Skin Aging 101: The Signs of Aging and How to Manage Them With Skincare
18 minute read · By Laziza Strait, Head Esthetician at LAZ Skincare
Much of the sun damage that shows up as lines, spots and loss of firmness in your forties was done around twenty years earlier, long before you could see it. The good news is that skincare can do a great deal at every stage, both to prevent that damage and to improve the changes you can already see.
If you have started to notice your skin looking more tired than it used to, or you want to protect the skin you have now, everything below is written for you. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, some of these ingredients are not for you, and we cover which ones in the Common questions section below.
What is skin aging?
Skin aging is the gradual change in how your skin looks and behaves over time. It happens to everyone, and it rarely arrives as one big change. It builds up from many small ones that are easy to miss on their own.
Your skin is held up by two proteins in its deeper layer. Collagen gives skin its firmness and thickness, and elastin lets it stretch and spring back. From your mid-twenties, the amount of collagen in your skin drops by about one percent each year, and the collagen and elastin you already have are slowly broken down by sun, inflammation and the other causes we explain below.
At the same time, your skin renews itself more slowly. Dead cells stay on the surface for longer, your skin holds less water, and it makes less oil.
Collagen and elastin form a springy network under the surface of your skin. With age and sun, that network thins out and loses its spring.
The small changes that add up
Fine lines
Lines that once appeared only when you smiled or frowned start to stay after your face relaxes.
Loss of firmness
Skin takes longer to spring back, and the cheeks and jawline look less defined.
Uneven tone
Sun spots and patches of darker pigment appear, especially on the cheeks and forehead.
Dryness
Skin feels tighter and rougher than it used to, including skin that was oily when you were younger.
Dull texture
Dead cells linger on the surface and scatter light instead of reflecting it, which takes away your glow.
Yellowing
Skin slowly takes on a sallow, slightly yellow tone.
Why skin ages
Some of what drives skin aging comes from inside your body, and you cannot change it. Most of it comes from the world around you and from daily habits, which is good news, because those are the causes you can do something about.
Internal influences
Genetics
Your genes set how much collagen you start with, how quickly your skin renews itself, and how your skin responds to sun and inflammation. That is why two people with the same habits can age differently.
How oily your skin is
In a study of skin from 58 donors, areas of the face with more oil glands, such as the forehead, had shallower wrinkles than areas with fewer, such as the outer corners of the eyes. Skin with more oil glands also had a thicker deeper layer, which helps it resist creasing. Oil is also part of the barrier that holds water in your skin, which means skin that makes less of it dries out more easily, and dry skin makes fine lines look deeper. Oil production drops with age, especially after menopause.
External influences
Sun exposure
In one study of almost 300 fair-skinned women, UV was responsible for around 80 percent of visible facial aging. UVA reaches deep into the skin and breaks down collagen and elastin, and it passes through clouds and windows. UVB burns the surface. Both UVA and UVB trigger pigmentation. This damage builds up every day, not only on days at the beach.
Low humidity
Dry air pulls water out of the upper layers of your skin, and fine lines look deeper within hours. This is a short-term change, and those lines soften again once your skin is hydrated.
Inflammation
Inflammation is one of the root causes of aging skin. When your skin is irritated or breaking out, the immune cells behind the redness release enzymes that break down collagen. Over-exfoliating, or using too many products at once, can keep a low level of inflammation going without you noticing it.
Smoking
Smoking narrows the small blood vessels that bring oxygen and nutrients to your skin, and it increases the enzymes that break down collagen. Pursing your lips around a cigarette over many years also deepens the lines around your mouth.
Diet
Sugar in your bloodstream can stiffen collagen and elastin in a process called glycation, which we explain in the Yellowing and glycation section below. Diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates speed glycation up, while vegetables and fruit supply antioxidants your skin uses to protect itself.
Lifestyle
Your skin does much of its repair work while you sleep, which is why poor sleep shows on your face. Ongoing stress raises cortisol, a hormone that slows how much collagen your skin makes and how quickly it heals.
Heat exposure
Regular heat, such as saunas, hot climates or cooking over a hot stove, raises the activity of enzymes in your skin that break down collagen. Heat can also trigger pigmentation, especially melasma.
UVA passes through windows, which is why sunscreen matters on the days you spend indoors near a window as well as outside.
What skincare can do for aging skin
Skincare manages the signs of aging in two ways: preventing new damage, and improving the changes you can already see. Both work, and they use many of the same ingredients.
Prevention matters because the damage behind a line or a spot builds up for years before you can see it. It is much easier, and much less expensive, to protect the collagen and elastin you have than to rebuild them later.
