The effects of aging on your skin

With commercials flying everywhere for anti-aging products, it has almost become a crime to age! We are always looking up to stars who have aged gracefully and want our skin to have the same effect. However, there are various pathological and biological causes that can be behind the ill effects of aging on the skin. Read on to know the causes:

• Natural Aging Process
• Intrinsic Aging
• Environmental Factors-
• Lifestyle factors

Aging Changes in Skin

Skin is responsive to various external elements and internal changes within the body. Aging is part of the latter. Skin tends to show multiple signs as your age increases. From sagging facial skin to wrinkles on the face, let’s look at some of the most common age effects on the face and skin on other parts of the body.

• Loss of elasticity which makes the skin slack
• The development of lesions like benign tumors
• Increased transparency due to the thinning of the epidermis
• Increased fragility
• Thinner blood vessels cause the skin to become easily bruised
• Increased roughness
• Face looks tired
• Wrinkles appear on the forehead and around the eyes
• Dull and uneven skin tone

Unfortunately, all of these causes can have a lot of effects on this aging skin. Here is how they affect the layers of skin:

• Your skin will become much rougher.
• Your skin ends up developing lesions such as benign tumors.
• The skin becomes slack. It is the loss of the elastic tissue (elastin and collagen) inside the skin coming with age that causes the skin to hang loosely.
• Skin also becomes way more transparent as we age. This is mainly caused by thinning of the epidermis(surface layer of the skin).
• Your skin will also become more fragile as we age. It is caused by a flattening of the area where the epidermis and dermis (layer of skin under the epidermis) come together.
• The skin will become way more easily bruised. This is due to the thinning of the blood vessel walls as we age.

But, don’t worry. This is how you can protect your skin from aging and prevent any further damage:

1. Remember to protect your skin from the sun: Applying sunscreen matching to your skin type is extremely important. Do not avoid a coating of protection and depend on a cloth to save your skin from the sun.
2. Apply self-tanner instead of opting for a natural tan: Whenever you get a tan, you prematurely end up aging your skin. This mostly holds true if you get a tan from the sun, a tanning bed, or any of the other indoor tanning equipment. All of these emit harmful UV rays which accelerate the aging rate of your skin.
3. Quit smoking: Smoking is bad in many ways. Especially, when it comes to skin aging, it greatly speeds up the process. It also causes a lot of wrinkles and also a dull as well as a sallow complexion.
4. Avoid the same facial expressions: Once you start growing older, you also need to pay attention to your skin in terms of the expressions that you make as well. Whenever you make a facial expression, you end up contracting the underlying muscles. If you have a habit of repeatedly contracting the same muscles for a lot of years, then these lines will become permanent. You should wear sunglasses which can help in reducing the lines caused by squinting.
5. Remember to eat a healthy and a well-balanced diet: Some research studies suggest that when you eat plenty of fresh fruits as well as vegetables, it can help in preventing the damage which leads to premature skin aging. The research studies also suggest that a diet which contains a lot of sugar or any other refined carbohydrates can end up accelerating aging.
6. Drink less alcohol: Alcohol is rough for the body and has adverse effects on the skin. It does not only dehydrate the skin but in time, also damages the skin. This can end up making you look much older then you are.

If none of these remedies work for you and it is affecting you too much, then it is always advisable to visit a dermatologist, skin experts like the ones at Clear Skin. They will get to the root of the problem and consult you with the best solution and treatment options.