biotechnological

Gives vertigo to think that the first artificial breast prostheses They were glass balls or that at the beginning of the nineteenth century Sanguijuelas were used to reduce venous congestion of skin flaps. The world has changed so much (and so fast) that we are not usually able to see the enormous feat they hide some antiojeras patches of 3 euros and 50 cents. And, sincerely, it is a huge mistake. Which hides a patch of the Mercadona. Because the fact that Some “masks” of hyaluronic acid are viral It may seem a curiosity. However, there is a lot of cloth to cut. In a dialogue that has not become famous, but that should be, Miranda Presley tells the protagonist of ‘The devil wears Prada’ that “I understand, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and select that deformed blue sweater because you try to tell the world that you take too seriously to worry about what you will wear. But what you don’t know is That Jersey is not just blue, it is not turquoise or marine: it is cerúleo. Exempt from the fashion industry when, in fact, you carry a sweater that was selected for you by people like us. “ This (which is true with the fashion world and with elite restaurants) is exactly like that with aesthetic medicine and contemporary cosmetic industry. After a very cheap patch and A couple of tips to go perfect to the next wedding There are not only “millions of dollars and many jobs”, there is an exciting scientific and technological history. And hyaluronic acid is a great example of all this. Isolated for the first time in 1934, hyaluronic acid is A high molecular weight polysaccharide that is present naturally in our body. An adult human being has, on average, about 15 grams of Ah and, around a third, is renewed daily. Above all, we can find it in the synovial fluid of our joints; But it is In many more placeslike the eyes, the extracellular matrix of cartilage and tendons and the skin. We still do not have very clear all the functions it has in the body, but we do know that it has a key role in maintaining the structure of many tissues, homeostassis, cell hydration and wound regeneration. This is key because, over time, a loss of human connective tissue and its repair processes “that have a lot to do with it is suffered. And the skin is the place where it shows the most. Use hyaluronic acid Help mitigate these problems. We have known that for a long time. Moreover, we knew that (being part of the ‘natural’ substances of the human being) had a very high biocompatibility index and almost no dangerous (or durable) side effect. However, its first commercial use in the 40s was like Egg whiting substitute. The problem for decades was the same: we could only take out the hyaluronic acid from sites such as shark cartilage or clogs of the roosters. fabrics sufficiently rich in this component so that its extraction was ‘cost-effective’. But manufacturing techniques involved a risk of considerable allergy. The hyaluronic boom (and what you have behind). It was not until the early eighties that a first medical product that contained it achieved its approval. Of course, it was Ophthalmological surgeries oriented (cataracts) and had no cosmetics ends. For that we have to wait until 1996 when it begins to be used as a dermo-epidermal moisturizer; But, above all, what The techniques that allowed to manufacture it using genetically modified bacteria were refined. Towards the Nano. It is the perfect metaphor to talk about what is happening with aesthetic interventions. As science advances, that surgery becomes a micro (or nano) that the pharmacology learns to create better molecules and develop better ways to administer them … aesthetic medicine has ceased to be something dangerous, frivolous and niche, for become the “our daily bread” of huge age cohort. The Arrival to the Senectud from the Baby Boom generation (and the economic power they have) does the rest. The science of “rejuvenating your face” is a huge business. And, for the first time in a long time, biotechnology is prepared to offer more than mere placebo. In the same way that modern medicine banished thousands of remedies of doubtful utility, modern biotechnology will change skin care (and the rest of the body) forever. Although, of course, it is not just older thing. Among young people, all this He has also shot. It’s about a social changeYeah; but propitiated by a revolutionary technological change. Every day that passes the techniques become more ambulatory, less intrusive, more effective. Every day that passes the separation between ‘makeup’ or ‘taking care of the skin’ and aesthetic medicine is smaller. Every day that passes the “Rejection science“It’s close to being massive and extremely cheap: democratic. A culmen. That is to say, The patches that Mercadona sells to three and a half euros They are the summary of a very long scientific and technological career of decades that has traveled almost the entire modern industry from the agri -food to genetic engineering passing, of course, through the Aesthetic surgery and regenerative medicine. But, above all, they are a symbol of the times that (With the good and With the bad) They have touched us to live. In Xataka | Some researchers say they know how to end the gray hair. It is good news, but not for our image In Xataka | Aesthetic surgery has opened a new (and lucrative) business in the US that has already made alarms jump: dyeing eyes Image | Pexels – Ron Lach *An earlier version of this article was published in January 2024