The From Your Doctor service powered by Vivacare

This service should not be used in place of a visit, call, consultation with or the advice of your healthcare provider.

Communicate promptly with your provider with any health related questions or concerns.

 

Aging Skin Basics

Aging Skin
 

Just last week, Janine, who is thirty-six years old, walked into my office. Aside from having a few small light-brown spots and faint smile lines, her skin was in great shape for her age. She thought so, too—until she took a good look at her two daughters. Both are under the age of ten, so it’ll be years and years before they see their first brown spot or wrinkle. Janine had noticed how much their faces glowed and radiated health, how they lit up every room they walked into—and how, somewhere along the way, her own skin had lost its luster. “Dr. Dover,” she said, “I’d give anything to get back even a fraction of that luster.”


Most of us can relate to this. If it’s not your daughter, maybe it’s your niece, your grandchild, or the high schoolers you see walking to class every morning. Think for a minute about a child you know. When you look at his or her face, you probably see the following:


•    For starters, you notice an overall radiance. I have two teenage daughters. Like Janine’s kids, they have this tremendously healthy luster.
•    One of the qualities that makes children look like children is their skin’s plumpness. I’m not talking about eating too much cake and ice cream. Youthful skin is filled with goodies like collagen, elastin, and a spongy material called hyaluronic acid, which makes the skin deliciously plump and full. Think of a baby’s round cheeks and you’ll know just what I mean.
•    Plump skin looks healthy and young. It doesn’t matter if your daughter has gotten only five hours of sleep or has sunburned her face to a crisp (let’s hope not)—her skin is probably still taut and unlined. Of course, all that sun exposure will come back to bite her later on!
•    No makeup is necessary to improve one’s looks here. One of the most prized aspects of young skin is its lovely even color and tone. 

Now let’s take a look at how the complexion changes over the decades. The section below outlines how the aging process manifests itself on the skin’s surface, as well as below it. 


Twentysomething


Enjoy your skin now; in many ways, it’s at its very best. Since it still retains its teenage youthfulness and recoil, makeup is probably not necessary to improve the way it looks. All your face requires to look good is a confident smile. The few creases that appear when you do flash a grin vanish the moment you relax your face. Fortunately, the oil slicks and pimples that were caused mainly by puberty’s hormonal shifts have finally begun to abate—for most women, but not all (read on).

Myth: Using a rich moisturizer now will prevent wrinkles later.


Truth: Moisturizers do just what they say they will do: moisturize the skin. Most formulas that contain ingredients like glycerin, petrolatum, and hyaluronic acid hydrate your complexion by helping cells to attract and hold on to water molecules. More moisture in the skin will temporarily make it look more plump, minimizing the appearance of fine lines for up to several hours. Regular use of a moisturizer helps to keep the skin well hydrated over the long tern as well. For long-term wrinkle prevention, 
look for a moisturizer that contains anti-aging ingredients, such as retinol and alpha hydroxy acids.

Here are some of the things you’ll notice about your skin if your skin’s virtual age (SVA) is twentysomething: 


•    Persistent pimples. Acne usually begins to subside at this age, but growing numbers of people are still plagued by blemishes well into their twenties and beyond. Many of my adult patients find that the harsh acne products they depended on in adolescence are too drying and irritating now. Fortunately, we have many gentler alternatives.
•    Sluggish cell turnover. The natural process of cell turnover begins to slow down very slightly, so dull, dead skin cells stick around for a little longer. This means that your complexion might lose a bit of its natural luster as you approach thirty.
•    Delayed effects of sunburn. Damage from days spent on the beach starts manifesting itself during this decade. Nevertheless, take heart: any brown spots, fine crinkles, and spidery blood vessels that do emerge are usually barely visible, and further injury is very preventable as long as you get serious about sun protection flow. 


Thirtysomething 


Your complexion still looks youthful: your skin bounces back when you pinch it, and the surface is probably fairly smooth. As you move into your middle and late thirties, however, past sun damage truly begins to make its mark.


If your skin’s virtual age (SVA) is thirtysomething, you’ll see the following changes in your skin:
•    Luster loss. Your skin’s natural glow and radiance continue to decrease as cell turnover slows down more dramatically.
•    Brown spots. Although the center of your face is still fairly free of brown spots, the sides show the first signs of pigmentation. The reason for this is that few people ever look directly at the sun, so the sides of the face receive more ultraviolet (UV) exposure. Furthermore, many people neglect the outer part of their cheeks when they apply sunscreen. You’d also be surprised at how much sun exposure happens while you’re driving: UVA light transmits right through window glass. Elsewhere on the face, small freckles become larger and more blotchy.
•    Visible veins. Tiny red veins appear around the edge of the nose and cheeks. At the same time, leg veins might make their first appearance, especially if you’ve had children.
•    Lines of time. Fine crinkles start to emerge around the eyes. You might also notice two vertical frown lines between your eyebrows—many of my patients call these their “elevens,” because of their shape—and horizontal lines on the forehead that come from raising your eyebrows. All these lines are more noticeable when you’re tired, stressed, or dehydrated.
•    Not-so-cute dimples. Cellulite might appear or become more noticeable, particularly on the back of your thighs and buttocks.

