While no product can give you wrinkle-free skin, the first step in finding the right anti aging products for your skin to minimize wrinkles is to understand what causes wrinkles.
For many of us, the most common anti aging skin care concern is the formation of wrinkles and the need to find an appropriate anti wrinkle treatment. However, the best cream, serum or treatment to help you reduce fine lines and wrinkles may actually depend on the cause of your wrinkles. Once you know that, you can help prevent these signs of aging.
Genetic Aging Can Cause Wrikles
Genetic factors can lead to fine lines, wrinkles and even deep lines. This process typically begins during the 20s, so it’s best to start using anti aging and anti wrinkle products when you’re younger to prevent the signs of aging and keep skin youthful-looking. With age, the body’s collagen production slows; elastin, the substance that causes skin to be able to “snap” back into place from a furrowed or wrinkled state, begins to lose some of its flexibility; and cellular turnover rate decreases. All of these changes—along with the skin’s decreasing ability to combat the damage from UV rays, which we’ll discuss in the section on fading age spots–are unavoidable as we age. Together, these changes cause the skin to sag and look less full, which makes wrinkles more visible. Of course, your genetic makeup has a great deal to do with how you age. But using a complete skin care regimen, leading a healthy lifestyle and finding an effective anti wrinkle treatment at the first signs of aging can make a big difference.It’s a safe bet to take a look at your family. If their skin is still smooth at an older age, you likely have a great genetic makeup for younger looking skin. If you do, then it’s about making wise decisions about skin care and lifestyle to preserve the skin that your genes already want to keep looking young.
Hormonal Aging Can Causes Wrinkles
The hormonal changes that occur before and during menopause have a significant impact on the skin and contribute to the development of lines and wrinkles on the face and body. That’s true for women who aren’t genetically predisposed to the signs of aging and wrinkles early on, as well as for women who use an effective anti wrinkle skin care regimen. Estrogen is the key to this process. Estrogen is the hormone that encourages and controls collagen production, which keeps the skin firm, soft and supple. During the years that lead up to menopause (the late 20s to the mid-40s), the body continues to produce skin-enhancing estrogen. However, it produces it in lower and lower quantities. After menopause, collagen production begins to decrease significantly. In fact, in some studies, skin has been shown to lose up to a full 30% of its collagen in the first five years after menopause.
When estrogen decreases and a dramatic drop-off in collagen production accompanies it, skin can become more fragile and thin with increased wrinkles and sagging. Acne breakouts and facial hair growth may even occur as a result. Because the face has a high concentration of estrogen receptors, skin changes due to hormonal shifts may be the most visible on the face, primarily in the form of deep creases, dull tone and a “crepe-like” texture. While women can’t avoid menopause, living a healthy lifestyle and using products that hydrate and strengthen the skin can help minimize its effects. When the signs of Hormonal Aging do begin to appear, look for products that hydrate and firm the skin, which is specifically formulated to address the signs of Hormonal Aging.
Environmental Factors and Free Radicals Can Cause Wrinkles
Every day when we go out into the world, we’re exposed to pollutants and UV rays that form free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that are missing an electron. Because free radicals have only one electron, they scavenge them from other molecules, causing a chain reaction. This battle between free radicals damages cell functions and, more importantly, activates the metalloproteinases that break down collagen. While minimizing exposure to UV rays helps, it’s nearly impossible to avoid free radicals altogether since most of us are exposed to pollution and toxins on a daily basis. But antioxidants like Vitamin C and Vitamin E, which are nature’s warriors against free radicals, can counteract their effects. Eating foods that are rich in antioxidants and using antioxidant infused skin care products, can help fight the impact of enviromental aging on the skin.
Smoking Can Causes Wrinkles
Smoking cigarettes is obviously detrimental to your health on many levels. In addition to all the side effects you’ve already heard about, cigarettes contain over 400 types of toxins that trigger biochemical changes in the body that accelerate and intensify aging. In fact, studies have shown that a person who smokes ten cigarettes a day for ten years or more is more likely to develop deep wrinkles and leathery skin than a nonsmoker. In one pinnacle study, researchers were able to identify smokers simply by looking at the wrinkle patterns on their faces. If you smoke even a little, you’re doing an immense amount of damage to your body. For the sake of your skin and your overall health, it’s best to quit smoking entirely. If you have trouble kicking the habit on your own, there are many forms of medical assistance available to help.
Repetitive Facial Patterns Can Cause Wrinkles
A lifetime of making the same facial expressions over and over again can cause lines and wrinkles. Each time you use a facial muscle, a groove forms beneath the surface of the skin. For example, repetitive squinting causes frown lines on the forehead and crow’s feet around the eyes. As the skin ages and elastin decreases, the skin stops “springing” back to its original, line-free state, and the grooves that were once below the skin become fine lines and winkles in the surface of the skin. To minimize wrinkles caused by squinting, wear sunglasses or a hat whenever you’re outside during the day. And be sure to minimize stress—which causes frown lines–whenever possible to help prevent your facial expressions from becoming permanent lines and wrinkles.
Gravity Can Cause Wrinkles
Gravity has been pulling on your skin for your entire life, and when elastin production breaks down in your 50s, the signs of gravity’s effect on your skin become even more evident. While one of the most obvious effects of gravity on your skin is an overall drooping of the skin on your face, the deepness of your wrinkles will increase as well.
While time and age eventually cause wrinkles to form on your face, there are a number of preventive lifestyle choices that you can make to minimize this impact. These include limiting sun exposure and preventing sun damage; living a healthy, smoke-free, low-stress lifestyle; and incorporating antioxidants into your diet and skin care. When the inevitable signs of aging do begin to appear, using skin care products that combat and compensate for the decrease in collagen production and the declining effectiveness of elastin can help keep your skin youthful-looking, healthy and firm.
