Calvert Creak
Skin Care Information
Wrinkles – What Causes Them?
The most frequent aspect of skin health that most of us want to improve on or avoid is the most tell-tale sign of ageing of all – wrinkles.
Sunlight Exposure
Sunlight exposure is a definite cause of wrinkles. In the skin’s dermal layer , sunlight’s UV-A and UV-B rays cause the skin’s most important structural protein, collagen, to break down at a higher rate. These UV rays also cause the accumulation of abnormal elastin (another important structural protein in the skin which is responisble for the skin’s elasticity. When UV-damaged elastin accumulates, large quantities of metalloproteinases (a group of enzymes including collagenase and elastase) are produced. These metalloproteinases malfunction and begin to break down the skin’s collagen into disorganised collagen fibers known as solar scars. With time, this imperferction in the skin’s rebuilding process directly causes wrinkles.
Researchers estimate that exposure to UV-A and UV-B from sunlight are responsible for 90% of wrinkles, therefore minimising your skin’s exposure to the sun is the number one strategy that you can put into place to avoid wrinkles. Look at those areas of your skin that rarely or never receive sunlight exposure (your bottom for instance) and notice their totally wrinkle-free status.
The Ageing Process
Although sunlight is the major determinant of wrinkles, some wrinkling occurs as an inevitable part of the normal ageing process.
With age, skin cells’ DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) becomes slightly damaged by a multitude of environmental factors, leading to faulty replication of skin cells that appears as wrinkles.
With age, your epidermis becomes thinner and less “sticky”. This thinning causes the skin itself to look thinner and become more prone to wrinkles. When the epidermal cells become less “sticky”, more moisture is lost from the skin, causing dryness, another contributory factor to wrinkles. Each decade your skin loses approximately 10% of its total number of epidermal cells, leading to decreased skin repair processes.
The dermis also thins with age and produces less collagen (the important dermal structural protein). Collagen depletion in the dermis inevitably leads to wrinkles. Elastin (another structural protein that provides elasticity to the dermis) also becomes depleted with age, further contributing to wrinkling and sagging.
The deepest layer of the skin – the subcutaneous layer – contains fats cells (which “plump out” or ”fill out” the skin) that become thinner with age. Fewer fat cells in the subcutaneous layer means that they cannot “cover up” the age-related damage in the other layers of the skin.
Both men and women produce oestrogen hormones (although men produce much lesser amounts than women). With age production of oestrogens declines. One of the lesser-known effects of oestrogens is their influence on wrinkles, which occurs through them stimulating collagen production in the skin. Age-related decline in oestrogen production have been documented to cause a 2% reduction in skin collagen per year and a 1% reduction in skin thickness per year.
Free Radicals
Free radicals are unstable molecules that contain only one electron instead of the usual two. Their behavior within the body resembles that of miniature atomic bombs (setting off devastating chain reactions). There are several different types of free radicals, however the type known as singlet free radicals are intimately involved in the formation of wrinkles. Free radicals cause wrinkles primarily by activating enzymes such as collagenase and elastase that degrade the collagen and elastin content of the skin.
The most significant cause of free radicals generation is exposure to the UV component of sunlight. Other free radical generators include tobacco smoking and exposure to air pollution.
Gravity
Gravity is one of the uncontrollable causes of wrinkles. As the skin becomes looser and thinner with age, gravity causes the remaining skin to sag. The most visible signs of gravity-induced wrinkles are jowls and drooping eyelids.
Facial Expressions
If you continually frown, the muscles in the forehead may permanently contract, causing the frown look to become permanent. The subsequent wrinkles between the eyebrows are known as frown lines. Squinting causes a similar effect around the eyes, causing crow’s feet. Smile lines also occur because from often-repeated facial expressions.
Sugar
Cross-linking is a biochemical reaction that is somewhat similar to the leathering process. It occurs as an oxidation reaction when unnatural bonds form between sugars and proteins or DNA in the skin. Cross-linking is a major cause of wrinkles when the proteins that are cross-linked involve collagen or elastin (the skin’s major proteins).
Limiting your consumption of sugar can go a long way towards stopping cross-linking as a cause of wrinkles. Table sugar (sucrose), glucose and fructose are all capable of initiating cross-linking.
Alcohol
Too much alcohol over the long-term can cause wrinkles. It generates free radicals that cause wrinkling.
Smoking
Smoking is an easily avoidable cause of wrinkles. Tobacco smoke generates large numbers of free radicals that cause wrinkling.
Dehydration
Chronic, frequent dehydration has been observed to increase the formation of wrinkles. Drink more water!
Types of Wrinkles
There are two main types of wrinkles
Deep wrinkles occur as a result of the build-up of muscles well below the Skin’s surface. The use of muscles in the face for various expressions “build” the muscles in the face resulting in deep wrinkles. Deep wrinkles may be present on a persistent basis or may be visible only when certain muscles are used. This is particularly true for crow’s feet and frown lines which may only be visible in some people when they smile or frown. Sub-types of deep wrinkles include:
- Crow’s feet (also known as periorbital lines) are deep wrinkles that occur around the eyes. They are usually caused by squinting and excessive exposure to sunlight.
- Frown lines (also known as glabellar lines) are vertical wrinkles that occur in the area between the eyes above the bridge of the nose.
- Marionette lines (also known as oral commissures) are vertical/diagonal wrinkles that extend downwards from the corners of the mouth.
- Smile lines (also known as nosolabial furrows) are vertical wrinkles between the bottom of the nose and the mouth.
- Smoker’s lines are fine, vertical wrinkles above the top lip. They are often caused by tobacco smoking.
- Worry lines are horizontal wrinkles across the forehead. They are often attributed to excessive frowning.
Fine wrinkles occur as a result of the breakdown of collagen and elastin and are part of the aging process. They are made worse by exposure to sunlight.
