As we age we may start seeing more wrinkles, freckles, or other marks on our skin. These markers are all perfectly normal, but can you slow down the signs of aging? Anna Bahnson, MD with Avera Dermatology explains some tips and insight on skin health.
Is it too late to start an anti-aging skin routine in your 40s?
It's never too late to start a skin care anti-aging routine. Even at age 40, there's still a lot of benefit that you can get, even later on in life into your 60s and 70s. I will say that the earlier you start, the more benefit you will have because our a skin care routine builds upon itself over time. So one of the best possible things that you can do to help take care of your skin is to cleanse your skin regularly, use a moisturizer with a sunscreen, and then add in something like a retinoid or a retinol that can help to boost collagen production. This helps even out skin tone and texture, and help us age as gracefully as possible.
How is your skin different later in life?
As we get older, our skin changes in numerous ways, and a lot of that is related to the sun exposure we get over the years. The damage all builds on itself over time. We know that the sun actually breaks down the elastic fibers that we have in our skin. So if you think about a rubber band or an elastic band that gives a lot of bounce back, those elastic fibers are in our skin and help it to bounce back; both from injuries and helps to maintain our skin's architecture. So as those elastic fibers go away, we can start to have some more wrinkling in our skin. As we get older we also have less collagen production, so that also contributes to wrinkle formation. Our DNA damage repair mechanisms are also not as strong as they were when we were younger. So you may notice more brown spots on your skin or different skin growths. You may also notice that your skin may be drier as we get older, and that can be due to different hormonal changes. So it’s really important to try to keep your skin well-moisturized as you age.
How do you start an anti-aging skin care routine?
I think starting a conversation with your physician or your dermatologist is a great place to start when you're thinking about a skin care routine. If you spend any time on social media or watch any TV programs, there is always talk about certain skin care regimens. But my advice is that you certainly can keep it very simple. I think starting off with a gentle cleanser, a moisturizer with sunscreen in the morning, and then maybe adding in something like a retinol or a retinoid is a good place to start. There are some over-the-counter retinoids or retinols that can be helpful, but sometimes they can be a little bit irritating when you first start to use them. So having a conversation with a dermatologist or your physician about how to start those safely would be a great idea.
Read more: Should Your Teen Use Retinol?
What words of advice or encouragement would you offer patients?
I think recognizing that one week of a skin care routine isn't going to make a huge difference. Anything that we do for our skin takes consistency and improvement over time before you start to see results. I like to think of it as if you were going to run a marathon. You wouldn't just go for a run one day and say, "Oh, I can go run a marathon now." It’s the same thing with your skin care routine, you need to maintain it, make it part of your daily habit, a daily routine, just like how you brush your teeth every day. That's how you should be thinking about taking care of your skin every day.
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