Preventing the signs of aging
Prevention means helping your skin hold on to the collagen and elastin it has, and protecting it from the damage that breaks them down. It comes down to four habits.
Sunscreen every day
Daily sunscreen protects your collagen and elastin from the UV that causes most visible aging. Choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen, which means it protects against UVA as well as UVB, with SPF 30 or higher. Apply it every morning, including on cloudy days and days you spend near a window, and reapply it through the day.
Antioxidants like vitamin C
UV, pollution and heat create free radicals, unstable molecules that damage collagen and the cells that make it. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals before they can do that damage.
Vitamin C is one of the most studied antioxidants in skincare. It also helps your skin make new collagen and fades excess pigment.
Retinoids
Retinoids, the vitamin A family that includes retinol, keep cell turnover high. Cell turnover is how quickly your skin replaces old surface cells with new ones, and it slows with age. Retinoids also signal your skin to make more collagen, which is why starting them before lines and loss of firmness show helps slow those changes down.
Barrier support
Your barrier holds water in and keeps irritants out, which keeps the low-level inflammation that breaks down collagen to a minimum. A water-based hydrating serum puts water into your skin, and a moisturizer adds a layer of oil on top that stops that water from evaporating.
The top layers of your skin are not only dead cells. They signal to the deeper layers to regulate collagen, hydration and cell renewal, which is why a healthy barrier is what everything underneath depends on.
A skincare routine
A routine to protect your collagen and elastin and prevent new damage.
Reversing the visible signs of aging
Reversing the signs of aging starts with everything in the Preventing the signs of aging section above. Sunscreen, antioxidants, retinoids and barrier support protect the progress you make. On top of that, you add ingredients chosen for the specific changes you want to improve.
Start with the change that bothers you most rather than adding something for every concern at once. Starting several active ingredients right away, or layering several at once, can cause irritation if your skin is not used to them. Introduce one new product, and add the next one after a couple of weeks if your skin is doing well.
Each sign of aging has its own ingredients, which is why it helps to start with the change that bothers you most.
Fine lines and wrinkles
Fine lines are shallow creases in the surface of your skin, often appearing first around the eyes and on the forehead. Wrinkles are deeper folds that form as collagen and elastin thin out, and as the same expressions are repeated over many years.
Glycolic acid is the smallest molecule of the exfoliating acids, which is why it travels furthest into the skin. That depth gives it the strongest evidence of the acids for fine lines and firmness, and it is also why glycolic acid requires more attention to your barrier than the other acids. With regular use, glycolic acid prompts your skin to make new collagen, which is how it softens fine lines.
Retinoids smooth fine lines by speeding up cell renewal and prompting new collagen. Vitamin C supports collagen production and protects the collagen you have from damage. Wrinkle-smoothing peptides are short chains of amino acids designed to soften expression lines by quieting the signals that tell the muscles underneath to contract. Based on the research available, they soften expression lines gradually, which makes them a good option if you would like to work on those lines without injections.
Loss of elasticity and firmness
Elasticity is how well your skin springs back after it is stretched, and firmness is how tight and supported it looks. Both depend on collagen and elastin. Loss of firmness is not only a skin issue, though. The fat pads under your skin in the cheeks, temples and around the eyes shrink and shift with age, and skin drapes differently over less volume, which can look like sagging or hollowness.
Exosomes are tiny particles that cells release to send signals to one another, and in skincare they are used to prompt your skin's own repair and renewal. In our clinic, the clearest results we see from exosomes are on firmness and skin quality in aging skin, and some of our clients use an exosome serum in place of a retinoid when their skin is reactive or their skin tone is deeper, because it works on aging without the dryness. Elasticity-focused peptides are signal peptides that prompt your skin to make more collagen and elastin. Retinoids and vitamin C support collagen production as well.
Exosomes are particles rather than single molecules, and many peptides are large molecules. Getting either one through intact skin is something a well-made product is designed to solve. The products LAZ Skincare carries have been used in our clinic and seen to work, which makes them a good place to start if you would rather not research every formula.
When the change comes from the fat pads, volufiline is an ingredient designed for it. Volufiline is a plant extract from the root of Anemarrhena asphodeloides that encourages fat cells to store more fat, which can help hollow areas look fuller. The research on volufiline so far is small and comes from the company that developed it.
Pigmentation
Pigmentation is excess pigment that shows up as sun spots, patches of melasma, or marks left behind by breakouts. Years of sun exposure leave some groups of pigment cells producing more than their neighbors, and with age that pigment spreads less evenly.
