What Happens to Your Skin After 40

Changes in our skin happen in our 20s and 30s, but become more evident in our 40s. Those summers at the beach and the neighborhood pool are no longer just fond memories; but disdained wrinkles as well. As much as you wish you could deny it, the fact is that wrinkles, dryness, and loss of elasticity are all facts of life in our forties. It happens.

 

Your Lifestyle Will Catch up to You

While it’s almost sickening to see college girls abuse their bodies by partying and drinking all night, only to get a quick hour of sleep, a shower, and then bounce around looking as if they’ve had ten hours of sleep! Admit it, the one bit of satisfaction you have when “that girl” passes, is that you realize that years of drinking and abusing one’s body will show up eventually. It is in our 40s when we begin to notice the effects of those choices. Our faces develop a ruddy tired expression from the years of drinking alcohol. The effects of smoking begin to break down the collagen and dehydrating the skin making it look less plump and full. Sun exposure can turn skin a gray or yellowish tint giving skin and uneven or mottled appearance.

 

Nature Calls

Aside from lifestyle choices, there’s another primary culprit in aging us: Nature. Natural aging becomes more evident in our 40s. As you enter your forties, your body has a harder time ridding itself of toxins. Also, the fibers that support lymph glands become less elastic. Goodbye, elasticity, hello cellulite and puffy eyes! If you squint when you think, the lines between your eyebrows and around your eyes will deepen. Not only that, but your mouth begins to forever be encompassed by a set of parenthesis, and your forehead develops lines. The pores around our noses are more noticeable, and, the skin on our neck starts to sag.

Our forty-something-year-old bodies go through hormonal changes. Estrogen is a hormone that affects every organ of our body- including our skin. Estrogen keeps the skin soft and youthful, but as we age, estrogen levels begin to decline, and our skin starts losing elasticity. Wrinkles develop around the neck and chest, and, the oil glands and deposits of fatty tissues beneath the skin diminish.

 

Before you develop more frown lines from reading this article…

Cheer up! We’re getting smarter and smarter with every birthday you have, and you’ve never had more options on staying youthful than you do right now. At The Georgia Dermatology Center, we offer a variety of safe, fast, and effective medical spa treatments to fight the signs of aging. The best thing you can do for your skin and body is to schedule a consultation with us to assess the best options for looking ten years under your true age.