A woman in midlife is shocked by the sudden aging of her face and wants to know what are legitimate ways to reduce wrinkles on middle-aged skin? Jessica explains why our skin ages faster in midlife and then shares research-backed ways to protect your skin from aging, so that you can avoid the snake oils and “miraculous” fixes that are so prevalent these days.
Ask Jessica is an advice column for women in midlife. We cover all things related to midlife from changing bodies to career transitions to parenting teens to sandwich generation challenges to shifts in marital or life partnerships and everything in between. My hope is that in sharing these questions and answers I can women as we face the midlife journey together. Got a question or challenge you would like me to address? Fill out this form to submit your issue! Want to see the answers to other questions, check out our archive here.
Note: This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through these links, your cost will be the same but The Scramble will receive a small commission. I only link to products I personally use, trust, and love. If you want to learn more, please check out my disclosure page. Thanks for your support!
Legitimate Ways to Reduce Wrinkles on a Middle-Aged Face
HEY JESSICA: I turned 45 this year and suddenly it seems like my skin is aging at lightning speed! All of a sudden, I have big bags under my eyes, more wrinkles are starting to crop up all over my face, and my neck feels much saggier. I’ve upped my skin care game already with some lotions that are formulated for older skin and it seems like maybe it’s helping some, but not as much as I would like. There are so many products out there and so much advice about what you should do, but it’s hard to know what’s snake oil and what’s legitimate advice. What are legitimate ways to reduce wrinkles on a middle-aged face? ~Crow’s Feet Be Gone!
DEAR CROW’S FEET BE GONE:
I am right there with you! To me, it felt like my skin got a secret memo on the day I turned 44 that it should start aging at breakneck speed. Not fun. And you are absolutely right, there are so many people and companies out there pushing “miraculous” fixes that it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what is really going to help and what isn’t. Now, I am not a dermatologist or aesthetician, so my advice is based on my own research (from trusted sources), but if you are really concerned or the things I suggest either aren’t working for you or aren’t enough, please consult a professional!
So, first let me explain why this is happening now. It turns out, one of the things that happens during perimenopause and menopause is that your skin begins to lose collagen, elastin, and water in the skin at a much faster rate than when we were younger. So, what do these three things do for us and why are they important? Collagen is a protein that helps to maintain the strength and elasticity of our skin. And we lose a third of it during the first five years of menopause! Elastin is also a protein that contributes to the elasticity of the skin, the loss of which results in an increase in wrinkles and a slackness in our skin. And finally, the water in our skin serves as a protective barrier and helps to prevent dryness, which means that as we start to experience water loss in our skin (also known as transepidermal water loss) our skin becomes increasingly dry and sensitive. In addition to those changes, it turns out that estrogen helps in maintaining blood flow to the skin. This means that, as our estrogen drops, our skin struggles to repair as quickly and one can even experience a decrease in facial fat, which changes the contours of your face (leading to changes you weren’t prepared for).
All of this begs the question: what to do? What are legitimate ways to reduce wrinkles? First, given that our skin is the largest organ in our body, we should make sure that we are taking certain steps that are good for our general health but that also specifically help our skin. Those include making sure you are getting antioxidants in your diet to protect again cellular damage, exercising to improve blood circulation, and limiting alcohol and tobacco consumption (both of which have been tied to aging skin).
Then, there are the things you can do specifically for your skin. The first, and most important to my mind, is to make sure you are using a good sunscreen (that contains either zinc oxide or titanium oxide) every day to protect your skin from the sun’s UV rays. This will not only protect your skin from the aging effect of UV rays, but it will also protect you from skin cancer.
There are also a number of products that can be helpful. A good facial moisturizer, especially one that contains hyaluronic acid and ceramides, can help to counteract the loss of water in the skin. Retinoids can help to improve skin texture, as can alpha- and beta-hydroxy acids (note: these can sometimes be quite irritating at first, so start slow!). And collagen peptides, specifically any collagen product that contains Verisol, have been shown to increase the levels of elastin and, in turn, decrease eye wrinkles.
Additionally, if you are interested in direct interventions, there are a number of services that are offered by dermatologists and aestheticians that can be helpful including laser treatments, radiofrequency and focused ultrasound treatments, and peels. And there are injections you can get to temporarily address wrinkles, including Botox and hyaluronic acid fillers.
Finally, while skin issues are not an FDA-approved reason for receiving hormone replacement therapy, if you are experiencing other perimenopausal symptoms that are approved and that you would like relief from (e.g., hot flashes, night sweats, and genitourinary symptoms such as vaginal dryness, frequent UTIs, and increase urinary urgency/frequency), then talking to your doctor about that as an option might be of interest. This is because estrogen therapy has been shown to reduce transepidural water loss and increase skin collagen levels.
I want to close, though, with a little plug for embracing your face. I know that watching your face change is hard. After all, I’m definitely doing some things to slow down my own’s face’s aging process. So, I’m not saying do nothing, but I do think that there is a place for gracefully acknowledging that our faces will age and that those lines also represent a life well-lived. Those laugh lines? They tell a story of a life that has included joy and lots of smiles. Those forehead wrinkles? They demonstrate that you expressed emotions, as well as caring and interest in others when you spoke to them. Those crow’s feet? They reveal that you enjoyed time in nature when the sun was bright. And those gifts of a live well-lived, well, I think they’re pretty beautiful.