Over time, ageing causes fine lines to appear on the cheeks, and the forehead will start to get noticeable horizontal lines caused by frowning, which tend to become deeper as time passes. The skin doesn’t shed and renew itself as quickly as we get older, we have a decrease in collagen which causes the skin to lose moisture and elasticity, and we facial lose volume which causes sagging. Outside factors can also influence our skin: from the harshness of winter, with cold wind and rain causing redness and chapped, rough skin, to the damage caused by the sun, from years of tanning with sun screen, and sun burn damage from all of those times when you didn’t apply any sun protection.
Ageing skin:
- The rate of skin cell turnover slows down, resulting in thinner crepe like skin.
- There’s less production of elastin and collagen, making the ageing skin vulnerable to the effects of gravity. This can result in jowls and bags under the eyes.
- Wrinkles occur as the skin becomes thinner, as a result of reduced elastin and collagen.
- Age spots happen when pigment cells in the skin increase in certain areas and cluster together, resulting in sun spots or liver spots and freckles.
- Ageing skin has fewer sweat and oil glands, making it prone to dryness.
- The blood vessels are more likely to break, bruise or become permanently dilated, causing facial thread veins.
The facial muscles, like all the muscles throughout the body, will shrink and weaken over time. When the face muscles change, it can cause bags under the eyes, sunken or hollow eyelids, dark circles, and eyelid folds. Fat deposits give your face its contours which are smooth when we are younger, with more volume, but as time goes by, the fat loses volume and changes positions, making us look older. The cheeks and under-eyes lose their fat and slide down the face making the cheeks look flat. Fat lost from the cheeks and jaw line might cause jowls or a double chin.
There are lots of cosmetic treatments that can help ageing skin to look fresher, healthier and younger. Dermal filers can replace the lost volume in the cheeks, the tear troughs beneath the eyes, nose to mouth lines, the jaw line and can plump up thin lips. Botox gives excellent results when treating forehead creases, frown lines and the crows feet around the eyes. Chemical peels and microdermabrasion are ideal treatments to exfoliate your skin, removing dead and dull cells to improve skin texture and tone, making your face look and feel fresh and youthful.
