Ironing out the Wrinkles

Mother calls them laugh lines, those slight creases in the skin that can inflict you anywhere from your mid-twenties to your forties (if you’re lucky.)  ‘Laugh lines’ is a far more pleasant term than the single, terror-inducing word wrinkles. Especially when you consider those ‘slight creases’ are going to form into harsh crevices as you age.

Wrinkles can be linked to two factors; intrinsic and extrinsic aging.  Let’s look at them…

• Intrinsic Aging-is heredity.  You cannot hide what’s inside, folks.  If your mother looks like an old ‘wrinkle bonce’ by age 50, chances are you’re going in the same direction. With age your skin loses its elasticity, and produces a lot less collagen.  The result is saggy skin that is thin like paper, and we all know paper creases.  Also, your dead skin cells sloth off more slowly and are not replaced by new ones as quickly as they used to be. The result is skin that looks dull and lifeless.

How quickly this happens is all up to individual genetics.  Thank your parents.

• Extrinsic Aging-you may have no control over intrinsic aging, but you do over extrinsic.  Extrinsic aging is reliant upon outside influence; how you treat your body and what you expose it to.  The sun is terrible for your skin.  Even a few minutes exposure a day can cause irreparable damage over time.  You create what is scientifically termed ‘photoaging.’  If you’ve ever had the pleasure of looking at a photograph of your face taken by a UV camera, you know what I’m talking about.  Sun causes deep wrinkling, skin discoloration and age spots.  How susceptible you are to photoaging really depends upon your skin tone and how often you’ve been exposed.  Fair-skinned people will show more signs of aging than their dark-skinned counterparts.

Smoking is another outward source of aging.  The toxins from cigarette smoke create free radicals in your body which turn stable cells, unstable.  This causes a plethora of diseases and problems within the body, including aging of the epidermis.

How To Delay The Inevitable

There are ways you can try to ‘slow your roll’ when it comes to wrinkling.  We’ve talked about how damaging the sun is, so wear a sun screen of at least SPF 15 whenever you go outside.  You are even exposed if you sit next to a window in your office (lucky you!), or driving around in your car…so protect yourself.  Certain moisturizers and foundations contain an SPF factor.  Every little bit helps.

We also touched upon smoking. It’s all around bad for you, so quit it!  You don’t want to look and sound like one of those slot-machine hogging grannies, do you?   Or maybe you do…

What about how you sleep? If you snooze all night in one position with your face squashed against a pillow, you’re going to create wrinkles over time.  Try sleeping on your back for a change.

Facial expressions are also responsible for wrinkling.  Lack of sufficient elasticity and collagen will prevent your face from smoothing back like it did in your youth, leaving you permanently lined.  We’re not telling you to walk around like a drone, but try frowning less!  Your forehead will thank you!

So is There a Cure For Wrinkles?

Well no, of course not.  If there was, we’d all walk around looking perpetually youthful and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.  But where there is no cure, there are measures you can take to improve the look of your wrinkles.  Reduction is possible with prescription strength topicals; and even over-the-counter ones, if you purchase correctly.  Most topical store bought treatments are worthless, ‘sitting’ on the surface of the skin and not penetrating to the lower epidermis where it’s needed.  The Mayo Clinic indicates you need to purchase wrinkle removers containing retinol, alpha hydroxyl acids, kinetin, coenzyme Q10, copper peptides and antioxidants.  With these you will see noticable improvements.  If you want more bang for your buck, you’ll want to get out what I call ‘the big guns’-or professional medical treatments. (Be prepared to part with a lot of bucks for your bang!)  These treatments are costly, but wield excellent results.  Typical treatments include chemical peels, laser skin resurfacing, fillers, Botox, dermabrasion or microdermabrasion.  This really is a way to quite literally ‘iron out the wrinkles.’

Best of luck, and remember, stop frowning!