Preface

Photoaging is a morphology instantly recognisable to clinicians and the public alike, although it may be misinterpreted as chronological or intrinsic aging. This confusion has in part given rise to the relatively modern and burgeoning phenomenon of rejuvenation by surgical and minimally invasive technologies. Thus, a text dedicated to an understanding of photoaging and its management is both current and important.

The book, written by acknowledged key opinion leaders in the field of photoaging, is an exposition of key clinical, mechanistic and management constructs in the field. It provides an overview of the clinical phenotypes of photoaging and the disparate nature of their presentation in white Caucasians, black African and Far East Asian skin types. The underlying mechanisms, including oxidative stress and stem cell function, are explored, as is the recognition that sunlight is not the only component of the exposome that is responsible for the clinical features of photoaging. The key structural changes occur in both the epidermis – particularly hyper- and hypopigmentation – and the dermis, with a detailed focus on the extracellular matrix and remodelling of collagens and elastic fibres. Management of photoaging should begin with prevention using sunscreens and active repair by the use of advanced topical preparations that fall under the rubric of cosmeceuticals; these include retinoids, which have probably the strongest weight of evidence behind them for repair of photoaged skin.

The text provides an important oversight of how translational research involving clinicians and basic scientists has allowed commercialisation of targeted therapies for photoaging to the benefit of the consumer. Furthermore, these insights into photoaging have paved the way for a concerted research effort into an understanding and perhaps slowing down of the processes inherent to intrinsic aging.

Rachel Watson and Chris Griffiths

Manchester, UK