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The wrinkles are folds, furrows or streaks on the skin that appear with age. The first wrinkles perceived on a person's face are usually due to facial expressions.
Most people do not like wrinkles and try by all means to remove them or delay their appearance with cosmetic treatments.
The appearance of wrinkles, in addition to age, can be accelerated by other factors such as : sun damage, smoking, dehydration, certain medications and environmental and genetic factors. These factors determine when and in which areas of the body people will develop wrinkles.
Most wrinkles tend to appear in the parts of the body that are most exposed to the sun, especially the face and the neck, the backs of the hands and the arms.
The wrinkles are a natural part of the aging process
As the skin ages, it becomes thinner, drier, less elastic and less able to protect itself from damage. This leads to the appearance of wrinkles, folds and fine lines on the skin.
Facial expressions such as smiling, frowning or squinting repeatedly can lead to the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines at an early age.
Each time a person uses a facial muscle, a furrow forms below the surface of the skin. When a person is young, the skin straightens, but as they age, the skin loses its suppleness. The bounce becomes harder and less frequent which gives a more permanent furrows.
The external factors such as smoking and alcohol abuse that can accelerate the development of wrinkles
The most notorious effect of cigarettes on the appearance of wrinkles is the effect of the chemicals they contain that affect the loss of skin density and the appearance of deep wrinkles due to the oxidation of tissue and to the drying of the skin.
Regular smoking accelerates the aging process of the skin due to the reduction of the blood supply to the skin.Alcohol dehydrates the skin, thus, the wrinkles tend to appear.
A number of unavoidable environmental factors have also an important role such as the extreme cold and the exposure to ultraviolet rays (UV)
For example, playing sports outdoors, sunbathing or the excessive use of tanning booths increases the risk of developing wrinkles earlier.
Indeed, UV light breaks down the collagen and the elastin fibres of the skin. These fibres form the connective tissue of the skin, they are located below its surface and support it. When this layer breaks down, the skin becomes weaker and less flexible, this leads to the sagging of the skin and to the appearance of the wrinkles.
People who work in the sun are more likely to have early wrinkles. The jobs that involve this type of exposure include fishing and farming. Sailors, golfers, beach rescuers and gardeners may also be more exposed to early and more pronounced aging of the skin.
There are different types of wrinkles that form differently.
Wrinkles are the result of the progressive loss of elasticity of the skin due to aging, which is associated with various phenomena.
It is necessary to distinguish between wrinkles and fine lines. Furrows of 0.2 to 1 millimetre are considered to be fine lines. When their depth exceeds 1 millimetre, they are considered as wrinkles.
Two main types of wrinkles can be distinguished corresponding to two formation processes:
Expression wrinkles or "dynamic wrinkles" are related to repeated contractions of the facial muscles. As the skin loses elasticity over the years, these folds which are always the same end up marking the skin tissue.
This is how they are created:
- transverse forehead wrinkles
- frown lines (or inter-brow lines, or glabella lines), between the eyebrows and on the forehead
- crow's feet wrinkles, at the outer corners of the eyes
Aging wrinkles", or "static wrinkles", are the result of skin sagging due to age and the effects of external aging factors such as the sun.
This is how they form:
- the "bitterness folds", from the corners of the mouth to the chin
- the nasolabial folds, from the wings of the nose to the corners of the mouth
- the "sun creases" or perioral wrinkles, around the lips
- neck wrinkles: horizontal "cords" or vertical folds in skinny people
- décolleté wrinkles.
Sleep wrinkles are due to skin sagging and poor positioning during sleep. The folds that are impressed on the skin night after night end up remaining marked.
There are different solutions to treat wrinkles, it depends on the case of each patient and the type of his/her wrinkles, so, your surgeon will indicate you the suitable technique.
They can be treated through aesthetic medicine treatments such as botox or hyaluronic acid, they may also be treated thanks to facelift surgery which is a plastic intervention that aims at eliminating facial wrinkles in order to rejuvenate the face and to allow the patient regain physical and psychological well-being.
