My Genesis Blog

The Aging Process Unravelled

Due to the prolonged lifespans being seen today, the aging population is growing. It is more desirable than ever to maintain a youthful appearance. Whether it’s sun damage or fine lines and wrinkles, the complaint of aging related skin issues is a common concern of patients we see in clinic. Aging is something everyone experiences, although we all age differently depending on internal and external factors. Hormones, medications, UV exposure, pollution, foods, lifestyle, and genetics all have a role to play with how we age [1,2,3]. 

There are many physical changes with aging. Long-term damage from extrinsic and intrinsic factors are common. For instance, smoking causes wrinkles, whilst sun damage leaves the skin looking rough, leathery, and pigmented. Genetics and environmental aspects with age can cause thinning of the skin revealing prominent capillaries, dryness, decreased elasticity, decrease in skin colour, textural changes and fat pad loss resulting in hollow cheeks and eye sockets [4,5,2,6,7,3]. 

Alternations to the face with aging occur, such as structural changes of the skull and the loss of fat pads in the cheek area causing heaviness in the lower face. This is usually noticed in the area of the mouth where smile lines become more prominent as the cheeks lose their fullness, especially after menopause [6,8]. Aging leads to decreased amounts of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid found in the body [7]. 

Hormones have a huge role to play in the aging process. The skin is the most hormone sensitive organ of the body. Oestrogen maintains collagen in the skin and aids to hold hydration [9]. Once women embark on the menopause journey, we commonly see people in the clinic concerned about how their skin has changed, whether it is new adult acne, dryness, hair growth, reactive/sensitive skin, vascularity, and new wrinkles [7]. During the first 5 years of menopause there is reported to be a 30% reduction of collagen (on average a 2.1% reduction each year over a 20-year period) which is huge. Therefore, women notice such a dramatic change to their skin during the onset of menopause [4,10,8,9]. 

With age, cell renewal and internal processes slow down resulting in delayed wound healing post treatments in clinic and after injury. Some people have other underlying health issues which can also affect how they age [4,10,3]. 

The external environment can cause free radical damage and sometimes permanent cellular damage causing imperfections in our skin [11]. UV sun damage breaks down collagen and elastin in the skin. Lentigines (pigmented spots) and solar keratosis (red, dry rough spots) are examples of cellular damage and are a commonly seen with age [12,13]. 

Overtime, the accumulation of cellular damage can affect the way we age. Free radicals and reactive oxygen species can weaken our body’s ability to fight aging. The aging process increases, as our body’s natural protection decreases.   

Internal factors can be affected by age. A decrease in body processes is common with age. Lowered elimination, results with increase toxicity within the body. It is extremely important to support the gut health as this ensures proper absorption of nutrients and regular bowel movements, therefore supporting the skins health. This is crucial as we age. 

In clinic, the type of aging characteristics we are presented with affects our choice of skincare and treatments in practise. We consider the age and overall skin health of a patient. If required, we also refer patients to our plastic surgeon Dr Alastair Taylor for surgical intervention like facial surgery and our injecting nurses for anti-wrinkle injections or filler.  

With cellular damage there can be inflammation, pigment conditions as well as collagen break down (glycation, which presents like an orange peel effect on the skin). The skin can thin in areas and thicken in others with aging and UV damage. Due to aging, wound healing can be affected resulting in longer recovery times after in clinic treatments at times. 

As clinicians all this needs to be taken into consideration with our patients. Therefore, the treatment that your friend may be having is not necessarily what will be best for your skin. For this reason, we perform skin consultations for every patient we see to ensure you are getting the most out of your skin treatment plan.  

As you can see there are many factors that contribute towards the aging process and these all need to be taken into consideration to determine the best treatment plan and skincare ingredients for each patient going forward. At MyGenesis we have a range on skin treatments and an active skincare range that target aging related issues and a team of specialised injecting nurses.  

To organise a skin consultation to start your journey targeting your aging concerns call 6282 1155. 

Brooke Worthy 

References: 

[1] Mohamad Kamal, N. S., Safuan, S., Shamsuddin, S., & Foroozandeh, P. (2020). Aging of the cells: Insight into cellular senescence and detection methods. European Journal of Cell Biology, 99(6), 151108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcb.2020.151108 

[2] Ogrodnik, M., Salmonowicz, H., & Gladyshev, V. N. (2018). Integrating cellular senescence with the concept of damage accumulation in aging: Relevance for clearance of senescent cells. Aging Cell, 18(1), e12841. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.12841 

[3] Zouboulis, C. C., Ganceviciene, R., Liakou, A. I., Theodoridis, A., Elewa, R., & Makrantonaki, E. (2019). Aesthetic aspects of skin aging, prevention, and local treatment. Clinics in Dermatology, 37(4), 365–372. 

[4] Nawaz, M., Khan, H. M., Akhtar, N., Jamshed, T., Qaiser, R., Shoukat, H., & Farooq, M. (2019). Photodamage and Photoprotection: An in vivo approach using Noninvasive probes. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 95(5), 1243-1248. https://doi.org/10.1111/php.13113 

[5] Choi, S. J., Lee, S., Kim, K., Joo, D. H., Shin, S., Lee, J., Lee, H. K., Kim, J., Kwon, S. B., Kim, M. J., Ahn, K. J., An, I., An, S., & Cha, H. J. (2016). Biological effects of rutin on skin aging. International Journal of Molecular Medicine, 38(1),357-363. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2016.2604 

[6] Amano, K., Naito, M., & Matsuo, M. (2020). Morphological study of human facial fascia and subcutaneous tissue structure by region through SEM observation. Tissue and Cell, 67. 

[7] Piérard, G. E., Hermanns-Lê, T., Paquet, P., & Piérard-Franchimont, C. (2014). Skin viscoelasticity during hormone replacement therapy for climacteric ageing. International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 36(1), 88–92. 

[8] Majidian, M., Kolli, H., & Moy, R. L. (2021). Management of skin thinning and aging: review of therapies for neocollagenesis; hormones and energy devices. International Journal of Dermatology, 60(12), 1481–1487. 

[9] Owen, C. M., Pal, L., Mumford, S. L., Freeman, R., Isaac, B., McDonald, L., Santoro, N., Taylor, H. S., & Wolff, E. F. (2016). Effects of hormones on skin wrinkles and rigidity vary by race/ethnicity: four-year follow-up from the ancillary skin study of the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study. Fertility and Sterility, 106(5), 1170–1175. 

[10] Park, S.-Y., Shin, Y.-K., Kim, H.-T., Kim, Y. M., Lee, D.-G., Hwang, E., Cho, B.-G., Yin, C. S., Kim, K.-Y., & Yi, T. H. (2016). A single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study on the efficacy and safety of “enzyme-treated red ginseng powder complex (BG11001)” for antiwrinkle and proelasticity in individuals with healthy skin. Journal of Ginseng Research, 40(3), 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgr.2015.08.006 

[11] Pomatto, L. C., & Davies, K. J. (2018). Adaptive homeostasis and the free radical theory of ageing. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 124, 420-430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2018.06.016 

[12] Salmon, N., & Tidman, M. J. (2016). Managing actinic keratosis in primary care. The Practitioner, 260(1797), 25–29. 

[13] Barysch, M., Braun, R., Kolm, I., Ahlgrimm-Siesz, V., Hofmann-Wellenhof, R., Duval, C., Warrick, E., Bernerd, F., Nouveau, S., & Dummer, R. (2019). Keratinocytic malfunction as a trigger for the development of solar lentigines. Dermatopathology, 6(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1159/000495404