Skin Ageing - Its Causes & Treatment!

Hello,

I am Dr. Sunakshi, I am a dermatologist, aesthetic physician and hair transplant surgeon. So, today’s topic will be anti-ageing. Ageing is a biological process, and skin ageing is the first sign in the body. It shows as wrinkling, sagging, discolouration, mottled apparition, appearance. So, talking about ageing, there are internal and external factors. Among internal factors, there are genetic conditions, metabolic status and among external factors, the most common is light exposure, iron radiation, pollution, exposure to chemicals and toxins. So, these factors cause structural and physiological changes in the body. So, what are the components that are affected by ageing, they are three components, the most important being collagen, which is degraded more than production in the body, that causes wrinkling and sagging. The second component is glycosaminoglycans known as GAGS, which helps in water binding, so they are not able to function optimally, which leads to dryness and dullness of skin. The third component is hyaluronic acid which functions both like collagen and GAG, even the hyaluronic acid production is decreased in the body, which causes ageing of the skin. So, what can we do about ageing? We can prevent as well as treat ageing to some extent. So, to prevent, most important prevention is a sunscreen, which should be broad-spectrum suncream, because it prevents UVA that is ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B exposure. Among prevention can be cell deviators like retanols, because they boost collagen production and skin tightening. Another prevention can be anti-oxidants which can be topical as well as oral. So they come as vitamin C, vitamin E which can be applied on a daily basis, and even anti-oxidant tablets can help with anti-ageing to some extent.

So, coming to the treatment part, the least can be chemical peel. Chemical peels are medicated products which are a little bit higher concentration than over the counter medicines. So they are done by certified professionals, dermatologists and skin clinics. So, they can be superficial, medium and deep peels depending on the extent of the damage. It has to be decided by the trained professional. So, the next treatment option can be laser or light treatment. There are light devices like IPM which target different components of the body. They can target pigmentation, redness, collagen synthesis and also glow. There are other laser devices like Q switched, NDR laser and few fractional lasers like CODU and FBM lasers. So they boost collagen production. And there are procedures now known as laser toning because it helps in glow and skin tightening and also reduces the pores which are another sign of anti-ageing. So, the next treatment option can be injectables which come as filler and botulinum filler injections. So, filler as the name suggests helps in filling the gaps, smoothens the skin, and also admins the skin. So, there can be semi-permanent, permanent or temporary depending on the composition, the hyaluronic acid filler is the gold standard filler which is done by a trained professional. Fillers help in augmenting the skin helps in smoothening the skin, and also helps in sagging and ageing signs. It also boosts collagen synthesis so the skin, even though it is semi-permanent or temporary, the result is not going to be zero. There is always collagen production after the filler is absorbed. So, the next modality is botulinum toxin injection that helps in dynamic lines, so talking about lines, there are dynamic, which are expression lines and there are permanent lines which are known as static lines. So, botulinum toxin injections help in dynamic lines, because it helps in relaxing certain muscles, which relaxes the expressions firming the dynamic lines. So, it helps with frown lines, glabellar lines, cross feet, which are the first signs of ageing. So, how does it act? It acts on the nerve blocks, it blocks the nerve transmission which further causes muscle relaxation and smoothening of skin. So, there are no side effects as such, but it should be done by a trained professional because it requires a good knowledge of the anatomy of the muscles and vessels. The other injectable can be PRP therapies, the other fancy name for PRP is Vampire Facial, which helps in synthesis of collagen and certain growth factors, which helps in skin firming. PRP has certain growth factors which help in the synthesis of collagen and tissue augmentation. So it again helps in both dynamic and static lines, the open pores and dullness of skin. Another modality can be hormone replacement therapy. So, there are various hormones in the body which are degraded due to the ageing process, mostly being DHEA, thyroid hormones, there are hormones in the body like testosterone, estrogen, progesterone which are decreased due to ageing. So, the hormones replacement is successful with few of them like DHEA, estrogen and testosterone. If they help in improving the quality of life, sexual activity, as well as body functioning. So these are the treatment modalities for the ageing of the skin. I am a certified dermatologist and aesthetic physician. You can contact me at the address or through Lybrate for antiageing procedures.

Thank You!