Why Do We Get Wrinkles On Our Faces As We Age?
AS TIME wears on they creep up on you: the crow’s feet, the furrowed brow, the chicken neck and the collection of laughter lines – otherwise known as wrinkles.
So how exactly does one accumulate such surface etches over time?
Those little lines deepen thanks to a range of general changes in the skin’s structure and function, some that arise from within and many that come courtesy of your environment.
Collagen and elastin fibres in your skin make it firm and elastic, but as you get older these fibres change. Just how slowly or rapidly that elasticity starts to give way varies between individuals. In addition, your skin tends to become drier and thins with age, and the underlying fat padding tends to reduce.
All that loss of firmness and support contributes to saggy skin, which forms wrinkles.
The skin around the eyes tends to especially showcase such signs of ageing, probably because it thins relatively rapidly with advancing years.
Meanwhile, the intrinsic skin-ageing process can be hastened if your skin is damaged by external factors, like too much direct sunlight.
Recent studies in Japan found that exposing skin cells to UV-B radiation boosted enzymes that break down elastic fibres in skin.
Smoking is another wrinkle-baiter as it inhibits the skin’s production of collagen, and again you end up with less elasticity.
In short, to help stop your skin wrinkling before its own good time, give the cigarettes a miss and use sun protection.
– CLARE O’CONNELL
