Sooner or later, thin grooves and folds of skin—wrinkles—appear on every woman’s face. They may have different depths, but modern cosmetological techniques can make them less noticeable and even completely remove them. Moreover, thanks to proper facial skin care, you can delay their appearance by years.
Let's look at the types of wrinkles and the causes of their occurrence, as well as ways to eliminate them and methods of prevention.
Types of wrinkles on the face
By locationcosmetologists identify wrinkles on the forehead, between the eyebrows and around the eyes, which are called "crow’s feet. "
In addition, there are nasolabial folds, marionette lines that extend from the corners of the lips down towards the chin, and small purse-string wrinkles that appear above the upper lip.
In terms of depth, wrinkles are superficial, medium-deep and deep.
- Superficial wrinklesaffect the top layer of skin - the epidermis. As a rule, they are small, there can be many of them and they can occupy a large area. Such creases, which form a network of cracks, most often form due to dry skin.
- Medium-deep wrinklesappear when superficial wrinkles develop and deepen into the middle layer of the skin - the dermis. This is mainly due to the fact that special cells called fibroblasts begin to synthesize less collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid.
- Deep wrinklesprimarily form in areas of natural skin folds. Their development is associated with processes within the skin and subcutaneous fat, muscle hypertonicity, structural features of the face and even genetic predisposition.
The tactics for preventing and combating wrinkles depend on the causes of their occurrence, so they should be given more attention.
The main reasons for the appearance
There are several main factors that contribute to the appearance of deep potholes or fine wrinkles on our skin.
Natural aging
As a rule, after 40 years, age-related wrinkles begin to appear on the face. In response to a decrease in the production of female sex hormones, collagen production decreases, the rate of cell renewal decreases, and the skin loses moisture and elasticity.
In addition, gravitational ptosis can occur with age. When the soft tissues of the face are weakened and have lost their elasticity, it becomes difficult to resist the force of gravity, so the oval of the face becomes deformed, the skin begins to sag, folds and deep wrinkles form.
Active facial expressions
Due to active facial expressions, you can have pronounced wrinkles by the age of 20. The thing is that our facial muscles are attached to the skin, and it moves following the contraction and lengthening of the muscles. If the facial muscle contracts regularly, over time the skin in the area of its activity stops straightening and a superficial wrinkle forms, which can later turn into a deep one.
Habits that we often don’t notice about ourselves, such as wrinkling our foreheads, raising or frowning our eyebrows, squinting our eyes and laughing, lead to the formation of wrinkles.
Photoaging
Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet radiation on the skin leads to cell damage and so-called photoaging. UVA rays disrupt the processes occurring in the epidermis and also destroy collagen and elastin in the dermis. As a result, the facial skin becomes weakened, dehydrated and wrinkled.
Improper care
The occurrence of wrinkles is often associated with dehydration of the skin and disruption of the process of exfoliation of horny cells of the epidermis. Therefore, skin care, including regular cleansing, nutrition and hydration, is extremely important.
If you don't follow these steps or use the wrong cosmetics, you can prematurely age your face and cause wrinkles to appear.
In addition, genetic predisposition and dry skin type may be to blame for the early appearance of noticeable wrinkles.
Aggravating factors
In addition to the main reasons, there are several additional factors that lead to the formation and deepening of wrinkles.
Health problems
Dental and jaw problems can contribute to the appearance of wrinkles on the skin of the face. Some wrinkles, such as nasolabial folds and nasolacrimal grooves, become more pronounced due to swelling and stagnation of fluid in the tissues.
Deterioration in skin quality and the appearance of sagging and wrinkles can be a manifestation of diseases of internal organs, such as the endocrine glands, liver, kidneys or lungs.
Stress
Constant stress can also lead to wrinkles. During severe emotional stress, increased production of cortisol occurs, which slows down the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid by fibroblasts. As a result, the facial skin loses turgor, that is, the ability to return to its original state after compression, and forms wrinkles.
When stressed, skin blood vessels spasm and facial muscles tense. All this gradually leads to the appearance of wrinkles.
Bad habits
Any bad habits affect the beauty of our face.
Passive lifestyleworsens vascular tone and lymphatic drainage, causing the skin to become less elastic and prone to the formation of wrinkles.
Late bedtime and constant lack of sleeplead to dehydration of the skin and cut off the precious time that the body uses to restore the epidermis. The fewer hours of sleep per day now, the more wrinkles there will be on your face in a few years.
Poor nutritionages the skin. Strict diets, especially with insufficient amounts of protein, lead to the fact that the skin has nowhere to take material from to build tissue. And the abundance of carbohydrates in the diet, including sweets, provokes the "sugarification" of collagen fibers, which is why they become fragile and lose their elasticity. All this leads to early aging and the formation of wrinkles.
