UNDERSTANDING SKIN AGING >

Understanding skin aging, with Dr Richard Young.

One of the commonest question I get is how do I stop the visible aging of my skin?

To answer that one we have to understand what is causing visible skin aging.

As we get older, and quite possibly accumulate more total hours exposed to the sun, we lose collagen and elastin from our skin. These proteins give skin is elasticity and are responsible for it's ability to bounce back after being stretched. Just look at a baby's skin and how it instantly snaps back into shape when you squeeze a chubby cheek! Now compare that to your grandmother's cheek, and see how the skin wrinkles and sags, it's the exact opposite.

Now we know collagen and elastin loss through aging causes wrinkling, sagging and loss of elasticity, but how do we delay this process as much as possible? The number one tip is good old sunscreen. Look at two 50 year old women, one from Australia and one from England. It's like they're from a different planet! Wear your sunscreen!

The biggest secret of all is Retin-A. This cream derived from vitamin A is THE ONLY substance ever PROVEN to replace lost collagen and slow down natural loss through aging. It's very very slow working, and it's about making it part of your beauty regimen permanently, but devotees who have been using it for 12 months or more know it's amazing power! As a wonderful little by-product it gives a microscopic peel to that dead top layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum. If the dead top layer gets too thick skin looks lifeless and dull. Peeling it freshens and tightens the appearance. The only catch for this wonder cream? The only effective preparations are on prescription and therefore available through your doctor or dermatologist.

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