One of the newest skingredients in mainstream dermatology, as opposed to natural dermatology, is the moisturiser hyaluronic acid.
This molecule is essentially a large carbohydrate in the skin that stores water and directs numerous structural proteins. Hyaluronic acid’s precise role in acne is unknown, but immediately, there’s one promising connection.
You might be aware that some strains of propionibacterium acnes, the classic “acne bacteria” that everyone fears, are actually much deadlier than others. One study identified 10 different strains, and concluded that 84% of strain 4 came from acne patients, while 99% of strain 6 came from clear-skinned patients.
The dark powers of these vicious strains are also known, as p.acnes subtype 1a secretes far more lipases, compounds which break down fats in the skin and produce inflammatory byproducts. The deadly strains have more antigens in their cell walls, substances which the immune system targets with an inflammatory explosion…
…and compared to beneficial strains of p.acnes, malicious ones churn out far more hyaluronidase. That’s an enzyme which breaks down hyaluronic acid, with the insidious goal of digesting it for the bacteria’s own energy.
The deadliest forms of acne bacteria are confirmed to reduce your hyaluronic acid levels. Is it pure coincidence, or does hyaluronic acid have an overlooked connection to pimples? Let’s find out.
What is hyaluronic acid?
The name hyaluronic acid sounds like the latest miracle chemical invented in a high tech lab when you first hear it, but hyaluronic acid is as natural as can be. Hyaluronic acid is a glycosaminoglycan, a structural molecule in human skin.
50% in human beings is located in the skin, with varying quantities in joints, nerves and eyes as well. It’s manufactured by hyaluronic acid synthases, and once in place, it controls numerous aspects of wound healing, elasticity, and skin structure. Most important, however, is hyaluronic acid’s pivotal role in hydration, as a natural humectant.
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While the equally important collagen constructs the skin itself, keeping it sturdy and strong, hyaluronic acid is designed to lock moisture into the skin. Hyaluronic acid molecules are able to hold 1000 times more water relative to their size; 0.03 ounces (1 gram) can carry a colossal six litres of water. This seemingly impossible figure is more disproportionate than any other biological substance.
Hyaluronic acid is perhaps nature’s ultimate solution for plumpness, firmness, pliability, texture, and a silky smooth appearance. It’s one of your most important inbuilt moisturisers.
Grapeseed oil and jojoba oil might provide the moisture itself, but hyaluronic acid is the single most important natural molecule for binding and storing that moisture inside the skin.
Hyaluronic acid – the reason you look young (or old)
You might have predicted, therefore, that hyaluronic acid is heavily involved with ageing. One of the main properties of older skin is its dryness and loss of plumpness, and the depletion of hyaluronic acid is the single biggest reason why. Levels remain constant in the dermis, the second layer of skin, but enter freefall in the epidermis, the outermost layer of skin, visible to all the world. The reason for the difference in layers is unknown.
What’s more, the size of individual hyaluronic acid polymers shrinks with age, preventing them from retaining as much moisture. Starting at 25, you literally lose the water containers on your face.
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Somehow, the body loses its ability to manufacture them, and what’s more, external forces can accentuate the depletion. UV radiation can decrease hyaluronic acid in the skin, over decades of harsh sun exposure. This partly contributes to the dry and weathered looking skin of the photoaged (like an old Texan rancher).
Hyaluronic acid levels can decline to 5% of youthful levels in elderly people. Along with plummeting elastin, this is also why the skin loses its elasticity.
Consider the case of Yuzurihara village in Japan. The locals eat an extremely rich diet in natural hyaluronic acid, featuring rare potato-related vegetables like satoimo and imoji (not emoji). Yuzurihara residents have been observed to stay freakishly young and are more likely to live to age 85 than anywhere in the United States. Their hair and skin look astonishingly youthful and the overall appearance of 80 and 90 year olds is years behind where it should be. Yuzurihara has been dubbed “the village of long life”, and it’s all thanks to hyaluronic acid.
Yet another role in skincare, again for smoother skin and even skin, is wound healing. Hyaluronic acid remains shrouded in mystery, but in the earliest phases of wound healing, sudden and massive accumulations of hyaluronic acid occur. And the main thing to remember – we only know a fraction of this carbohydrate’s powers.
