To beat the aging process and hang onto healthy skin, you've got to know what you're up against. The effects of sunlight and gravity are inevitable but can be tamed. It's not the march of time that threatens your skin so much as how you spend your time. Tanning, smoking and spotty facial care take a toll on your looks and on your health. Adopt a few regular steps from this anti-aging skin care guide for long-term benefits.
Function
Your skin ages in two ways. Skin ages from the inside, via your genes, normal temporal body changes and general health condition. It ages from the outside via damage from sun and other environmental hazards. To lessen the impact of the aging process on skin, you must keep it clean, hydrated and protected from the elements. Shedding dead cells is how healthy skin repairs itself. You can aid this self-rejuvenation, which slows with age, by exfoliating.
Time Frame
Environmental factors in the aging process don't take a day off. Your skin survives exposure to sun, dust, pollen and pollution every day. A daily facial care regimen is necessary to help the sensitive skin on your face rejuvenate nightly and start each day with a clean slate. This means removing makeup, cleansing and perhaps exfoliating at night and adding moisturizer and sunblock to the routine during the day. Exfoliate with a gentle scrub, such as baby oatmeal, once or twice a week.
Features
Matching cleansers and makeup removers to your skin type helps avoid drying your skin, which intensifies the effects of the aging process. Maintain the elasticity of healthy skin on your face as long as possible by cleansing with fingertips only and gently patting dry with a towel. Moisturize while skin is still damp. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests a sunscreen formula with sun protection factor (SPF) 30 or higher.
Effects
In addition to keeping your skin younger looking longer, sunblock protects you from contracting skin cancer. Using it daily from an early age may lessen the severity of wrinkles, age spots, dry patches and loose skin. The AAD also cites studies claiming that cleansing and moisturizing on a daily basis improves skin texture and tone. Because skin becomes more sensitive with age, skin care becomes more crucial to your overall health and appearance.
Treatments
Some people may not accept an eventual decline in skin tone and condition. Professional skin care can address aesthetic concerns. From simple facials to surgical facelifts, skin care treatments temporarily improve texture or correct damaged skin tone. Less invasive treatments include botulinum toxin injections to firm eye and lip areas, photofacials to relieve blotchy or uneven tone and microdermabrasion to encourage health skin cell growth.
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