The ZO®Principles of Skin Health and Restoration

Skin Barrier Function: Correcting epidermal weakness and dryness by restoring water, lipid and protein balance, preventing trans-epidermal water loss and regulating natural skin exfoliation.

Stimulation: Initiating cellular activity and general repair to improve both the epidermis and the dermis through the use of retinoic acid.

Stabilization: Normalizing epidermal and dermal cellular functions to prevent acquired sensitivity to treatment and enable skin to renew and strengthen itself.

Sebum Control: Minimizing excessive sebum production to treat and maintain sebum-related skin disorder, correct pigmentation problems and prevent chronic inflammation.

Chronic Inflammation Elimination: Reducing chronic inflammation to help prevent cellular dysfunction, alteration of skin texture, true sensitivity, dyschromia, accelerated aging and poor healing and treatment response.

Overcome Skin Resistance: Limiting the use of medical topical agents to prevent resistance, treatment failure and complications.

Hydration + Calming: Hydrating the skin and reducing the severity of reactions and irritations, utilizing functional hydrators as an alternative to traditional moisturizers: increased tolerance to programs without compromising treatments results

Smart Sun Protection: Using ZO® Triple Spectrum Protection to defend against the harmful effects of UVA, UVB, HEV, and IR-A exposure, while proving antioxidants hydrators/lipids and anti-inflammatory benefits.

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Skin Barrier Function:  Is crucial in correcting skin weakness, sensitivity, dryness and restoring overall skin health.  The barrier function acts as a protective skin envelope preventing penetration of harmful substances and excessive trans-epidermal water loss, It also enhances epidermal renewal and repair, which is responsible for building and maintaining skin tolerance.

The Barrier Function Consists of:

• Water, lipids, and proteins
• Corneocytes arranged in multiple layers, enveloped by a matrix of water, lipids, and proteins

These two components must be in balance and work together to support the integrity of the skin barrier function.  Disturbances of either component compromise the barrier function, resulting in skin weakness, sensitivity and dryness.

Repairing Skin Barrier Function:

• Restore skin’s natural epidermal balance of water, lipid, and protein
• Regulate natural skin exfoliation to restore a healthy 6-week cycle of epidermal renewal

Stimulation: Wake Up Cellular Activity

• Simulation is the process of improving both the epidermis and the dermis through the use of vitamin A (retinol)
• Activates and upregulates dermal and epidermal cellular activity, optimizing fibroblast activity to increase the production of new and the repair of damaged collagen (firmness), elastin (tightness) and glycosaminoglycans (hydration)
• Reverses uneven texture
• Upregulates angioblast function, which improves circulation with associated increased oxygen and nutrient delivery
• Restores normal and even color tone with blending action

Stabilization:  prevents acquired sensitivity to treatment while increasing the skin’s resistance to negative external and/or internal factors by repairing and maintaining normal cellular functions of both the epidermis and dermis.

Epidermal Stabilization:

• Strengthens skin and builds resistance
• Maintains healthy barrier function
• Restores adequate hydration
• Preserves DNA integrity
• Optimizes natural exfoliation by regulating keratinocyte maturation cycles
• Mitigates inflammatory activity, defends against UV/environmental damage
• Controls melanin production and prevents melanocyte activation

Dermal Stabilization:

• Optimizes fibroblast production of collagen and elastin
• Improves repair of pre-existing, damaged collagen and elastin
• Improves circulation, enhancing the intake of oxygen and nutrients to support skin health
• Improves and maintains texture
• Sustains optimum hydration

To understand the concept of stabilization, consider the person who becomes stronger and fitter through exercise and a healthy diet.  They can perform routine tasks easier, recover faster after disease or injury, live longer and enjoy a better quality of life.  Similarly, skin can become more tolerant and stronger if provided with the best nutrients and conditions.  Such skin will actively renew itself, heal faster after injury or disease, remain younger looking and function at its peak

Sebum Control: prevents induction and progression of chronic inflammation and pigment conditions resulting from excess sebum output.  Excess sebum is detrimental to skin health.  Sebum control is critical step in skin health restoration to help prevent and control inflammatory conditions.

Excess Sebum:

• Clogs pores, leading to acne
• Manifests in sebum-induced inflammatory diseases: Acne, Rosacea, Seborrheic Dermatitis and Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation
• Prevents even penetration of topical agents
• Reduces efficacy of topical agents
• May lead to treatment failure (Melasma)

Chronic Inflammation Elimination:  Inflammation is induced by many elements, including disease, UV light, excess sebum and long-term use of topical irritants.  It is the immune system’s innate response against internal and external assaults.  Inflammation is a normal, essential defense mechanism to keep the body healthy.  Acute inflammation can be beneficial.  For example, in wound healing:  Inflammation is necessary for injury repair.  However, if such acute inflammation is not treated, chronic inflammation will result which is destructive.

Causes of Inflammation:

• Cellular dysfunction
• Skin sensitivity
• Dyschromia
• Lack of response to treatment
• Poor healing
• Accelerated aging
• Alterations in skin texture

Solutions to Eliminate Chronic Inflammation:

• Therapeutic treatment periods
• Skin programs designed for long term use
• Stabilize cellular functions
• Use medical topical agents for a restricted amount of time
• Control excess sebum
• Strengthen skin barrier function
• Protect against UV light
• Neutralize free radicals

Overcome Skin Resistance:  to medical topical agents by limited their use.  Skin care acquire tolerance and resistance to many topical agents, leading to treatment failure and complications.  Medical topical products (e.g. hydroquinone, retinoic acid) are recommended to be used short-term for therapeutic treatment of skin conditions.  Upon completion of therapeutic treatment, patients, should switch to a maintenance program which includes products designed to keep skin stabilized an maintains long-term results.  This approach optimizes results, limits complications and prevents resistance. 

Hydration + Calming: "Say No to Conventional Moisturizers" – the popularity of moisturizers has led to the term “Sensitive Skin”.  Using moisturizers occasionally when needed is acceptable, but to depend on them to hydrate and calm skin on a daily basis is actually damaging to the skin.  With repeated use, moisturizers have a negative impact on skin, making it weaker and drier – ultimately impairing the skin’s barrier function.  It is also detrimental to skin’s cellular function, arresting its ability to renew itself, leading to skin sensitivity and accelerated skin aging.

Conventional moisturizers can do more harm than good as they do not provide long term hydration and can actually shut down production of skin’s natural hydration.  They are only quick fixes and do not offer long term benefits.  Moisturizers merely provide temporary comfort, short-lived smoothing and plumping and artificial hydration.  Moisturizers contain approximately the same components (water, lipids, and proteins) as the skin natural elements.  Applying moisturizers creates a high level of moisture saturation on the surface of the skin, providing a false sense of hydration.  When this happens, cellular communication is disrupted, and skin stops producing natural hydration from within.  Because cellular functions are not optimally performing, skin becomes dependent on repeated applications of moisturizer.

Smart Sun Protection: is taking a more comprehensive approach to sun protection – beyond traditional approaches of just blocking against UVA/UVB rays.  ZO products are superior sunscreens with the broadest, most comprehensive range (UVA/UVB, HEV and IR-A) of sun protection available.  Additional hydrators, antioxidants and anti-inflammatories complete each formula for optimal protection.