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| Mature Skin
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| Skin ages in many identifiable ways.
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 External factors:Sun
damage, pollution, free-radical damage, smoking.
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| Internal factors:
Oxygen depletion, collagen destruction, reduced cell turnover, abnormal cell
formation, decreased fat content, intercellular deficiency, hormone loss and
depletion, chronological aging, immune suppression and free radical damage.
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| Collagen and elastin
break down: The support structures of the skin, collagen and elastin,
break down and flatten as a result of repeated sun exposure. They also become
less flexible and more hardened with age, so the skin becomes less elastic.
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| Fat cell depletion:
Older skin looks more transparent and thinner than younger skin because younger
skin has more fat cells in the dermis than older skin. It is also the reason
overweight people tend to have fewer wrinkles. As we age the skin keeps growing
and expanding, even as the supporting fat tissues of the lower layers of skin
are decreasing. Together with bone deterioration, fat cell depletion amidst
continued skin production eventually causes the skin to sag. Simultaneously,
the facial muscles lose their shape and firmness, giving the face a drooping
appearance.
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| Intercellular
structures are reduced with age. The water-retaining and
texture-enhancing elements in the intercellular structure such as ceramides,
hyaluronic acids, polysaccharides, glycerin, and others are exhausted and not
replenished. The skin's support structures, collagen and elastin, deteriorate
or are damaged. Older skin is also more subject to sensitivities and irritation
than younger skin due to a weakening immune system and lowered surface
defenses.
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| DNA
and RNA shift with age. On a deeper molecular level, the DNA and RNA
genetic messages to the skin cell for reproduction slows down and the cells
stop reproducing as abundantly or as they did when we were younger. This change
makes cells become abnormally shaped, which further changes the texture of the
skin and prevents the cells from retaining water. This is why older skin tends
to be drier than younger skin. This change in the skin's DNA and RNA happens as
a result of sun damage, and is believed to be a result of an inflammatory
response from free-radical damage built up in the skin cells over a period of
time. |
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