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Textbook of Aging Skin pp 161–172Cite as

Buffering Capacity Considerations in the Elderly

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Abstract

It is known that elderly skin has an increased pH and decreased buffering capacity. These two changes in the physiochemical nature of elderly skin arguably contribute to the fragility of elderly skin by influencing barrier homeostasis, skin integrity/cohesion, susceptibility to infection, and skin sensitivity to topical acids and alkalis. This chapter briefly reviews the basic science of pH, the buffering capacity, and the changes seen in the epidermis of aging skin before presenting a more in-depth review of experimentation investigating the source and characteristics of human skin buffering capacity. These studies are reviewed in an attempt to illuminate the source of the diminished buffering capacity of aged skin.

Experimentation reviewed here suggests that AAs are primarily responsible for the neutralization capacity of the skin. The exact sources of the amino acids as well as the types of AA that are primarily responsible for the neutralization capacity remain still rather speculative. From what is known to date, filaggrin breakdown products may play an important role in skin buffering capacity, and the decrease in filaggrin as we age may explain, at least in part, why the skin buffering capacity decreases with age. Additional components of the epidermis such as sebum and CO2 seem not to significantly participate as buffering agents of the epidermis, yet they still may play a role in the protection of skin from the harm of acids and bases.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. West Dermatology, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

    Jacquelyn Levin

  2. Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

Authors
  1. Jacquelyn Levin
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  2. Howard I. Maibach
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Correspondence to Jacquelyn Levin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Winton Hill Business Center, The Procter & Gamble Company , Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Miranda A. Farage

  2. Margoshes-Miller Consulting, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Kenneth W. Miller

  3. Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

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Levin, J., Maibach, H.I. (2017). Buffering Capacity Considerations in the Elderly. In: Farage, M., Miller, K., Maibach, H. (eds) Textbook of Aging Skin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47398-6_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47398-6_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-47397-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-47398-6

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