The cosmetic and beauty industry has a lot of ideas about reversing the physical signs of aging. The marketplace is replete with products and injectable treatments that promise to take years off your appearance. They promise to diminish wrinkles and fine lines. Many treatments like cosmetic surgery come with considerable downtime and recovery. But recent research suggests that an inexpensive medicine that has been around for about 150 years may be a potent way to slow the signs of skin aging.
Is there a fountain of youth? Probably not, but we do know certain facts about the process of aging. And skin aging is the most visible sign of how old we are. We know that oxidative stress is a prime cause of skin aging that produces hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, and an inhibited ability to heal wounds.
An effective method to delay skin aging is to apply antioxidants found in skin care.
Now, methylene blue (MB) appears to provide benefits that slow down skin aging. MB is a mitochondrial targeting antioxidant. In studies, it has shown to have a potent scavenging efficacy in cultured skin fibroblasts from healthy participants and participants with progeria. Some studies show that methylene blue is more effective than other widely used antioxidants.
In one study, methylene blue was more effective at stimulating growth in skin fibroblasts while slowing cellular deterioration. This is welcome news especially since studies also show that MB is safe for long-term use and has decades of proven effectiveness. It does not irritate the skin. And it enhances skin viability, increases hydration and skin thickness, and increases the skin’s ability to self-heal.
These studies show great potential for methylene blue for skin care.
Let’s take a closer look at how methylene blue can help slow skin aging.
Skin and oxidative stress
Skin is the largest organ of the human body. There are 2 types of skin aging: intrinsic and extrinsic, which are caused by both physiological and environmental factors. Intrinsic aging is the natural aging of our skin showing up mostly as fine wrinkles on dry skin. Extrinsic aging is an accelerated form of aging due to exposure to the sun and environmental pollution. It shows up as rough, dry, and hyperpigmented skin. Both types are due in part to oxidative damage from free radicals.
With antioxidant neutralization, your cells keep reactive oxygen species (ROS) at low levels. As we age, the ROS tend to accumulate because the ROS scavenging decreases. This results in oxidative stress that causes damage to the macromolecules of your skin. More damage comes when your skin is exposed to environmental harms like smoke, UV radiation, chemicals, and pollutants. Excessive ROS decreases collagen synthesis and increases collagen breakdown. Thus, the external application of antioxidants in skin care products can help neutralize excess free radicals.
Methylene blue was first synthesized in 1876. It has been used for a wide array of issues including methemoglobinemia, malaria, vasoplegia, septic shock, cancer chemotherapy, and Alzheimer’s disease. MB is highly permeable in biological membranes because of its solubility in both water and organic solvent, which enables it to freely enter the intracellular compartments like mitochondria, lysosomes, and the nucleus.
MB has recently drawn attention for its anti-aging properties. Earlier studies found that MB resulted in longer cellular lifespans, greater cell production, and lower levels of p16, which is a biomarker of physiological aging. One study gave female mice MB in their food, which extended their life span by 6%. And, methylene blue has had positive effects on people with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS, progeria), a rare genetic disorder of accelerated aging.
These studies show that methylene blue may provide effective protection from accelerated aging due to oxidative stress for the following reasons:
- MB is a potent ROS scavenger
- MB reduces aging signs in old skin cells
- MB increases tissue viability and shows no signs of irritation of the skin
- MB increases skin thickness and hydration
- MB treatment alters the expression of a subset of ECM proteins, including upregulation of elastin and collagen
- MB promotes wound healing in dermal fibroblasts
All of this shows that methylene blue can delay skin aging and that it is a safe, potent antioxidant with excellent potential to be used in skincare.
In summary, our analyses using the 2D dermal fibroblasts and 3D reconstructed skin models support the idea that MB is a safe and potent antioxidant, and has great potential to be used in skincare.
How does methylene blue reduce ROS and stimulate cell proliferation?
The researchers of one study suggested that the evidence shows that MB “exerts its potent antioxidant effects through multiple pathways, involving in both blocking oxidant production and boosting antioxidant defense.”
Methylene blue has many unique physical and chemical properties, one of which is wide solubility in water and organic solvents. This particular property enables MB to penetrate through many layers of membranes and enter various cellular compartments such as the nucleus and mitochondria. Overall, the data from this study support that MB promotes mitochondrial function and reduce ROS production.
New data is emerging, and it suggests that MB could influence the central antioxidant defense pathway and other essential cellular functions, most probably by altering gene expression. And methylene blue treatment promotes DNA damage repair in fibroblasts.
How does methylene blue increase skin thickness and hydration?
The thickness of your skin decreases with age, and this occurs in both the epidermis and the dermis. This is due to the gradual accumulation of cellular ROS, a reduction in the number of skin cells, and deficient collagen and elastin. The lessens the strength and resiliency of your skin, and it weakens the skin barrier function while inhibiting wound healing. Methylene blue treatments increase the expression of collagen and elastin.
One incredibly important function that your skin provides is to be a barrier between your body and the outside world. It also prevents excess water evaporation. This barrier protection comes primarily from the stratum corneum, which consists of multiple layers of dead corneocytes, and is the final stage of epidermal differentiation. The thickness of the stratum corneum and its intercellular lipid content contribute to the quality of the barrier function.
As we grow older, the barrier function declines primarily due to decreased lipid content. Methylene blue activates a key regulator in adipogenesis. This may produce higher levels of lipid content in the stratum corneum, which leads to better skin hydration. And, MB treatment promotes a dense network of keratin proteins in stratum granulosum, thereby preventing water evaporation.
Can methylene blue reduce skin wrinkling?
Wrinkles are the most visible feature of aging skin. And, they are exacerbated by exposure to the sun, smoke, pollutants, and environmental contamination. Dehydration can make them worse as well. Wrinkles result from deterioration of the skin molecules, diminished collagen production, and fewer elastic fibers.
Abundant collagen is key to preventing the development of wrinkles. Studies of methylene blue suggest that treatment increases collagen and elastin in the dermis. And the better hydration resulting from MB treatments will also delay the onset of wrinkles.
Final thoughts
This is exciting news, although we don’t suggest that you apply methylene blue to your skin. However, watch for the compound to be added to quality skin care products in the near future. Studies clearly show that MB improves skin viability, skin hydration, and thickness, and promotes the production of skin elastin and collagen.