Hyaluronic acid deficiency may be everywhere
The next big question is whether hyaluronic acid differs from person to person outside of age. Otherwise, this is just a mildly interesting science lesson. Hyaluronic acid has a very high turnover in the bloodstream, with a half life of 3 to 5 minutes, 1 to 3 weeks in cartilage, and less than a day in skin.
Therefore, there’s plenty of opportunity for your levels to vary, and one factor is free radical activity.
Ordinarily, the natural degradation of hyaluronic acid is controlled by hyaluronidase, the enzyme which certain p.acnes strains churn out. There’s several forms of this enzyme: HL3 degrades hyaluronic acid in joint cartilage, while HL2 degrades small amounts in the skin and HL1 degrades the bulk in skin.
This is a healthy and natural process, in moderation, but free radicals are also proven to destroy hyaluronic acid. Free radicals generated by harsh UV radiation are specifically proven to destroy it (study). If your skin is overloaded with rampaging free radicals, then your hyaluronic acid will be suppressed and your skin will pay dearly.
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The p.acnes strains are another confirmed factor, as are air pollution and smoking, whether because of free radicals or another mechanism. What’s not confirmed is whether deficiency is an all-conquering epidemic like with collagen, or whether one guy has optimal HA levels and youthful looking skin, while another guy has dry and crusty skin, only for levels across wider civilisation to average out at normal.
Regardless, given how obscure the connection to p.acnes strains was, I would bet my piggybank that there’s numerous hidden factors affecting hyaluronic levels.
The connection to acne
Firstly, the moisturising properties themselves will help with acne. Dry, cracked and weak skin is bad news: it’s much more vulnerable to microfissures, tiny breaches in skin tissue. Alongside the first immune system repair squad comes a bunch of pro-inflammatory chemicals, which are intended to helpfully break down the toxic tissue, but actually inflame your acne further. During a dry and flaky phase you may have witnessed this scientific process first hand.
Secondly, there’s some limited but highly promising evidence for free radical reduction. The structure of hyaluronic acid molecules basically consists of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-glucuronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is also a particularly massive structural compound, size which is vital for its water-holding properties. The glucuronic acid in the centre of the HA molecule has been found to physically trap free radicals roaming around the skin, like a Venus fly trap or an ancient insect stuck in tree amber.
Even better, hyaluronic acid isn’t found inside the cells; it exists as the single greatest component of the extracellular matrix (ECM) which sits between cells. Hyaluronic acid forms a thick, viscous meshwork around cells and physically decreases the movement of rampaging free radicals. Hyaluronic acid is yet another part of your natural antioxidant defences, but a completely unique one.
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It can therefore slash the total free radical activity of your skin, prevent clogged pores, prevent acne, and keep cells healthy and strong. The wound healing quantities will also help, by accelerating the healing of old pimples. Elsewhere, we can only speculate, but scientists themselves have admitted that “much work needs to be done to elucidate the multifaceted role of HA“.
There’s no doubt that hyaluronic acid is excellent for skin hydration and youthfulness. For acne itself, the evidence is trickling in, but we can still connect the dots using common sense.
But are there any effective strategies?
Despite its promising role in acne, the prospects for hyaluronic acid products are much murkier, because it’s widely doubted whether hyaluronic acid even penetrates the skin.
Your body is designed to manufacture hyaluronic acid – will applying it work? With collagen, eating vitamin C or glycine, or applying topical treatments like tamanu oil is dramatically more effective than applying raw collagen itself.
Hyaluronic acid has a unique problem too: that the molecular size is far too high. In fact, hyaluronic acid is a rare structural component which is manufactured outside of cells rather than inside, because of its gargantuan size. Hyaluronic acid cannot penetrate the skin deeply; it simply rests on the surface. Once there, hyaluronic acid can actually drain the moisture from your skin, particularly in hot equatorial climates, where the scorching heat of the atmosphere depletes the HA containers and forces them to retrieve moisture from the skin cells beneath their feet.
Applying hyaluronic acid to your skin will simply make it look moist, rather than truly moisturise it.
Additionally, hyaluronic acid has grown popular for filling acne scars lately, relying on its plumping up properties, but most treatments rely heavily on injection. This method can indeed fill in acne scars, but it forces you to inject every 3 to 12 months. Your body will metabolise and remove the foreign injection eventually. There’s no wider benefit for plumpness or hydration either; just an accumulation in certain sites. Not to mention that injections are highly unnatural and inconvenient.
