One day we’ll all wake up and wonder what happened to our youthful, vibrant skin. While you can’t outrun genetics, there are some important factors to consider to keep skin looking healthy.
The Sun
The sun is behind a lot of skin problems, including skin cancer, which is very common in its several forms. The sun, of course, is also behind sunburns, which can lead to premature wrinkles and aged-looking skin. Wear a hat and sunscreen to prevent problems.
Lack of Sleep
The body is tremendously impacted when you don’t get enough sleep. It affects many different systems in your body, including the skin. Some experts say that lack of sleep can change the pH of the skin, and affect the skin’s ability to hydrate itself.
Stress
Stress also affects the body chemically. For example, cortisol levels rise with stress, which can affect various aspects of the skin and the rest of the body. Anxious people also tend to touch, pull, or scratch with tic behaviors, which isn’t good for the skin. You’ve also probably noticed that pimples can be associated with stress. Eczema can also flare up because of stress. It’s pretty clear that the skin doesn’t like it when you’re anxious!
Aging
This one isn’t exactly avoidable, but it’s important to realize that the skin changes with time. It loses its fullness, and wrinkles begin to form with motions repeated countless times over the years.
Squinting
The eyes are one of the most common places for wrinkles to show up. Wrinkles around the eyes can make a person look older, more so than wrinkles in other places. Squinting can contribute to these wrinkles. Squinting is hard behavior to break, because we all like being out in the sun. Others have poor eyesight, and need to squint. Squinting is also simply part of expressing certain emotions. Use sunglasses whenever possible, not just to avoid wrinkles, but to protect your eyes and skin from the sun.
5 Options To Help
Before we talk about treatment options for aged, damaged, or wrinkled skin, it’s important to say that prevention is always better than treatment. Protect and moisturize your skin, and make it a priority! But sun damage, stress, and other factors causing aged skin are almost impossible to avoid over the course of a lifetime. Here are some things you can try to help your skin look its best.
The right cream can help keep skin healthy and reduce the appearance of fine lines. We like the Epionce brand’s nourishing cream to help moisturize and soften the skin.
For lines that become part of the face after years of eating, squinting, expressing emotion, etc., there aren’t many options better than a Botox injection.
Medical-grade lasers are revolutionizing the way we can improve the appearance of damaged skin cells without harming the surrounding healthy cells.
For hyperpigmentation, also called skin discoloration, Lytera is one of our favorite options. It can help minimize an uneven skin tone.
Retinol
Dr. Myers may recommend retinol as a topical option to help treat sun damage. It also minimizes the appearance of fine lines and coarse wrinkles and enhances skin tone and texture. There are several different retinol products that he might recommend.