Youthful glowing skin; everyone wants to keep it that way. But did you know that you might be doing things every day that accelerate the ageing process? Did you also know that there are things you can do every day to halt the ageing process? It is important to recognise the preventable causes and learn what you can do now to help your skin slow down the process, even if you don’t think you are ageing!

What causes skin to age?
Skin is exposed daily to external factors such as sun, stress, pollution and smoking. These stressors break and damage the skin cells and generate what is called ‘free oxygen radicals’. These free radicals are highly unstable and attack cells including the skin. The free radicals and the cells they damage contribute to premature ageing, fine lines, wrinkles, hyper pigmentation and sun spots. Normally, the younger and healthier the body, the better it can handle free radicals and the damage they cause. With age and more exposure to the environmental stressors, our body’s natural resources cannot neutralise the free radical damage, resulting in premature ageing.

What can I do to minimise this?
Sun exposure is the biggest cause of premature ageing and the biggest generator of free radicals. The UVA/UVB rays attack the skin and body constantly. This stress generates unstable free radicals that damage the skin cells. Premature ageing includes fine lines, wrinkles, sunspots, rough texture and hyper pigmentation. Daily exposure, even with minor activities such as walking or driving, will accumulate skin damage through the year. Cumulative sun exposure significantly increases the rate at which skin ages, resulting in photodamage, uneven texture, hyperpigmentation, sunspots and wrinkles.

Most of the time people assume that sun damage has occurred overnight. But ageing and damage actually take about ten years to manifest. Skin that looks fresh and healthy in the 20s may not show any damage till the 30s. This is why it is important to use sunblock as soon as possible. It’s not just a matter of lying out at the beach; one year’s worth of incidental sunlight is equal to a week at the beach.

Will smoking affect my skin?
Smoking is the next most damaging factor that can be prevented. Smoke produces toxins that also release free radicals that damage skin structure. Very often the first place you see the damage is the skin around the lips. When looking at a smoker in the 20s, you will see the vertical lip lines beginning. Smoking can also take years before visible skin damage is evident. However, each puff breaks down skin and contributes to overall stress and ageing. In addition, because of the diminished oxygen around a smoker’s face, the skin starts looking grey and ashen. It quickly looses its elasticity and youthful glow and breaks out in pimples more frequently. With the immediate cessation of smoking, you will see your complexion improve.

How do I deal with environmental damage?
Even without smoking, you may be exposed to second hand smoke, car fumes and city pollution. This also contributes to oxidative stress and generation of free radicals in the skin. In an ideal world, we could avoid these environmental stressors, but this is not always realistic. The next best thing is using topical antioxidant creams. Topical antioxidants will help reduce the free radical damage and therefore reduce the damage to skin.

What role does heredity play?
Most likely you look like someone senior to you in your family. If you look at them, assuming they have not taken the precautions to help prevent skin damage, you can see a pattern of how you might age. That is the bad news. The good news is that you now realise that the most preventable ageing factors are controlling the environment, judicious use of sun block, topical antioxidant creams and preventative care and these will help you to ward off the genetic card you were dealt.