Smoking- one of the main bad habits that affect the way your face looks. Tobacco smoke contains many harmful compounds that lead to skin diseases, dehydration, loss of antioxidants in the skin and poor blood flow. Smokers have a much higher risk of developing deep wrinkles than non-smokers.
Wrinkles often appear due to a combination of several reasons.
Methods for treating wrinkles
There are many techniques to smooth out wrinkles and make your skin firm, fresh and radiant again.
Face massage
Thanks to a good manual and hardware massage, you can improve blood circulation and lymphatic drainage, saturate tissues with oxygen, stimulate regenerative processes in the skin and remove swelling.
In addition, manual massage allows you to relax deep muscles, return them to their previous length and position, and therefore straighten facial wrinkles.
A course of procedures gives a pronounced effect, but even after one session, wrinkles become less noticeable and the face looks fresher and younger.
Despite the seeming harmlessness of massage, this method of wrinkle correction has contraindications. It is impossible to stimulate blood circulation and lymphatic drainage in case of oncology, blood diseases and lymph nodes enlarged for any reason. Also, massage is contraindicated for neuralgia and skin problems: exacerbation of herpes, purulent inflammation and allergies.
People prone to allergic reactions should not use essential oils when massaging their faces.
Acid peels
Superficial and medium peels, which are carried out using cosmetics containing acids, are effective in the fight against wrinkles.
Superficial peelinghelps exfoliate the upper keratinized cells of the facial skin, speed up the process of epidermis renewal, even out the texture and color of the skin and eliminate small superficial wrinkles. As a rule, salicylic, lactic or glycolic acid or a mixture of lactic and salicylic acid is used for this procedure.
Medium peelingpenetrates deeper into the dermis, stimulating active synthesis of collagen and hyaluronic acid, skin renewal and smoothing or reduction of medium-deep wrinkles. It causes peeling and the appearance of crusts, requires a recovery period and the use of special care products, but has a more pronounced effect. To remove wrinkles, post-acne and other skin problems with its help, glycolic, trichloroacetic acid or Yellow Peel are most often used.
However, without knowing how to apply peeling correctly, you can cause dermatitis even with a product with a slight acid content. Therefore, it is best to contact a cosmetologist for the procedure.
Botulinum therapy
To eliminate crow's feet, facial wrinkles on the forehead, between the eyebrows and in other areas, injections of drugs based on botulinum toxin are actively used. It temporarily immobilizes the muscle that forms the wrinkle, its fibers relax, acquire their previous length, and the skin fold also straightens.
The effect lasts for six months, after which the procedure must be repeated.
Botox itself is not dangerous and does not cause intoxication, since microscopic doses of neurotoxin are used to straighten wrinkles. But correction of wrinkles should only be carried out by a professional - a cosmetologist who knows the structure of the face well, since complications are possible if the drug is administered incorrectly.
Among the most unpleasant side effects are ptosis of the eyelids, drooping eyebrows and impaired lip mobility.
Plasmolifting
With the help of injections of plasma with a high platelet content, obtained from your own blood, you can stimulate the processes of skin regeneration and eliminate wrinkles.
Platelets contain growth factors that activate the production of collagen and elastin by fibroblasts. Thanks to them, plasma lifting restores firmness and elasticity to the skin, helps eliminate expression lines and age-related wrinkles, provides a lifting effect and improves complexion.
The same technique is used to stimulate hair growth on the head.
Plasmolifting is safe, since the patient’s own cells are used as the drug. .
But such anti-wrinkle injections, like any cosmetic procedure, have contraindications. These are bleeding disorders, taking antithrombotic drugs, oncology with metastases and purulent inflammatory skin diseases.
Mesotherapy
Mesotherapy is effective for correcting wrinkles and preventing aging - introducing microinjections of hyaluronic acid, vitamins, amino acids and other useful substances into the desired area, selected by a cosmetologist depending on the needs of the facial skin.
In addition to the components of the drug, microtrauma caused by a thin needle has an effect. They stimulate the skin’s own processes of regeneration and the production of collagen and elastin.
Mesotherapy is good for moisturizing dry skin and combating the first signs of aging, including superficial wrinkles.
It has a short recovery period: the bumps that remain on the skin after injections disappear after a few days.
The result of the course of procedures—reducing the depth of wrinkles—lasts for one and a half years.
But, in addition to traditional contraindications, mesotherapy is not suitable for those who suffer from serious kidney diseases. And it is important to remember that there is a risk of an allergic reaction to the drug.
Smas lifting
SMAS lifting, the effect of which is compared to plastic surgery for lifting, helps eliminate superficial and medium-deep wrinkles, make nasolabial folds less pronounced and improve the shape of the face.
