Did you know that skin is the largest organ of the human body? It can be easily understood that aging will first and foremost start showing on the skin. Even though we notice the signs of aging on the surface, it’s a process that takes place in every layer of the skin.
What are the characteristics of aged skin and why is it happening? Skin aging is characterised by features such as wrinkling, loss of elasticity, loss of volume, sagging, age spots, dryness and the development of rough-textured appearance.
Facial movement lines become more visible after the skin starts losing its elasticity (usually as people reach their 30s and 40s). Lines may appear horizontally on the forehead, vertically on the skin above the root of the nose (glabella), or as small curved lines on the temples, upper cheeks, and around the mouth.
Looking into specific face areas like the eyes, we can notice that our eyebrows and eyelids, appear looser and lack fullness, while dark circles and under eye bags can be more evident. The cheeks can appear wrinkled and loose volume and the jaw may lose its firmness.
The skin aging process, of course, takes time, however, it can be accelerated because of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Examples of the latest are the consumption of alcohol, smoking, bad diet, sun exposure, pollution and also possible lack of reviving sleep.
Skin aging is accompanied with changes to the skin cells themselves along with changes in extracellular matrix components (ECM) like Collagens( Multitypes), Glycosaminoglycans (Hyaluran, Hyaluronic acid), Elastic fibers (Elastin) and many other.
From the age of 25, collagen production slows down and your skin becomes less elastic and wrinkles start to appear. The decrease in collagen and elastin in your skin, your skin starts to lose firmness.
Endogenous factors of skin aging are inevitable as our biological age follows a natural path, which differs from person to person. Examples of endogenous processes that trigger skin aging include the presence of excessive free radicals, advanced glycation end products (AGEs), senescence of the cells, shortening of the telomeres and reduced cell proliferation and slowed turnover among others. It is important to note that genetics play an important role in how quickly these processes will happen.
References
Zhang, S., & Duan, E. (2018). Fighting against Skin Aging: The Way from Bench to Bedside. Cell transplantation, 27(5), 729–738. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963689717725755
Wong, Q.Y.A., Chew, F.T. Defining skin aging and its risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sci Rep 11, 22075 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01573-z
Tobin D. J. (2017). Introduction to skin aging. Journal of tissue viability, 26(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtv.2016.03.002