How can we prevent wrinkles?

How can we prevent wrinkles?

Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could prevent wrinkles? Well, we can certainly reduce the number of lines we will get as we get older by avoiding UVA, which is almost entirely responsible for causing age changes in our skin and subsequent fine wrinkles.

Avoid UVA

You may be surprised to know that UVA penetrates through cloudy weather and we are exposed to it even in London on an overcast day. We always think of sun damage as the sunburn that we get on a sunny day which is from UVB – the type that penetrates deeper into the dermis and damages our DNA. It also makes us more prone to skin cancers. UVB light is high-energy visible light.
We absorb UV light into our skin, where it has a damaging effect. You can blame your wrinkles on UVA. It is the UVA that is converting your lovely youthful skin into old, wrinkled, aged skin. It works by acting on the skin’s matrix metalloproteinases, which are enzymes that break down the collagen of your skin, therefore making it weaker and wrinkly. It also interferes with your vitamin A receptors in your skin cells, which are responsible for the health and growth of skin. Without the vitamin A, your skin ends up becoming getting thinner and wrinklier.
The logical conclusion then is to avoid exposure of your skin to UVA even on cloudy days by wearing a good sunscreen with high protection against UVA and UVB of at least 50 or 50+ SPF.
If like many of us you already have developed some wrinkles there is still quite a lot that we can do for rejuvenation.

Diet

Your diet is very important as is the hydration of your skin. Eating green, leafy vegetables and maintaining good hydration by drinking water, avoiding dehydrating coffees and teas and avoiding smoke all help to maintain healthier, less wrinkly skin. Taking supplements of Omega 3 and other health food products can complement diet and moisture retention.

Intraceuticals

Here at the clinic, we offer intraceuticals to help conceal rather than prevent wrinkles.
Intraceuticals is the delivery of hydrating serum with the aid of oxygen infusion to help infuse the moisture into your skin, particularly in the area around the eyes as well as all of the face. We do a series of intraceutical facials after you have been assessed to determine which are best for you, whether it is one mainly for hydration, mainly for lightening, mainly for getting rid of wrinkles or to determine whether we should include additional vitamins and serums.
For an intraceuticals assessment, you will have to have a cosmetic examination, where the nurse and the doctor will then decide a programme of facials for your needs and skin type.

Ultherapy

Ultherapy is facial rejuvenation with micro-focused thermocoagulation delivered using a skin surface handpiece at various depths, which is used to help reduce wrinkles.
We have found recently that the 1.5mm-depth treatment, which we monitor ultrasonically throughout the process, is effective on the dermis and deep dermis, helping to regenerate collagen and reduce wrinkles.
When Ultherapy is done all over the face, this gives a general improvement and tightening of the skin because of the collagen that is gradually laid down over time post-treatment.
The Ultherapy collagen synthesis starts to be visible about six to eight weeks after treatment and continues for up to six months. Repeat Ultherapy is usually required after about two years as by then you are older and will have developed more wrinkles.
Ultherapy is increasingly recognised as a facial rejuvenation treatment that helps you to look younger, more radiant and refreshed because of its direct effect on fine wrinkles on the skin.

Botulinum Toxin A

In these blogs, we have already talked about avoiding UVA damage, which causes wrinkles, and having intraceuticals treatment or Ultherapy.
Of course, botulinum toxin A, also known as Botox, is one of the best ways of preventing wrinkles. Increasingly young people in their early thirties are having botulinum toxin A applied to their glabella, the “11’s lines” on our foreheads, and into their early crow’s feet and horizontal forehead lines in order to slow down the appearance of dynamic wrinkles.
Botulinum toxin A does not help with the fine wrinkles caused by sun damage with UVA or with ageing and loss of collagen. Sun protecting creams and Ultherapy, respectively, do help with these problems.  Neither does botox help with rehydration of the skin, for which intraceuticals, oxygen facials and other moisturising creams will help.
Botulinum toxin A works on the larger wrinkles caused by muscle action and is very effective for glabella lines, crow’s feet and horizontal forehead lines. Regular treatments of botulinum toxin A help to prevent or slow down the appearance of these dynamic lines when used repeatedly.
Botulinum toxin A is a treatment done by Miss Jane Olver at Clinica London. First of all, cosmetic assessment is required and then once we have identified your needs we will draw up a plan for the treatment of your wrinkles.

Tretinoin cream

A fifth thing to consider is the application of Tretinoin 0.05% cream on to your skin at night. This is prescription-only cream used under the guidance of an ophthalmologist oculoplastic surgeon or dermatologist to help stimulate your collagen and improve fine wrinkles. It stimulates your own collagen and helps you to have a glowing, rejuvenated skin.

How to prevent wrinkles. A comprehensive approach

In order to prevent wrinkles, you need to start thinking about this at around the age of 30.

• You particularly need to protect your skin from UVA light, ultraviolet light.
• You need to keep your skin hydrated.
• You need to consider collagen stimulation with Ultherapy
• Consider Botulinum toxin A.