Frowning with concentration, you’re all business when you put on your makeup. You squint gently as you glide on a touch of eye shade. You raise your eyebrows as you stroke on makeup and a brush off of blush. Then you crease for lipstick. Nice. You reward yourself with a smile in the mirror.
Then it hits you. The frown is still there, along with the squint and the grin outline.
Wrinkles–already? Character is great, and you’ve always admired women who age with grace, but these lines feel precipitate–like a message from the future delivered too soon. You’re just not ready for wrinkles.
Suddenly, you feel old. And maybe less eye-catching. You worry that a big smile will show your big wrinkles. You keep your eyes wide open, to rub not in those crow’s-feet.
The Roots of the Ruts
Doctors say that the inevitable wrinkles from inheritance and gravity really shouldn’t arrive until you near your sixties. But they come a lot earlier–in the late twenties and thirties–for many of us. Here’s why.
During the 1920s, French designer Coco Chanel came back from the tropics tanned and glowing–and the centuries-old tradition of keeping skin in the shade was lost in the glare of the news. Fashion-conscious women everywhere began to bask in the sun. In search of elegant tans, they started a new tradition: of sunburns and tanning booths–and skin cancer and early wrinkles. Even in naturally dark skin, sun damage causes 80 to 90 percent of the visible signs of aging.
, including wrinkles, doctors say.
smoking
The number-two cause of wrinkles is smoking, which speeds your skin’s aging by up to ten years. Smoking reduces blood flow to the skin, blunting its ability to repair damage. It also sets off enzymes that attack the tissues of your skin the way meat tenderizer weakens the fibers of meat. And because skin gets a “memory” when it’s folded in the same place over and over again, the mechanics of smoking cause wrinkles, too. Constant puckering to draw on a cigarette forms lip creases, and squint against the smoke carves crow’s-feet.
Some lines will form simply because we express emotion–with a ready smile or worried frown. The way you sleep can leave a wrinkle memory in your skin, too, especially if you sleep flat
But what can you do if you already have years of wrinkle-promoting behavior behind you? Can the break be undone? Yes, it can. You can prevent most new wrinkles from form and eliminate the worst of the old ones with help from your medical doctor.
A New Wrinkle on Prevention
If you’re determined to fight wrinkles, even if it means abandoning bronze for a paler, healthier beauty, here’s where to begin.
Put up a chemical parasol. Sunscreen is your number-one weapon against further sun injure, says Albert M. Kligman, M.D., professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Use a full-spectrum sunscreen that blocks both kinds of ultraviolet radiation (UVA and UVB), and use it every day, year-round, Dr. Kligman says. After you cleanse your skin in the morning, leave it slightly damp and apply pea-size dabs of sunscreen on your cheeks and forehead, working it into the skin all over your face. Don’t forget the backs of your hands, neck and décolletage.
You need to use a sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher. SPF stands for sun protection factor, and SPF 15, which most doctors commend, means that you can stay out in the sun 15 times longer than you normally could before burning. Remember, too, that although daily use of SPF 15 sunscreen will protect you adequately while you dash in and out of buildings, for long hours in the outdoors you’ll need to use higher-SPF goods and reply often.
Consultants differ on how high to go with SPF numbers, however. Some say that numbers over 25 may give a false sense of safety measures. While higher numbers do screen out the burning UVB rays, they may let in more UVA radiation. The UVA rays penetrate deeper into skin and cause most age-related changes such as wrinkles, says Melvin L. Elson, M.D., medical director of the Dermatology Center in Nashville.
And read the sunscreen’s contents. “The best of the wide-ranging sunscreens contain titanium dioxide–fine particles that stay in your skin and resist washing or rubbing off,” says Dr. Kligman. An example is Sundown.
Don’t rely on cosmetics
Your favorite cosmetic counter may offer foundations and moisturizers that contain low-SPF sunscreens, but these are too weak for real protection, Dr. Kligman says.
Protect your eye area
While you exercise, you don’t want sunscreen to sting your eyes when you sweat. Try this workout tip from Dr. Elson. “Take a wax-based sunscreen made for lips and apply it around and over your eyes. It won’t run,” he says. You should also protect your eyes with a good pair of shades, preferably the wraparound kind. Make sure they shield UV radiation.
Dress for the sun
Inventive clothing manufacturers have come out with basic collections of shirts, swimsuits and casual wear that are specially knit to prevent the sun’s radiation from reaching your skin.
Dump that nasty habit. Yeah, yeah, you’ve been told before that smoking isn’t cool anymore. Now you have one more reason to quit.
Feed your face
For general skin health, eat a balanced diet full of fruits, whole grains and vegetables. You may also want to try supplements that have been proven to reduce sun damage to skin, says Karen Burke, M.D., Ph.D., a dermatologist in private practice in New York City. She recommends every day supplement of 100 micrograms of selenium (best taken as l-selenomethionine) plus 400 IU of vitamin E. Use the d-alpha tocopheryl acetate, d-alpha tocopheryl acid succinate or d-alpha tocopherol form of vitamin E–not the “dl tocopherols” form, which is far less active. You should have no side effects from these safe doses, Dr. Burke says. Although research has not been designed specifically to link these nutrients with wrinkle repair, they may help, she adds.
Take your measure in the mirror
Set a small hand mirror beside your telephone for a few days and watch yourself in conversation. You may have a few face-wrinkling habits you’re not aware of, such as frowning or squinting while you mull something over. The mirror will help you learn to relax the facial muscles you’re working overtime and to reduce expression lines.
No aerobics for your face
Although facial exercises have been touted in many beauty books, most of them actually increase wrinkling, says Dr. Burke. When you grimace or contort your face through exercises, you wind up working the same muscles that caused wrinkles in the first place, she says.
Sleep on your back
“It’s the best position for a younger-looking, unlined face,” says Gary Monheit, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at the institution of higher education of Alabama School of Medicine/University of Alabama in Birmingham. If you’ve been burrowing into your cushion face-first for years, lying on your back every night with a pillow under your knees may help you to change the habit.
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