As we age, our life roles change. Children leave the home, long-time relationships shift or dissolve, and careers end or change tracks. Our sense of worth undergoes constant reevaluation, and at the same time, our lived experience appears as wrinkles, flaws, and imperfections in our skin and hair. The pressures of looking older can contribute to other psychological and social pressures, like feeling a loss of femininity, sexual identity, social power, and social visibility.
Aesthetic treatments have the ability to significantly improve your psychological well-being by mitigating the classic signs of aging. The desire to stay healthy, fit, and look attractive are natural and normal for the average healthy aging individual. Non-surgical treatments are an excellent first option to improving the quality of your surface skin and the shape of your face.
Why Does Skin Age?
Research shows that there are, in fact, two distinct types of aging: intrinsic, or internal aging, caused by the genes we inherit, and extrinsic, or external aging, caused by environmental factors such as exposure to the sunâs rays.Intrinsic Aging, also known as the natural aging process, is genetically wired and quite variable from person to person. It is a continuous process that occurs throughout our skin, regardless of sun or other environmental exposures. Generally our skin becomes thinner, sometimes even translucent to the vessels and tissues below. The skin barrier also becomes less effective over time, resulting in a type of dehydration called transepidermal water loss, which can make the skin dryer and less supple.
Remarkably however, up to 95% of our visible aging is due to Extrinsic Aging, which is predominantly due to UV light, with some contribution from visible light and infrared light. These changes in skin due to light causes both notable alterations to the appearance of the skin surface as well as the shape of the facial structure. This type of aging is often called Photoaging, and is the cause of premature aging, which can be markedly different from Intrinsic Aging.
Repeated sun exposure breaks down collagen and impairs the synthesis of new collagen and elastin. Sun-weakened skin loses its spring, becoming loose, wrinkled, and leathery much earlier than sun-protected skin. Other photo-aging changes include freckles and seborrheic keratoses, melasma and irregular pigmentation, bumps and scaly patches, spider veins, increased bruisability, blackheads and enlarged pores, and poorly-controlled rosacea.
UVA light (sometimes called the âAging Raysâ) penetrates deeply into our tissues gradually including eroding muscle, fat, and bone. This loss of facial structure, combined with gravity, leads to hollows and jowls, and sagging of skin that used to cover these deeper structures that gave our face shape.
Turn Back the Clock
Skin has one of the richest sources of stem cells in the body, with stem cells forming the base of the epidermis, and the bulb of the hair follicle. Stem cells are primordial undifferentiated cells that can be turned into specialized cells when given the right signals. Skin, hair and nails regenerate themselves constantly, until the day we die. Incredibly, we shed about a pound of skin cells a year! Stem cells can be coaxed to do our bidding and change for us, if we coax them along with the right molecules or signals. Because we retain these stem cells all of our lives, it means it is never too late to influence our health!
Regenerative medicine, including placenta-sourced bio-messengers, is the latest and greatest form of treatment available to efficiently and broadly target the causes of aging skin, signaling your skin to repair and rejuvenate. Growth factors can radically cut down inflammation and reset your skinâs âinstruction manualâ to reduce and reverse visible signs of aging.
At SkinHappy, we are excited to offer a wide range of cutting-edge treatments to combat the visible signs of aging and prevent future damage. We are ready to help ease the psychological pressures of aging and to give you a result that makes you feel like your best self when you look in the mirror. Call us today for a consultation and discover fresh confidence for the new year!