Fact Friday: A Defination of Dermal Absorption

HOW IS TOPICAL MAGNESIUM ABSORBED THROUGH THE SKIN?

from the Ancent Minerals Website

The skin, the largest organ of the body, has three primary functions:

• Temperature control
• Detoxification
• Barrier function

While one function of the skin, its barrier function, is to keep water and moisture in while keeping germs and toxins out, the skin’s other functions, temperature control and detoxification, could not occur if the skin was truly a complete barrier.

When you sweat, for example, you are both controlling your body’s temperature and naturally excreting toxins through your skin. If you can push out toxins, you can pull them in as well. One example of this phenomenon is that fact that a person who regularly uses underarm deodorant containing aluminum will actually show aluminum content in a fecal or urine test.

A Definition of Dermal Absorption

In fact, many substances do pass into the body from the outer surface of the skin and into the circulation. To understand how this works, imagine a tightly woven fabric. While from a distance it may appear impervious, at close range it is actually highly porous.  It is this porous nature of the skin, with its millions of tiny openings, that allows not only sweat and other toxins to escape, but also enables the absorption of some substances.

The process is known as dermal absorption. Once a substance passes through the outer layers of skin, it passes into the lymph and local vascular (blood vessel) system and soon after into the bloodstream.¹

Routes of Absorption of Topical Magnesium

While the exact mechanisms of skin transfer are yet to be completely understood, three routes of penetration have been hypothesized:

• Intercellular Skin Absorption, which occurs between the cells of the “stratum corneum”, the outermost layer of the skin
• Transcellular Skin Absorption, where substances actually pass through the skin cells themselves
• Skin Absorption Through the Follicles and Glands, also known as ”appendageal absorption”, which may also exhibit ”reservoir effects” in which substances may be stored within the glands for absorption over time