What are the signs of aging?

1. Loss of subdermal fat in the cheeks, temples, chin, nose, and eye area. This may result in loose skin and sunken eyes.
2. Loss of bone around the chin and mouth may cause puckering of skin around the mouth. Moreover, loss of cartilage may cause the nasal tip to droop.
3. Reduced elasticity leads to sagging skin, drooping eyebrows and eyelids, double chin, and longer ear lobes.
4. Prominent Facial movement lines on the forehead, temples, upper cheeks, and around the mouth. This happens because the skin loses moisture, elastin and collagen. In fact, sleep creases may also become more visible.
5. Melanocytes or pigment cells cluster together to form age spots: In fact, age spots appear on areas of the skin that have maximum sun exposure.
6. Reduced natural moisture causes the skin to dry out. This may be worsened by sun damage and decreased cell activity.
7. The buildup of dead skin cells cause your skin to appear dull. The skin renewal process reduces by 7% every 10 years, reducing the new cell production.
8. The rate of cell production reduces in the lower epidermal layer. This results in thin skin which is prone to wrinkles.
9. Blood vessel walls become weaker, which results in easy breakage and bruising.

Skin has a protein called collagen. This protein plays an important role in tightening the skin and keeping it wrinkle-free. However, the natural ageing process along with sun exposure and pollution damages collagen which results in the development of wrinkles, fine lines, age spots and so on.

Treatment for anti aging

Dermatologists treat obvious signs of ageing on the face with multiple treatment modalities. However, it important to combine them with a healthy diet and regular exercise for best results. Moreover, the treatment is based on the skin type, expectation and area that needs to be treated.

Some of the treatment modalities are:

• Laser therapy

Continuous lasers treat the whole area, while fractional lasers penetrate the skin in microscopic columns, and leaves healthy tissue unaffected. Ablative lasers destroy the tissue which initiates the wound healing mechanism of the body. Therefore, this results in the formation of new healthy tissue. Non-ablative lasers stimulate collagen production by heating the tissue.

• CO2 fractional laser therapy

In this treatment, dermatologists often use traditional CO2 laser therapy with other laser therapies. This laser sends small beams of energy into the skin to stimulate collagen production. This helps in skin regeneration. This laser therapy sends small beams of energy into your skin. Therefore, this stimulates collagen.

• Intense pulsed light (IPL)

In this treatment, bursts of intense light energy heat the epidermal and dermal layers of the skin. This stimulates collagen production and improves skin tone and texture, as well as discolouration, and may not have much effect on wrinkles.

• Photofacial

In this treatment, a QX Max Q-switched ND: Yag laser helps to stimulate collagen. It also helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and open pores. In fact, photo facials help to reduce skin congestion and redness. Moreover, it also helps to even out the skin tone and reduce age spots on the face. 

• Dermal fillers

In this treatment, dermatologists may use different types of fillers. This helps the skin look naturally youthful. Therefore, this treatment boosts collagen production and reduces its breakdown. 

• Mesotherapy

In this treatment, dermatologists inject certain growth factors and nutrients in the skin. Moreover, dermatologists use skin lightening agents like hydrating agents, vitamins and minerals with micropuncture techniques. In fact, mesotherapy works even better in combination with other treatments to rejuvenate and tighten skin.

• Micro-needling

In this treatment, multiple small injuries are made to the skin using needles on a dermaroller. This can also be combined with radiofrequency to stimulate collagen which smoothens and tightens your skin. This also helps reduces fine lines and wrinkles.

• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy

Dermatologists inject your own processed blood plasma that is rich in platelets into your skin. Platelets are a reservoir of growth factors that stimulate tissue recovery by increasing blood flow and collagen production. In fact, PRP therapy can be combined with laser therapy as well.

• Chemical peels

In this treatment, dermatologists apply a solution to the skin. This makes the dead and damaged layers of skin peel. This reduces pigmentation, deep wrinkles, acne and rough facial skin texture. In fact, this treatment improves overall skin texture. 

• Thermage

In this treatment, dermatologists use a monopolar radiofrequency to heat the deeper layers of tissue. This remodels and stimulates collagen, resulting in tightened skin.

• Ultherapy

In this treatment, a highly focused ultrasound-based device is used to penetrate the skin up to the subdermal layers. The energy released creates micro-wounds. Therefore, the healing process of the wounds leads to tighter lifted skin.

• Vitamin A / Retinoids

Vitamin A or Retinoids help increase cell production in the superficial layers of the skin. Therefore, this results in decreased wrinkles and improved skin tone. Free radicals are unstable molecules. They form as a result of overexposure to the sun and pollution. They damage collagen fibres in the skin. Therefore, vitamin A derivatives fight ageing by destroying these free radicals.

• Peptides

In this treatment, topical applications with peptide molecules help to trigger the body’s healing process. As a result, this helps to stimulate collagen production. Therefore, this helps to prevent the development of wrinkles on the facial muscles.