One glimmer of hope is some studies where hyaluronic acid creams effectively reduced solar keratoses, unsightly accumulations of keratin proteins on the skin. Hyaluronic acid can therefore improve some skin conditions on the outermost layers, and that could easily translate to acne if there’s a more direct power which we’re unaware of.
What topical application probably won’t do is moisturise your skin, plump up your skin, or kick ageing down the road.
So what is the best strategy?
This study on 35 patients found that hyaluronic acid supplements significantly increased moisture retention in the skin. Their skin smoothened out nicely while existing wrinkles were erased into nothingness. This study from 2014 tested patients with dry skin and observed a significant rise in moisture.
In both studies, the oral supplements correlated closely with extra hyaluronic acid formation in the skin. The HA doesn’t literally flow through the stomach, into your bloodstream and settle in the skin; instead, existing hyaluronic acid contains the exact nutrients your body needs to manufacture a new batch.
Excellent news then: you don’t have to pilgrimage to Japan and start a new life in Yuzurihara village. You can take a supplement, and this is a good one: Pure Encapsulations Hyaluronic Acid.
It’s also confirmed that hyaluronic acid increases in the presence of retinoic acid, a topical form of vitamin A. Ensure at all costs that your dietary vitamin A intake is sufficient.
As for topical strategies hyaluronic acid is even less understood, because of the industry being distracted with the ingredient itself. There are no secret oils and plants in the wilderness like with tamanu oil or shea butter for collagen – yet.
Things are slowly picking up steam. For example, it’s now confirmed that the protein complex called transforming growth factor (TGF) activates hyaluronic acid formation, just like it activates collagen formation. In this article, we discussed how royal jelly and lavender oil specifically increase collagen via activating TGF – will they work wonders for hyaluronic acid too? More hints like this will doubtlessly appear soon. We can also speculate that vitamin A-loaded topical treatments like sea buckthorn and rosehip seed oil will succeed.
Your last priority is dodging the confirmed villains like cigarette smoke, air pollution and free radicals. Finally, there’s the question of those malicious p.acnes strains. P.acnes itself can be dealt with by unclogging pores to derive them of a home, or by using raw honey, tea tree oil, or tamanu oil, but how to target the evil strains specifically is another mystery in the universe of acne.
Conclusion
How important is hyaluronic acid in the grand scheme of acne? Its benefits are at least moderate, but its powers for overall skin tone, texture, and glow are massive. It’s the single most important compound for skin moisture and hydration.
Additionally, it all depends on how common deficiency is, an unanswered question. I would bet that deficiency is common, given how heavily the confirmed villains like free radicals and air pollution plague our civilisation today. Mainstream dermatology has the right idea about hyaluronic acid’s powers, but the wrong strategy. Supplements are your way forward for superhuman levels; living cleanly is the solution for normal levels.
Finally, remember that the very worst family of p.acnes, strain subset 1a, is proven to pump out higher levels of hyaluronidase. What is p.acnes’ intention? Who knows, but hyaluronic acid probably contains some nutrients which it needs for its own hard fought survival.
Regardless, that fact alone is sufficient reason to watch any developments with hyaluronic acid like a hawk.
NEXT: forget creams and moisturisers – discover the ultimate acne-clearing diet
Thanks for reading!
On Hyaluronic Acid supplements, I trying to vet if the promote / cause the spread if cancer for those that have cancer or a family history of cancer. Hope this question doesn’t seem to out there. I see some articles claiming association and then there are the PubMeb references which are confusing to follow. Thanks.
After investigating it is a worry. The evidence is extremely mixed about whether the doses in supplements would cause harm or whether hyaluronic acid even affects more than a small proportion of cancer cases, but we can’t ignore the real evidence just because it looks amazing for skincare. We’ll have to wait and see. There are no firm answers yet. At the moment I wouldn’t recommend banishing hyaluronic acid completely but if you had to focus on one skin building block I would choose collagen. A topic for a future article. That said, I highly doubt that running a two month experiment with HA would instantly trigger cancer, but then again, if it worked wonders, you’d automatically be tempted into carrying on forever.
Aren’t omega 3 supplements or fish the better and more established alternative to boost skin moisture and hydration?