Did you know that environmental pollutants can damage your skin? Our Toronto functional medicine clinic can target these types of concerns with core tests and tailored treatments.

Environmental pollutants can surprisingly promote harm to the skin barrier, encouraging the formation of wrinkles and dark spots. These toxins can exacerbate current skin disorders, too, such as atopic dermatitis and skin cancer. A sour skin’s role is to shield the body from risky external factors, understanding the link between environmental toxins and skin may improve your wellness routine. After all, these toxins can impede optimal health and affect longevity!

This article from the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre highlights the role of environmental toxins on your skin, and how our clinic uses lab tests to personalize treatments.

How environmental factors affect your skin

Pollutants include natural and man-made constituents – heavy metals, like lead, and pesticides are examples, and they can be absorbed by the skin with direct contact. Environmental toxins, such as BPA from plastics, can be ingested, especially when chemicals leach into food packaging.

Furthermore,environmental toxins can be inhaled. An article from Frontiers in Pharmacology explains that, “Environmental factors that influence skin aging…fall into the following major categories: sun radiation (ultraviolet radiation, visible light, and infra-red radiation), air pollution, tobacco smoke, nutrition, some less well-studied factors, and cosmetic products.”

Suggested Reading: 6 Perks Of Using Integrative Functional Medicine For Toronto Athletes

Exposure to these pollutants – via inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption – can cause oxidative damage, which is formed when the body excessively garners harmful free radicals. This can cause collagen to break down, thereby injuring the skin barrier. And when your skin barrier is impaired, you can become susceptible to UV damage. Below are some examples of how your skin can react to pollutants:

• • Premature aging (i.e. wrinkles, age spots)
  • Acne breakouts
  • Inflammation
  • Eczema
  • Hives
  • Hyperpigmentation
  •  Psoriasis

If you’re having trouble tackling wrinkles, dryness, or acne, we can support you! In fact, we are proficient at modifying treatments to suit biological needs. To proceed with this, our lab services may be utilized – we discuss this in the next section.

Utilizing functional tests and therapies for skin care

Our functional lab testing services help us understand the direction your health is heading by analyzing biomarkers. These molecules are found in tissues, bodily fluids, or blood, and they can be measured to forecast health outcomes. Overall, the point of functional testing is to help us understand how to further delay or alleviate particular health issues; this can be done by acknowledging the root cause of symptoms.Our lab tests may not be available at some allopathic clinics, as conventional tests tend to detect disease conditions, not biomarkers.

For tackling toxin-related skin issues, our clinicians may conduct these tests:

• • Chemical Immune Reactivity Screen(Array 11, Cyrex Labs):This blood test measures for biomarkers linked to toxic elements, such as BPA and arsenic. It indicates which toxins are affecting you and guides us to prescribe treatments.
  • Metabolomix+ nutritional test(Genova Diagnostics):This urine test quantifies nutritional biomarkers to inform us if you’re low on fatty acids, minerals, antioxidants, etc. It also measures for oxidative stress, which can be formed in the body from excessive air pollutants. 

Your lab results are used by us to tailor your treatment plan. Though each patient has a unique way of relieving skin obstacles, we could potentially recommend these functional treatments to you:

• •  If you have direct contact with chemicals, lifestyle modifications may be applied. For instance, wearing gloves could reduce your contact with garden fertilizers. Also, installing an air purifier, eating organic food, and filtering water can help you avoid some pollutants.
  • Supplementing with antioxidants can support your detoxification processes. Antioxidants (i.e.ALA,  glutathione, and NAC) can be administered orally or intravenously. These nutrients are capable of scavenging free radicals, especially those triggered by environmental pollutants.
  • Chelation therapy may be advised if you test positive for heavy metals. Chemical agents are prescribed as a pill or IV drip. These agents collect unwanted metallic molecules from your tissues; then the agents and metals are urinated out of the body.

Take note: Environmental toxins can also disrupt your hormones, breathing, gut health, and more. What can our functional medicine therapies do for your wellness? Book your session with us today for tailored healthcare.

Meet our functional medicine wellness team

By adhering to integrative functional medicine, we aim to untangle the source of your symptoms and promote healthy longevity. The key to this is customization – by personalizing treatments for your biology, we can directly address nutrient deficiencies, hormone imbalances, poor digestion, chronic pain, and more.

At the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre, we encourage patients to add different treatment modalities to their tailored strategies. This provides you with multiple options for symptom relief, helping to enrich your wellness journey! We offer functional and naturopathic medicine, allopathic treatments, acupuncture, herbal remedies, psychotherapy, holistic nutrition, and intravenous therapy (IV therapy).

Intravenous treatments are available in our in-house IV Lounge, where we offer an array of ingredients for supportive measures. IV drip doses are prescribed in line with functional medicine principles. When intravenous drips are combined with a healthy lifestyle and other wellness interventions (i.e. naturopathic medicine), they can help support health improvements. Please reach out to reserve your initial session and to meet our health team.

Let’s introduce you to our compassionate, customized approach to health care – start now by clicking here to request your session for functional medicine with our Toronto team.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is designed for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting a doctor. You should always consult with a health care practitioner before relying on any information in this article or on this website. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare provider because of information you have read from the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre website or other affiliate media.

 

References

Bocheva G, Slominski RM, Slominski AT. Environmental Air Pollutants Affecting Skin Functions with Systemic Implications. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jun 22;24(13):10502. doi: 10.3390/ijms241310502. PMID: 37445680; PMCID: PMC10341863.

Liu, X., Sun, B., Yang, T., Li, D., Li, Y., Tian, J., Guo, M., Cao, Y., & Zhou, S. (2012). Decreased Skin-Mediated Detoxification Contributes to Oxidative Stress and Insulin Resistance. Experimental Diabetes Research, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/128694

 OvokeroyeAkpojevweAbafe, Stuart Harrad, Mohamed Abou-Elwafa Abdallah. Assessment of human dermal absorption of flame retardant additives in polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics using 3D human skin equivalent models. Environment International, 2024; 186: 108635 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108635

Parrado C, Mercado-Saenz S, Perez-Davo A, Gilaberte Y, Gonzalez S, Juarranz A. Environmental Stressors on Skin Aging. Mechanistic Insights. Front Pharmacol. 2019 Jul 9;10:759. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2019.00759. PMID: 31354480; PMCID: PMC6629960.

Puri P, Nandar SK, Kathuria S, Ramesh V. Effects of air pollution on the skin: A review. Indian J Dermatol VenereolLeprol2017;83:415-423

Roberts W. Air pollution and skin disorders. Int J Womens Dermatol. 2020 Nov 25;7(1):91-97. doi: 10.1016/j.ijwd.2020.11.001. PMID: 33537398; PMCID: PMC7838324.

Strimbu, K., &Tavel, J. A. (2010). What are Biomarkers? Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS, 5(6), 463. https://doi.org/10.1097/COH.0b013e32833ed177