No matter how young a person feels on the inside, the skin may betray a person's real age, or even make the person look older than he or she really is. Certain lifestyle factors such as sun exposure, alcohol and tobacco use, and poor diet can accelerate many signs of aging. In this blog post, we review seven signs of aging that most people experience as the structures in the skin begins to become damaged and even break down.
- Crow's feet. These are those little wrinkles that most men and women develop at the corners of their eyes. They are caused by the contractions of muscles in the eye area that are used to blink and squint. The more these muscles are used, the greater chance they have to wrinkle the skin and cause these lines at an earlier age.
- Nasolabial folds. These are the parentheses that most people begin to see, stretching from the nose to the corners of the mouth. While these may appear only while talking or making an expression, over time, they will become permanent lines in the skin. A facelift can correct this condition.
- Sagging jowls. When a person is young, he or she has plenty of fat, collagen, and elastin to keep the skin full and smooth. As a person ages, these components of the skin begin to break down, leaving the skin sagging and wrinkled. This is most common around the chin and jowl areas, where the skin literally hangs downward, aging a person's appearance. A facelift can correct this condition.
- Age spots and wrinkles on hands. The hands are another area that often become wrinkled and are vulnerable to serious sun damage. The damage done by the sun on the hands manifests itself by small, discolored spots and wrinkles, especially around the tendons located on the top of the hand.
- Under eye circles. Under eye circles can manifest themselves as early as age 20. They can be the result of a lack of sleep, stress, or other stimulus that causes the capillaries under the eye to leak into the hollow area there. They also deepen as a person loses fat and collagen under the eyes, resulting in a hollowed out appearance. These effects are often permanent, but as a person ages, they may worsen, especially as the collagen in the skin disappears and the skin of the area actually begins to sag and becomes sunken and hollow. Lower eyelid surgery can correct this condition.
- Heavy upper eyelids. The eye area seems to be one of the first places to reveal a person's age. Aside from under eye circles and crow's feet, the upper eyelids can also begin to droop over the eye, making the eyes look smaller; this can even obscure a person's vision. The more the eyelids droop, the more they will begin to look wrinkled and aged. Upper eyelid surgery can correct this condition.
- Sagging brows. Just like other areas of the face, the eyebrows, as a person ages, can begin to droop and sag from their original location. As the collage deposit under the brow disintegrates, the brow will begin to migrate off of the bone, wrinkling the skin below it and becoming displaced. A browlift can correct this condition.
To schedule a plastic surgery consultation to reduce the signs of aging, contact Dr. Paul Pin.