Sunday This and That - Has Your Skin Changed with Age?

Yesterday, I mentioned that my skin had changed with age. I didn't mean the usual changes, such as sun spots and little wrinkles around my eyes and mouth - like Helen Mirren has. I meant my skin color. Today, my skin is more pale than it was 10 years ago, when the central redness in my face was a constant irritation.

Some women go from oily or combination to dry. Women gradually produce less oil beginning after menopause. That's to be expected - and sometimes it's welcomed. It's hard, though, to get enough hydration, and we need to amp up our skin-care treatments.

Some experience sagging. That would upset me. I'd be going for a surgical consultation. A thin woman with sagging skin doesn't have much latitude before she looks sickly. The sagging is partly due to thinning of the skin. Decreasing levels of skin fat, collagen, and elastin mean sagging skin becomes more prominent all over the body. However, these changes are especially evident in facial features, which are so obvious.

The outer skin layer (epidermis) of the skin thins, even though the number of cell layers remains unchanged. When I looked into it, I learned that the number of pigment-containing cells (melanocytes) decreases, but the remaining melanocytes increase in size. Aging skin thus appears thinner, more pale, and clear (translucent). Large pigmented spots (called age spots, liver spots, or lentigos) may appear in sun-exposed areas. Check! "More pale" explains why my face has become such a blank canvass for makeup. Now I can wear warmer shades. Coincidentally, It helps to have so much silver in my blond hair. That has allowed me to wear colors that I didn't love in years past.

I found this photo of an aging arm, which is repulsive, but my arms are headed this way. I'll have red arms when I'm 80. I can knock my arm lightly into a door entrance (anything, really), and I get senile purpura - due to extravasation of blood, secondary to fragility of the blood vessels associated with the dermal tissue atrophy that occurs with aging and UV radiation. Nice, all those years frying to try to be a golden girl did this to me? Besides, I'm not elderly!

What are we to do about the changes we hate? Protect your skin from sun exposure, and start taking care of it early. Use sunscreen early and often, and remember to know and understand the ingredients in your skin care so that you can select the best products to protect your skin. It sounds easy. I wish I had known in college what I know now about tanning.

Have you seen changes in your skin? No matter what your age, how is it changing? Have your options for color opened or closed? I'd love to chat about it if you are game for true confessions.

Photos courtesy of jeanmays.co.uk and gponline.com