Elasticity refers to the skin’s ability to snap back into place after being stretched. If young skin usually returns rapidly back to its original position, aging or older skin can take time or a few seconds to bounce back. The amount of collagen and elastin in your skin (structural proteins) determines its degree of elasticity.
Collagen and elastin are essential skin proteins responsible for giving the skin strength, elasticity, and firmness. The body makes an abundance of these two when you’re young, but starts to produce less of them as you age. Both collagen and elastin, furthermore, are vulnerable to changes caused by UV exposure and pollution.
A decline and damage to these two skin proteins can lead to wrinkling and sagging of the skin. Genetics and gravity also have an impact on skin elasticity and other factors such as smoking, lack of sleep, and poor nutrition (too much sugar and refined carbs) can also accelerate the loss of elasticity.
Collagen production starts declining around the mid-to-late 20s and or early 30s, with the skin losing about 1% per year afterward. Noticeable changes in the skin’s elasticity can show between your 30s and 40s. Studies suggest that women lose about 30% of skin collagen in the first five years of menopause. The decline is more gradual after that.
As collagen and elastin decline, the skin loses its firmness and starts to sag. This can then cause jowls, fine lines and wrinkles, creases, and even enlarged pores. If healthy and youthful skin looks plump and hydrated, less elastic skin appears drier, thinner, and even sagging.
In your 40s is where you’ll start to see more noticeable changes. Some prominent wrinkles may remain fixed or visible even when your face is at rest. There may also be sagging and laxity around the jawline, as well as jowls, volume loss, and smile lines. Other things that women may notice at this age include:
Signs of aging are likely to become more evident in your 50s and beyond. This is especially true with bad skincare habits or if you do nothing to address areas of concern. Hormone shift with decreased estrogen levels and increased androgens can negatively affect the skin, along with dryness and bone resorption.
Take note: Everyone, of course, ages differently. Some may experience more prominent changes younger or even later. The ideal thing to do is to visit a skin or aesthetic doctor to combat loss of elasticity and other signs of aging, or get product recommendations for your most common skin concerns.
The skin pinch test or skin turgor test is a simple technique for assessing your skin’s ability to stretch and snap back, as well as its hydration levels. This involves relaxing your hand and pinching the skin on the back of it for five seconds. Then, release the skin and count how many seconds it takes to go back in place.
It could also be a sign of dehydration if your skin takes longer than usual to snap back into place.
There are a variety of aesthetic procedures that can help improve elasticity and other signs of aging. The treatment or combination of treatments can depend on the degree of laxity and the area you want to target and improve. These include:
Apart from the aesthetic treatments mentioned above, you can also tweak your habits or put in the time and effort in giving your skin more TLC to help improve skin elasticity. Some of the things you can do include:
Are you looking to non-invasively tighten your skin and address other signs of aging? Contact Cutis Medical Laser Clinics in Singapore to learn more about our treatments or schedule a consultation with our aesthetic doctor.
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