Why Skin Ages

Aging changes our bodies, including our skin, hair and nails. Many of these changes — called intrinsic (internal) aging — are natural and include the following:

• Skin:
• Becomes drier and itchier.
• Develops fine wrinkles.
• Looks less smooth and youthful because it loses some of the fat that pads it.
• Sags because bones thin and muscle is lost
• Hair:
• Turns white or gray.
• Thins.
• Fingernails:
• Thin.
• Develop ridges.
• Toenails:
• Thicken.

But inevitable as aging is, you hit the fast-forward button when you expose your skin to the sun. This is called extrinsic (external) aging. Changes caused by the sun, also known as photoaging, include:

• Freckles.
• Age (“liver”) spots.
• Spider veins on the face.
• Rough, leathery skin.
• Wrinkles.
• Loose skin.
• Blotchy complexion.
• Scaly reddish patches, called actinic keratoses.
• Skin cancer.

Why is the sun so bad for skin? The ultraviolet (UV) rays the sun emits:

• Break down and slow the production of collagen and elastin in our skin. This makes the skin loose and droopy.
• Rev up the skin’s production of melanin (also called pigment), which gives skin its color. But the extra pigmentation can be irregular, especially in people with fair skin. When you’re young, the result — freckles — may look cute, but when you get older, these “age spots” aren’t quite so adorable.
• Make the skin less able to repair damage after repeated exposure to the sun. If you’re fair-skinned, sun exposure will cause your skin to age even faster than a dark-skinned person.
• Cause damage to your skin cells’ DNA (the molecule that encodes genetic information). The damaged skin cells can grow and divide uncontrollably, leading to skin cancer.

Other lifestyle habits or factors that can age the skin include:

• Smoking: Causes biochemical changes that speed up the aging process, resulting in deeply wrinkled, leathery skin.
• Repetitive facial expressions: Lines formed by expressions you make can become etched in the face.
• Sleeping positions: Lines formed when you sleep in the same position can become etched in the face.
• Gravity: Because the skin is less elastic and unable to repair itself, gravity pulls skin down.

Next: Aging Skin Conditions