Oxygen Facials??

Last year I did a post about oxygen facials. I’m beginning to see them cropping up again in magazines and adverts so I thought it was time to give it another airing. Sorry if you have already read it. Have you tried this treatment or know someone who has it? Let me know in the comments below. M.

I am constantly amazed by some of the dubious treatments and products being touted as the next big thing in skincare, never more so than by the current trend for ‘oxygenating facials’. Please don’t be fooled into parting with your money to these unscrupulous companies.
We all know that ANTIoxidants protect your skin from free radical damage caused by normal daily living, smoking, uv damage etc.
Now, why would these companies have us believe that doing the exact opposite -OXIDISING- your skin is good for it???

Skin cells use a small amount of oxygen in development and this is supplied internally from the air we breathe.
During an oxygen facial, pure oxygen is jetted into the skin along with vitamins and water. The immediate result is a plumping effect in the upper layers of the skin which fools you into thinking that you are seeing a positive effect, but in fact the presence of the oxygen is cancelling out all the good that your antioxidants are doing for your skin health.

Below is the findings of an independent Biochemistry study:

Avoid Skin Oxygenating Products
Certain cosmetic products are sold to increase skin oxygenation. This is done either by (1) covering the face with a mask and running a flow of pure oxygen over the face for about an hour, or (2) covering the skin with certain chemicals that carry extra oxygen into the skin. If skin is damaged, this method may cause an improvement in skin in a few days.
The problem with this method is that it will cause long-term skin problems. By artificially increasing the oxygen level in your skin, your body will decrease the blood vessels (capillaries) that feed oxygen and nutrients to the cells of your skin. Capillaries grow towards areas of the body that are low in oxygen. By adding more oxygen to the outer layers of your skin, your cells will have less oxygen and nutrients from your body. Your skin will age faster because of inadequate nutrients from the blood and your skin will be more pale and grayish because of fewer red blood cells in your skin.
Companies that sell these products say that oxygen applied to the skin has been used to heal wounds faster in hospital studies. This is true, but these types of wounds and skin ulcers are temporary and emergency therapies to heal over the wound and reduce the chance of infection. Long-term application of high oxygen to your skin’s surface will not heal the health of normal skin.
Gerontologists consider the cellular degeneration caused by chronic exposure to elevated concentrations of oxygen (hyperoxia) as a model for accelerated aging at the cellular level. In cultured mammalian cells, elevated oxygen causes progressive growth inhibition, loss of reproductive capacity, and chromosomal breakage. The earliest effect of high oxygen is an inhibition of mitochondrial respiration which is in similar to aging theories that attribute much cellular aging to loss of mitochondrial functions (Pruijn et al 1992)