Skin Care For The First Signs Of Ageing
Today, I am going to cover the first signs of ageing: what’s happening beneath the surface, what causes skin ageing and how we can maintain our skin’s youthful appearance.
As a dermatologist, I do not buy into the “anti-ageing” narrative – I believe our skin is beautiful at every age, and every stage. Instead, I choose to embrace a “pro-ageing” approach, celebrating our skin (and how our lives show up on it) through maintaining its health and making small adjustments to its care as needed.
What Causes Skin Ageing?
The most common signs of early skin ageing are wrinkles, loss of volume and pigmentation:
Wrinkles and Volume Loss: These two tend to go hand-in-hand. As we age, collagen and elastin levels decrease and the skin becomes dehydrated leading to thinner, less “bouncy”, defined skin and, ultimately, creases and wrinkles.
Pigmentation: Over time, exposure to UV increases our skin’s melanin production. On skin that has been exposed to the sun over many years, this starts to cause “age spots,” areas of skin where melanin is highly concentrated.
Ageing of the skin is caused by both internal factors (such as genetics, hormones and blood supply) and external influences (such as sun exposure, pollution and diet).
Does Make-Up Age The Skin?
There is zero evidence that cosmetics contribute to skin ageing. As long as you have a solid skin care routine to cleanse, moisturise and protect before and after, then there is no need to stay away from the make-up counter.
Can You Reverse The Signs Of Ageing?
You can reverse many signs of ageing – treating wrinkles (both fine lines and more deep-set), skin volume loss and pigmentation.
A combination of prevention and cure tends to work best in the long run, however. Effective treatments can range from a simple topical skin care routine using the right active ingredients (and always, always a high-factor SPF) to treatments and tweakments performed in-clinic by a dermatologist.
Preventative and Corrective Skin Treatments
Maintaining healthy skin supports in preventing the on-set of ageing. Preventative skin care generally involves protecting the skin from environmental damage, promoting cell turnover and maintaining the skin’s natural hydration. This is often achieved through daily use of broad spectrum SPF, consistent cleansing, exfoliation and moisturisation and use of products containing antioxidants to fight free radical damage.
Corrective skin treatments tend to use more powerful ingredients or delivery systems to counteract damage and signs of ageing. In terms of topical skin care, this means prioritising potent ingredients such as smoothing and brightening retinoids, exfoliating AHAs and BHAs, hydrating hyaluronic acid and antioxidant-rich vitamin C and niacinamide. When it comes to in-clinic treatments, there are many that help promote the production of collagen and elastin (such as Morpheus8, Ultherapy and skin boosters such as Profhilo), deliver volume to the skin (such as hyaluronic acid fillers) and treat wrinkles (for instance, neurotoxin treatments).
Top Body And Face Care For Ageing Skin
If you are hoping to treat the first signs of ageing, read on for my recommendation of skin care and in-clinic treatments for the face and body.
Skin Care
For the face, I would recommend starting with a simple, twice-daily routine of CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser, followed by Cerave Skin Renewing 10% Vitamin C Serum during the day or SkinCeuticals Retinol 0.3 Face Cream at night, finishing off with Augustinus Bader The Cream. Always finish with a broad spectrum SPF: I love Mesoestetic Melan 130 Pigment Control SPF.
For the body, begin with Joonbyrd’s hyaluronic acid-enriched MOON SWIM Hydrating Body Wash to cleanse without drying, followed by peptide-powered DAYDREAMER Firming Body Serum to deliver boosts of collagen and elastin where they’re needed most. I would then finish with a deep hydration hit – our SUNDAY SOFA Rejuvenating Body Butter is clinically proven to increase skin elasticity thanks to its innovative formulation of rambutan leaf, hyaluronic acid and adaptogen Siberian ginseng.
In-Clinic Treatments
To treat specific first signs of ageing that your skin care routine might not fix, the below treatments are effective at reversing ageing showing up on your skin, when delivered by a dermatologist:
Neurotoxin treatments can be customised to soften dynamic wrinkles and create a gently lifting effect.
Ultherapy® is a non-invasive treatment that delivers micro-focused ultrasound to stimulate the body’s natural collagen production resulting in a gradual tightening and lifting effect, and improvement in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Hyaluronic acid fillers are used to improve volume loss, refine contours and enhance facial features.
Morpheus8 combines micro-needling and directional radio frequency to improve skin texture, tautness, fine lines and wrinkles.
Profhilo is a highly purified injectable hyaluronic acid treatment delivered directly into the dermis to hydrate from the inside out, resulting in smoother, plumper and more glowing skin – and stimulating the production of collagen and elastin over time.
