1. Too much sun
Twenty years ago, experts thought the quality of your skin, and
how it aged, was largely based on genetic inheritance. So, if
a 25-year-old woman wanted to know whether her skin would age
well, all she had to do was look at her mother. Now, that received
wisdom has been turned on its head: if you want to know how well
your skin will age, look at your lifestyle....
2. Smoking
Top Manhattan plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick Antell claims,
controversially, that smoking is even more damaging to the skin
than the sun because of its 'total body' effect. Since smoking
reduces blood supply to all your internal organs, as well as your
skin, and impairs your body's ability to heal itself, he argues
that the smoker's lined skin can be seen as a reflection of internal
damage, as well as evidence of a direct assault on the skin.
Dr. Antell identified smoking as the skin's biggest enemy
after conducting a study of identical twins. If a twin smoked
(and had other skin-damaging habits, such as sunbathing), he or
she looked, on average, five to seven years older than his or
her non-smoking sibling. And the damage to the skin seemed to
be part of a whole package of accelerated aging. 'The ones who
smoked also had more grey hair,' says Dr. Antell, ' and
were a bit heavier.'
Scientists at The Twin Research Unit at St. Thomas' Hospital
in London have also found that twins who smoke are more wrinkled,
with skin up to 40 percent thinner, than their non-smoking siblings.
It is known that smoking releases an enzyme that breaks down collagen
and elastic tissue. In addition, it can damage DNA, which may
have a harmful effect on the skin. Smoking also reduces the amount
of nutrients reaching the skin and impedes the removal of waste
products from it.
3. Pollution
4. Hormones
5. Stress
Dr. Antell's twins study also suggested that emotional
stress leaves its marks on the skin. 'We had some sets of twins
where one (always the older-looking twin) had had serious personal
problems — the death of a child, for example, or divorce
or stress at work,' he says. 'These problems would be manifested
in deeper crow's-feet and in deeper lines between the eyebrows.'
Stress also creates a 'fight or flight' response in the body which,
argues Dr. Antell, can starve your skin of its blood supply.
'If you have more adrenaline in your system,' he says, 'this will
shut down the capillaries in your skin.' In other words, when
you are stressed, skin quality just isn't a priority for your
body.
6. A poor diet
7. Harsh skincare regimes
by Thelma Agnew
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