Myth: Drinking lots of water will keep me looking young.

Truth: Water certainly does the body good, but when it comes to staving off the signs of aging, it’s hardly a miracle elixir. Unless you’re severely dehydrated—and you’ll know it if you are—drinking a little more or a little less than usual really won’t show up on your skin. I can’t see how drinking eight glasses of water a day would make your skin look younger in the long term. If your complexion is genuinely dry or flaky, the best way to hydrate it is with a good moisturizer, which will help the skin to look smoother and plumper, but only in the short term.

FortySomething 


As years of cumulative UV exposure keep taking their toll, your skin takes on an increasingly dull cast, especially in sun-exposed areas.
If your SVA is fortysomething, you might notice the following happening to your skin:
•    More prevalent pigment. Brown spots crop up in larger and larger numbers—not only on the sides of your face but also in the central part.
•    Additional wrinkles. Fine lines continue to emerge, and the overall texture of the skin appears less smooth. Crinkles around the eyes become more noticeable; frown lines between the brows and horizontal creases in the forehead become deeper. You might find it especially frustrating that people are asking you why you look angry when you’re perfectly happy. 
Loss of baby fat. You might notice gradual volume loss, starting in your cheeks, especially during the later part of the decade. This is when you first start to notice that your skin is visibly less taut, especially around the mouth and along the jawline.

Fiftysomething 


The skin is noticeably less radiant than it was a decade ago. Although you might feel as young and vibrant as ever, the hormonal changes associated with menopause, coupled with the ongoing effects of sun exposure from years past, mean that your complexion might look drier and more tired. 



Having a fiftysomething SVA often means the following for your skin:


•    Uneven skin tone. Blotches and redness become even worse as you sail through your fifties. Even if they weren’t a problem before, individual red blood vessels can pop up around the nose, cheeks, and chin.
•    More creases. Forehead lines and crow’s feet become deeper, and vertical lip lines might begin to form, especially if they run in your family, if you are or were a smoker, or if you’re prone to puckering.
•    Sagging and fat accumulation. As volume loss continues on the face, neck, and other parts of the body, sagging increases. That’s because fat redistributes itself as we age, showing up on different parts of the face and the body. Some of it disappears from the cheeks, causing them to look slightly hollow. At the same time, fat deposits under the eyes and under the chin cause eyelid puffiness and sagging of the neck. Let’s also not forget about the areas that are notorious for accumulating fat with age: the belly, the sides of the hips, and the buttocks. 


Sixtysomething 


The skin looks less radiant and more blotchy than it was a decade ago. Along with these changes comes increased sagging at the corners of the mouth and along the jawline and the neck. All of this is especially disconcerting if you feel as youthful as you did twenty years ago. If you’re considering a face-lift or other skin-tightening procedures for the first time, be aware that doctors have a range of less invasive alternatives for those who are not ready to take the cosmetic surgery plunge.
If your SVA is sixtysomething, the following is probably happening to your skin: 

•    Deeper lines. Creases, wrinkles, and frown lines become progressively more etched into your face, especially between the eyebrows, on the forehead, around the eyes and the mouth, and above the upper lip.
•    Unsightly sagging. Loose skin continues to be more visible on the face, especially along the jawline, on the neck, and throughout the entire body.
•    More fat accumulation. Even if you’re an avid exerciser, you might not be able to stave off emerging “saddlebags” (increased fat on the sides of the hips) and belly fat as your skin tone decreases and areas of unwanted body fat accumulate.



Seventysomething and Beyond

This decade just brings more of the same. Nevertheless, just because you might be a grandmother doesn’t mean that you want to look like one. I still have vivid memories 
of an older woman who walked into my office and confided that her own grandchildren were too scared to sit on her lap because of the big brown blotches and deep wrinkles 
on her face.
If your SVA is in the seventies or higher, your skin might exhibit the following: 

Unstoppable spots. Uneven - pigmentation usually becomes to let our office aestheticians more noticeable as you move treatments, through your seventies, with 
darker, raised, and even blotchier spots.

Red veins. Facial vessels appear or become more noticeable around the nose and on the cheeks, even if they weren’t a problem before. 
More wrinkles. Sensing a pattern here? Creases are prominent on the brow, on the forehead, between the nose and the mouth, on the cheeks, and especially above the upper lip. For those who have expressive faces or who have had lots of sun exposure over the years, the face becomes more and more wrinkly. Alas, the makeup you once wore to cover the brown spots and to mask small imperfections now accentuates them. 
Sagging skin. The areas around the brows, cheeks, jawline, and ck continue to droop even more.

Myth: Topical oxygen treatments will make my skin look younger and healthier.

Truth: Our cells, including our skin cells, obviously can’t function without oxygen, but they get plenty of it from our bloodstream. There’s no evidence that rubbing or spraying your face with oxygen does a thing, which is why I refuse to let our office aestheticians offer any type of oxygenating treatments.

Excerpted from "The Youth Equation: Take 10 Years Off Your Face", by Jeffrey Dover, M.D.

search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Youth-Equation/Jeffrey-Dover/e/9780470191804



 

This website is certified by Health On the Net Foundation. Click to verify. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information:
verify here.
View Content Policy