The Effects of Aging on Skin

If life is about change, skin is proof. Our skin is at the mercy of many forces as we age: sun, harsh weather, and our own bad habits. How your skin ages will depend on a variety of factors: your lifestyle, diet, heredity, and other personal habits. For instance, are you a smoker or did you ever smoke?

There are other reasons for aging skin, too. Other factors contributing to wrinkled, spotted skin include normal aging, loss of subcutaneous support (fatty tissue between your skin and muscle), stress, daily facial movement, and obesity.

Normal Skin Changes That Come With Age

As you age your skin may become:

• Rough
• Slack. The loss of the elastic tissue (elastin and collagen) in the skin with age causes the skin to hang loosely.
• Transparent. This is caused by thinning of the epidermis (surface layer of the skin).
• Fragile. This is caused by a flattening of the area where the epidermis and dermis (layer of skin under the epidermis) come together.
• Easily bruised. This is due to loss of support around blood vessel walls as we age.
• More susceptible to lesions such as benign tumors.
• Dry

Sun Damage and Your Skin

Over time, the sun's ultraviolet (UV) light damages certain fibers in the skin called elastin. The breakdown of elastin fibers causes the skin to sag, stretch, and lose its ability to snap back after stretching. The skin also bruises, tears more easily, and takes longer to heal. So while sun damage may not show when you're young, it will later in life.

Nothing can completely undo sun damage, although the skin can sometimes repair itself. So, it's never too late to begin protecting yourself from sun exposure and skin cancer. You can delay changes associated with aging by staying out of the sun and wearing sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or more.

Changes Below the Skin

• Loss of fat below the skin in the cheeks, temples, chin, nose, and eye area may result in loosening skin, sunken eyes, and a "skeletal" appearance.
• Bone loss, mostly around the mouth and chin, may become evident after age 60 and cause puckering of the skin around the mouth.
• Cartilage loss in the nose causes drooping of the nasal tip and accentuation of the bony structures in the nose.

Other Skin Changes

Gravity, facial movement, and even sleep position are the secondary factors that contribute to changes in the skin. When the skin loses its elasticity, gravity causes drooping of the eyebrows and eyelids, looseness and fullness under the cheeks and jaw (jowls and "double chin"), and longer ear lobes.

Facial movement lines become more visible after the skin starts losing its elasticity (usually as people reach their 30s and 40s). Lines may appear horizontally on the forehead, vertically on the skin above the root of the nose (glabella), or as small curved lines on the temples, upper cheeks and around the mouth.

Smokers tend to have more wrinkles than nonsmokers of the same age, complexion, and history of sun exposure.