The Three R’s of Corneotherapy

Repair, Replenish, Regenerate. These three Rs should be second nature to every beauty therapist and form the foundation of effective corneotherapy, but they have also been abused extensively for retail marketing purposes. Learn how to use these three Rs as a methodology of thinking that will truly separate corneotherapy from the domestic retail market.

The Three Rs of Corneotherapy: Repair, Replenish, Regenerate

Consider Corneotherapy the pathway to sustainable skin health, and the pathway that will care for the skin throughout the client’s lifetime.

Learning the three Rs at school was always taught from the first day of attendance. Those lessons of reading, writing and arithmetic have stayed with you all of your lives, and you use them daily.

Learning the three Rs of Corneotherapy/Skin therapy should be taught from the first day of attendance at any school for aestheticians irrespective of country, and as professionals we should use them daily.

Repair: is the first lesson. All clients that attend a clinic have arrived because of skin concern; this concern may be for discoloration, redness, pustules or comedones, dryness or wrinkles. These are all indications of compromised skin, and one where the keratinocyte has not completed the differentiation cycle efficiently enough to form the first three lines of skin barrier defence. These are the acid mantle, stratum corneum, and the multilamellar lipid structure (Bilayers). Without these three lines of skin barrier defense, the inner world of the epidermis and dermis is open to the extremes of the outer environments that contain allergens and pathogens.

Consider the analogy of a house with holes in the roof, the inner part of the house is open to the extremes of the environment and becomes damp and mouldy, creating an unhealthy ecosystem for the residents. When thinking of a compromised skin in these terms it immediately becomes apparent and logical that by repairing the outer defense and structural components of the epidermis, the inner world will return to homeostasis and calm.

Nutrients supplied topically and nutritionally will ensure a healthy and viable cell membrane

Replenish: is the second lesson. Nutrients supplied topically and nutritionally will ensure a healthy and viable cell membrane, with effective active and passive transfer of oxygen, hormones, nutrients, and elimination of waste.

The extracellular environment must be optimally functional, because it is here where anti-oxidants and extracellular fluid abound protecting the cell from the outside. Also, the intracellular environment must be protected and nourished, this will ensure that the built-in defense systems and the energy creation of the cell, function correctly.

Regenerate: is the third lesson. Once the epidermal cells have been repaired and replenished, you can consider moving down to the dermis.

Here you need to consider what it is that requires your attention. Normally this will mean rebuilding the loose connective tissue that makes up the rete pegs, papillary layer and the superficial fascia septa that support all appendages of the dermis.

Dermal treatment modalities must preserve all of the work you have done to the cell producing layers of the epidermis and not cause disruption or inflammation of the innate immune system.

The target cell, of course, is the fibroblast, and you again must consider what this cell requires for building the connective tissue collagen.

Usually, vitamin C is the first active that comes to mind when thinking of what the fibroblast requires for collagen synthesis and, of course, the supporting glycosaminoglycan such as hyaluronic acid, and glucosamine.

Vitamin A in all its forms and amino acids such as proline and lysine.

The three Rs have been used in many different ways for marketing products to this industry for years. However, I want them used as a methodology of thinking that will separate this industry from the domestic retail market, multi-level marketing products and those companies that have only entered this industry for a quick dollar and want to sell you something.

Consider Corneotherapy the pathway to sustainable skin health and the pathway that will care for the skin throughout the client’s lifetime.