The device for this procedure emits ultrasound, which penetrates deep into the skin down to the muscle layer and stimulates the production of collagen and elastin.
The cosmetologist specifically treats areas of the face with wrinkles for 30–90 minutes. In this case, the patient feels warmth, slight tingling and tightness of the skin.
The most pronounced effect, including correction of facial wrinkles, is achieved approximately six months after the procedure and lasts for more than a year. In this case, only one session every few years is enough.
Contour plastic
Another option for correcting wrinkles is contour plastic surgery. During the procedure, a filler is injected under age and expression wrinkles - a biodegradable hyaluronic acid gel or a person’s own adipose tissue. The injection fills the gap, smoothes the skin and gives the face a more youthful appearance.
The same technique is used to restore harmonious facial proportions, including the contours and volume of the lips.
The effect of non-surgical contouring lasts up to two years.
But this is a fairly serious procedure for eliminating wrinkles, which should be carried out only by a professional doctor and only with certified drugs. Poor-quality filler, incorrectly selected density, or inept injection under a wrinkle can lead to the opposite effect - the appearance of unevenness and even tissue fibrosis or disruption of facial expression.
Fractional photothermolysis
Fractional photothermolysis can be used to eliminate wrinkles of any depth and restore skin elasticity. The procedure uses a fractional laser. Its beam, broken into small beams, penetrates deep into the skin and damages it pointwise, stimulating regeneration processes and activating collagen production.
Due to the fact that the laser operates in a certain step and does not process all the tissue, recovery is very fast.After the procedure, red dots appear briefly on the face, but no serious heat burn occurs.
After just one session, a pronounced rejuvenating effect and the disappearance or reduction of wrinkles are noticeable.
The procedure is moderately painful and has a recovery period.
Laser peeling
In addition to fractional, that is, targeted photothermolysis, general laser peeling is used to combat wrinkles, during which the entire face is evenly treated. It exfoliates dead cells layer by layer by evaporating areas of tissue and the depth of impact can be superficial or medium.
The effect of the anti-wrinkle procedure is similar to acid peels, with the difference that instead of acid, a laser is used for exfoliation.
Several sessions of laser rejuvenation can smooth out fine lines and reduce deep age and expression wrinkles.
But after medium laser peeling there is more damage than after fractional exposure, so a longer recovery period is required.
To choose the optimal procedure to combat wrinkles, it is best to consult a cosmetologist. He will assess the condition of the facial skin and the general condition of the body, indications and contraindications for the use of various cosmetic methods against wrinkles and recommend the most effective and safe method.
Prevention of wrinkles: advice from a cosmetologist
The formation and deepening of wrinkles can be prevented by properly caring for your skin and replacing some bad habits with healthy ones.
Care that will keep your skin youthful
Care that includes high-quality cleansing, moisturizing, nourishing the skin and protecting the face from ultraviolet radiation will help delay the appearance of wrinkles.
To exfoliate old cells, cosmetologists recommend using acids.
Cosmetic products with hyaluronic acid are especially good for moisturizing the skin and preventing wrinkles.
To stimulate collagen production and preserve its fibers, you should pay attention to cosmetics with retinol, peptides and antioxidants.
In addition to basic care - creams that protect facial skin during the day and restore it at night, you can additionally use serums with concentrates of useful substances to prevent wrinkles.
Instead of choosing cosmetics by trial and error, it is better to make an appointment with a cosmetologist. He will write out the optimal care program for you, selecting products that suit the needs of your skin.
Habits that will help delay the appearance of wrinkles
A few more recommendations will help slow down the formation of wrinkles.
- Dream. To regenerate facial skin, it is useful to sleep at least 7 hours a day.
- Water. To activate the metabolic processes of the skin, you need to drink enough water - about 2 liters per day.
- Nutrition. Building healthy, firm, and wrinkle-free skin requires a balanced diet with plenty of protein, fatty acids, and vegetables. At the same time, it is important to limit flour and sweets.
- Workout.For good blood circulation and lymphatic drainage in the face area, you need to move. Not only any sports activities are suitable, but also walking in the fresh air.
- Relaxation. To prevent wrinkles, it is important to learn to relax your facial muscles. Both visiting a massage parlor or self-massage, as well as psychological practices will help with this.
- Calm. To prevent premature skin aging and the appearance of wrinkles, it is advisable to learn how to cope with stress and let it into your life as little as possible.
Proper care and lifestyle changes will improve the health and appearance of your facial skin, as well as reduce the number of wrinkles that will appear in the future.
Trust experienced cosmetologists, take care of your appearance, sign up for cosmetic procedures in professional centers with qualified doctors.