur naturally in our own body and as we age the numbers decline.  

There many different types of growth factors in the body. Some produce keratin (skin) cells – Keratinocyte Growth Factor – KGF, whilst the growth factor VEGF lays down new blood vessels.

Growth factors are large molecules and therefor do not penetrate the skin like other ingredients do through the epidermis. Instead they are absorbed into the skin through the hair follicle and sweat glands. They then interact with the cells in the uppermost layers of your skin and signal to the cells in the deeper layers of the cellular matrix such as the collagen producing cells - fibroblasts. This activation of the collagen producing cell, the fibroblast is a key in dermal remodelling and skin rejuvenation.                                                                           

Part of the ageing process is that our dermal layer (which consists of your collagen and elastin) becomes thinner and "less organised". The once structured layout of your collagen fibers start to become unorganised resulting in wrinkles and loss of skin tone.  

Growth Factors which essentially are proteins, can be used in topical preparations to reverse the signs of ageing as well as the skins ageing physiology.  

Growth Factors should be used along side of Vitamins A and C, as these create the perfect skin environment for the growth factors to work efficiently.  

To obtain growth factors, stem cells (human derived) are taken and placed in an environment that is called a "growth media". This growth media is what you will see on your ingredient deck for your growth factor serum when looking at your product bottle. It is the concentration of the growth factors in the growth media that will determine how efficient your growth factor serum will be. Also, how effective is the serums delivery system in getting this serum to penetrate into the skin. Lastly how stable if the product. Osmosis Stemfactor probably has the most amount of 3rd party studies and testing to date to verify the effectiveness of their TNS products.