As we age, there are many things that can affect us and the overall look of our skin. Some of these forces affecting our skin are: harsh weather, bad habits, and the sun.
The way that your skin ages will be determined on various factors: Diet, personal habits, heredity, and your lifestyle. For example, if you smoke, this will produce something called free radicals. These were once healthy oxygen molecules that have been changed into overactive and unstable molecules. These unstable free radicals will damage your cells and lead to premature wrinkles.
Some primary contributors to spotted and wrinkled skin are; a loss of subcutaneous support that happens naturally as you age, this is the fatty tissue found between your skin and muscle that supports it and holds it firm; exposure to the sun, also known as photoaging; pollution from your outside surroundings; and normal skin aging. Some other contributing factors to skin aging are gravity, how you sleep in certain positions, stress, your daily facial movements, and obesity.
Normal Skin Changes When You Age
When we all get older, there are certain changes that occur naturally, these include:
-Rougher skin
-Developing benign tumors and other lesions
-Slack skin, which is the loss of elastin in the skin, causing skin to loosely hang
-Transparency in the skin that is caused by the overall thinning of the surface layer of the skin
-Fragile skin, caused when flattening of the top layer of skin and the underlayer come together
-Bruise easily from thinner blood vessels
Other changes below the skin that happen as we age include:
-The loss of fat all over the body. It is most noticeable in the face: temples, cheeks, nose, chin, and around the eyes. When this happens, people have sunken eyes, loose skin, and an overall skeletal appearance.
-Bone density loss and overall bone loss. This happens around the chin and mouth. This usually becomes evident in people over 60. It can cause puckering in the areas affected, which is around the mouth.
-Cartilage is also lost. Usually in the nose which will cause it to droop at the tip and can also cause the bony structures to be accentuated.
How Sun Exposure Affects Your Skin
The single biggest cause for aging skin is sun exposure. When you expose yourself to the sun’s ultraviolet light, it will eventually damage the elastin fibers in your skin. When the elastin fibers breakdown, this causes the skin to become loose, stretch, and sag. Elastin is what gives your skin the ability to snap back into place once it has been stretched, but when damaged by the sun, it can no longer do that. Tears and bruises also happen more easily and will take longer to heal. Even though the full effects of sun damage are not noticeable when you are younger, they will come up later in life.
While nothing has the ability to completely undo the damage the sun can do, sometimes the skin is able to repair itself. If you want to reverse some of the sun damage, lasers can help with this. If you don’t do so already, you can start protecting yourself from skin cancer and overall sun exposure. In order to delay some of the aging skin signs from the sun, make sure to cover up exposed skin, stay out of the sun, wear a hat, and most importantly, use sunscreen on all exposed skin.
All Other Changes to The Skin
Some secondary factors contributing to the changes in skin are your sleep positioning, gravity, and your facial movements. When the elastin is gone from the skin, it is easier for gravity to pull down on it. This will cause drooping of the eyelids and eyebrows, longer ear lobes, and looseness of the cheeks and jaw that can result in a double chin.
When your skin loses its elasticity, facial movement lines are more visible. These can include smile lines and crow’s feet. A lot of the time, this starts to happen when people are in their 30s and 40s. Vertical lines can show through between eyebrows, horizontal lines can appear on the forehead, and small curved lines will appear on the upper cheeks, temples, and around the mouth.
Once the skin starts to lose elasticity, the position your head is on your pillow will result in sleep creases. You can find these creases in the middle of your cheeks, forehead, and from above your eyebrows to your hairline close to your temples. To avoid the worst of this, try sleeping on your back. This will improve already apparent sleep creases and can prevent more from appearing.
Again, if you smoke, wrinkles are typically worse than someone who doesn’t smoke who has the same sun exposure history, age, and complexion.
If you don’t have this already, dry skin and itching is common for people later in life. As many as 85% of people when they get older will develop something called “winter itch”. This is when they have overheated, dry, indoor air. As we age, more frequent dry skin can also be caused due to the loss of oil glands. If you use anything that is known to dry out skin, this will make it much worse. This includes having really hot baths and overusing soaps. If you notice your skin becoming very itchy and dry, we recommend seeing a doctor about it because it will not only affect your skin, but can cause irritability, lack of sleep, or can even be a symptom of something more serious, like a disease. Also, sometimes itchiness can be worsened by particular medications.
