As we are all aware of changes occur with our bodies as we age, new aches and pains, slower healing, changes in our appearance. But why does this happen?
As you likely know the Grand Canyon was created over 70 million years of erosion by the land by the Colorado river. The same principles apply to the body. Time and outside forces change the landscape. The areas exposed on your body like your face and hands change with years of sunlight. They change with years of gravitation forces pulling down, they even change with your preference of sleeping on your left side.
How skin ages can be placed into three main categories
- Thinning. Over time, the epidermis and dermis thin and loose strength and elasticity. Additionally, the fat layer under the skin looses its fullness. The full chubby cheeks of a baby continue to thin into adulthood and even more into our later years.
- Descent. With gravity always pulling down, your skin and soft tissues follow. The full cheeks we once had descend with time and create jowls and excess loose skin.
- Discoloration. This happens secondary to the damaging rays of the sun. The lifetime barrage of sunlight on our skin changes the cells within epidermis and dermis.
In the epidermis (superficial layer of skin) sunlight can cause pigment changes by damaging melanocytes and create free radicals (damaging molecules) that further damage surrounding cells and proteins. In the worst of situations continued cell damage from the sun can eventually develop skin cancers like melanoma. (read more about sun damage here)
In the dermis (deeper layer of skin) sunlight wreaks havoc on important protein structures within the skin. Collagen (a major structural component of skin) can be damaged by the sun over time and lead to weakening and changes in the protein structure of collagen. As collagen weakens the skin looses its tensile strength and leads to wrinkles, sagging
This is the privilege of growing old, but these predictable changes of aging skin can be slowed and improved with the correct skin care regimen with the right products…
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