What happens to your skin as you age?

As we age, our skin ages too. It becomes dry and thin due to the disconnection of collagen and elastin. Cells that are in our skin start to die out and a lot more time is needed for new cells to develop. The outcome of this process is skin that slowly becomes gray, filled with brown spots that develop due to the irregular growth of pigment cells. We get older every day since the moment we are born and that is something that is inevitable, ending in death. That is the life cycle, but most women when they come in certain age start to feel disappointed with their look of the skin. They all want to decrease the process of aging as much as possible, just like in the case of promoting a healthy lifestyle. Fortunately, there are a lot of things that can be done so that your skin preserves freshness even in older age.

According to researches, there are two types of skin aging and causes of them are different. Aging is caused by the inherited genes and there is little that we can do about it. On the other hand, we have extrinsic aging and it is caused by the external factors such as wind, sunrays, coldness, etc.

Intrinsic Aging

Aging that is genetically predisposed is also called intrinsic aging and is everlasting process that starts somewhere in the twenties. Skin ages due to slow collagen production and decreased ability of elastin cells to multiply. Due to this chemical change, the skin does not have so much elasticity. Even though this process begins in the twenties, the first results can be noticed much later. First signs that indicate intrinsic aging include small, barely noticeable wrinkles, thinned skin, loss of fat that is settled under the skin, sagging of skin, itchy dry skin, white gray hair, etc. These signs vary from person to person, and while in some first signs can appear in the late twenties, others may notice the same signs in the forties.

Extrinsic Aging

A number of things belong to the group of those included in extrinsic aging, but sun exposure is the one that causes the most damage to our skin. It is important to emphasize that creams for sun protection are very important, because just a few moments on the sun can be responsible for freckles, age spots, spider veins, rough skin and many other things that start appearing on your skin. Dermatologists have tried to explain aging caused by the exposure to sun with the term photo aging. If you have been exposing your skin for ages to sun, then the possibility to repair it will decreases little by little until it stops repairing. Then, the damage is already done. Sun attacks our skin slowly, causing a lot of damage that can be prevented by simply staying out of sun, or by using the appropriate protective creams.