What Are Anti-Oxidants, And Why Are They Important For Keeping My Skin Looking Younger?

June 1, 2009 -- Question: What are anti-oxidants, and why are they important for keeping my skin looking younger?

Answer: Anti-oxidants are a big deal right now. Anti-oxidants are present in food like blueberries and pomegranates. It's important to eat anti-oxidants, but to apply topical anti-oxidants on the skin is another issue that I would like to address. Anti-oxidants provide a layer of protection to the skin. The protection that they provide is protection against oxidation.

Well, what is oxidation? Well, go ahead and just take a banana peel and lay it on the counter and come back four or five hours later and that banana peel or banana has a brown color -- that's oxidative stress.

So anti-oxidants protect your skin against the change of oxidation. Anti-oxidants that are available over the counter for skin application are vitamin C, vitamin E, ferulic acid, and there are others that are available, and I recommend you talk to your dermatologist to find out what anti-oxidant topical preparations are good for you.