How Your Skin Changes As You Grow Older
Like the other organs in your body, your skin begins to change as the years pass. Although a number of factors contribute to aging skin, knowing the types of changes to expect, as well as the causes for the changes in your skin, can help you minimize the effects.
Causes of Changes
Ultra-violet rays from the sun break down the skin's elastin (a protein in connective tissue), which can cause all kinds of changes. Your genes, overall health, diet, and lifestyle habits, including whether you smoke, are additional factors that contribute to how well your skin ages.
Types of Changes That Occur
Changes common in aging skin include:
-
Dry skin. The condition of dry skin primarily occurs when the sebaceous glands begin to produce less oil as you get older. Dry skin can also be a symptom of diabetes, liver disease, and kidney disease.
-
Thinned skin. As you get older, skin cell division slows, leading to less rejuvenation. Besides the loss of collagen, heredity and the prolonged use of medications, such as corticosteroids, can contribute to thin skin.
-
Blotchy skin. Uneven skin tone and discoloration can occur as the result of autoimmune disease or radiation treatment for cancer.
-
Age spots. These brown patches appear on areas of the skin, such as the face, hands, and forearms, that are frequently exposed to the sun.
-
Wrinkled skin. Wrinkles appear as the skin loses its elasticity. You can blame laugh and worry lines on gravity, as horizontal lines on the forehead and lines around the mouth and nose can appear as your skin loses its elasticity.
-
Sagging skin. As you age and the fat layer of the skin thins, facial skin tends to loosen around the eyes, cheeks, and jawline.
Skin Cancer
Up to half of all Americans who reach age 65 will develop basal cell carcinoma (the most common of all cancers) or squamous cell carcinoma, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Although either of these skin cancers can occur anywhere on the body, they generally develop on areas of the skin most often exposed to the sun. Sores that don't heal or new growths on the skin can be early signs of skin cancer.
Shingles
Shingles are caused by a virus that remains dormant in nerve cells after you have chickenpox as a child. In some people, the virus becomes active again later in life, causing shingles. Symptoms may include fever, headache, a red rash, blisters, itching, burning sensation on the skin, and mild to severe pain.
Because you have a harder time fighting off any kind of infection when you get older, your risk of developing shingles increases. In fact, about 50 percent of shingles cases are diagnosed in individuals age 60 or older, reports the National Institute on Aging.
The older you are when you have shingles, the more likely you are to develop post-herpetic neuralgia pain. This is pain that remains after the rash goes away. You can also be left with scars if the blisters shingles cause become infected.
Bed Sores
If you suffer from a chronic health condition that keeps you lying in bed or sitting in a chair for long periods of time each day, you are at risk for developing bed sores or pressure ulcers. Although bed sores are common in older people with mobility problems, individuals with diabetes are more likely to develop them because of poor circulation. Age is a risk factor for bed sores, which can lead to complications such as cellulitis (skin infection), sepsis (blood infection), osteomyelitis (bone infection), or septic arthritis (joint infection).
Talk to a dermatologist, like Henry E. Wiley, III, M.D., for more information.
Share