Wrinkles. One of the most dreaded words in the dictionary. At
the first sign of a wrinkle, our reaction is pretty much
universal. Horror! After we calm down, we begin to wonder just
what we can do to eliminate this much dreaded effect of aging
and how do we keep other newer and deeper wrinkles from
following. If we already find ourselves with wrinkle mania in
full bloom, we look for solutions to turn back the hands of time
and restore our skin to its once youthful state. Fortunately,
there are options available to us to reduce the appearance of
wrinkles.
Let’s take a moment to discover what causes these wrinkles.
First and foremost, aging. As we grow older our skin naturally
looses collagen and eslastin that help to keep our skin firm and
taunt. Also, our skin cell reproduction slows down and the
rejuvenating effect that new skin cells have on our skin’s
appearance diminishes. These types of wrinkles are known as
intrinsic, they cannot be avoided. It is Mother Nature at her
best (or worst!). Other factors, like the environment and sun
damage, can also cause skin to wrinkle. Smoking also causes the
skin to produce less collagen, inevitably leading to an increase
in wrinkles. These types of wrinkles are called extrinsic. They
are life style choices that are, for the most part, under our
control. These extrinsic influences are the leading cause of
pre-mature aging patterns in our skin. Now that we know why we
have wrinkles let’s talk about how to reduce them.
One of the more popular ways to reduce the appearance of
wrinkles is plastic surgery. Not only are face-lifts an option
but also there are now less invasive procedures, like chemical
peels, laser treatments, and collagen injections. The number one
procedure for reducing wrinkles used today by women of every
walk of life is Botox® injections. Botox® works by relaxing the
injected muscle and allowing those awful furrow lines and other
deep wrinkles to all but disappear. This is temporary, though,
and has to be repeated every few months.
Coblation is also an option for reducing wrinkles. Less invasive
than surgery, radio waves are used to remove the top layer of
the skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and
sun damage. Although this procedure does leave you with newer,
younger looking skin, it is not as effective as laser
treatments. It is safer, though, and the healing process is
considerably shorter since the radio waves do not go as deeply
into the lower layers of skin.
Although all of the above mentioned remedies are good options,
they are also expensive. There are a large variety of wrinkle
reducing creams on the market today that contain ingredients
like Retinal. These will help to firm your skin and lessen the
look of fine lines, but not necessarily the deeper set wrinkles.