Pigment inhibitors work on that excess pigment, not on your natural skin tone. Kojic acid slows down tyrosinase, the enzyme your pigment cells use to make pigment. Tranexamic acid blocks some of the messages that skin cells send to pigment cells after sun exposure and inflammation, and it also calms the redness and blood vessel activity that are part of melasma, which is why it is especially helpful for melasma. Vitamin C also fades excess pigment while it protects your collagen.
Daily sunscreen helps keep existing pigmentation from getting darker and helps prevent new spots from forming. Even a few days of unprotected sun can darken pigment again, which is why sunscreen is what keeps the progress you make with pigment inhibitors.
If you have a deeper skin tone, sun aging tends to show more as uneven pigment than as lines. Deeper skin pigments much easier, and aggressive exfoliation and the dryness that follows can both trigger pigmentation, which is why introducing glycolic acid and retinoids slowly matters even more for deeper skin tones.
Dryness
Dry skin feels tight, rough or flaky, and it makes fine lines look deeper.
Barrier support, set out in the Preventing the signs of aging section above, is what manages dryness. Dry skin is short on oil, and oil is what holds water in, which means dry skin is frequently dehydrated too. That is why dry skin needs both the hydrating serum and the moisturizer, and why a richer moisturizer often suits it better with age.
A hydrating serum puts water into your skin, and a moisturizer holds it there with a layer of oil on top.
Dull texture
Dull skin looks flat and tired rather than glowing, and it often feels rough. As cell renewal slows with age, dead cells stay on the surface for longer and sit unevenly, which scatters light instead of reflecting it.
Glycolic acid loosens the dead cells on the surface, which helps them shed more efficiently, smooths texture and brightens your complexion, which is what gives you that glow. Retinoids speed up cell renewal from deeper down. Barrier support keeps your skin hydrated, and well-hydrated skin reflects light more evenly.
Yellowing and glycation
Yellowing is a sallow, yellowish tone that develops gradually, and glycation is one of its main causes. When sugar in your bloodstream attaches to collagen and elastin, it forms compounds called advanced glycation end products. They make those fibers stiff and brittle, and they have a yellow-brown color that shows through your skin.
Prevention matters most with glycation, because stiffened fibers are hard to undo. Eating less sugar and fewer refined carbohydrates slows down how quickly glycation happens. Some pigment inhibitors can also reduce yellowness. In a twelve-week trial on aging facial skin, five percent niacinamide, which also helps with excess pigment, reduced yellowing.
SkinBetter BioRewind is a unique product for managing glycation. It is a supplement taken by mouth, built around a rosemary extract, and designed to work on glycation from the inside. In a twelve-week trial of 104 women aged 40 to 65, those taking it had smoother texture and less dullness than those taking a placebo. The trial was funded by the company that owns the brand, and it measured texture and dullness rather than yellowing itself. That does not mean BioRewind does not help with yellowing. Yellowing simply was not one of the things that trial measured, and BioRewind works on glycation, which is one of its main causes. Speak to your doctor before starting any supplement, especially if you take other medication.
Eating less sugar slows glycation, which helps prevent yellowing.
A skincare routine
The products we recommend most for improving visible signs of aging.
Procedures for advanced signs of aging
Skincare can do a great deal, and there is still a limit to what a serum or cream can change. For deep wrinkles, noticeable volume loss or skin that has lost a lot of firmness, procedures performed by a trained provider can go further. Good skincare before and after a procedure helps your skin recover and keeps the results looking good for longer. These are the most common options.
Neuromodulator injections
These are the muscle-relaxing injections most people know by their brand names. They relax the muscles behind expression lines, such as frown lines and crow's feet. Results usually last around three to four months.
Dermal fillers
Gels, usually made of hyaluronic acid, injected to replace lost volume in areas such as the cheeks, temples and lips. Depending on the product and the area, results last from around six months to two years.
Chemical peels
A professional applies a stronger exfoliating acid to remove damaged surface layers, which improves texture, fine lines and pigmentation.
Microneedling
Fine needles create tiny, controlled channels in the skin. Your skin responds with a short burst of inflammation that releases growth factors, and those growth factors prompt it to make new collagen. This is different from the ongoing, low-level inflammation that breaks collagen down. Microneedling is especially helpful for texture, fine lines and scarring.
Laser resurfacing
Lasers remove or heat layers of skin to prompt collagen renewal. Different lasers are used for lines, texture or pigmentation. If you have a deeper skin tone, make sure your provider chooses a peel or laser suited to deeper skin, because some can trigger pigmentation.
Focused ultrasound
Devices that focus ultrasound energy on the deeper layers of skin, heating them to a controlled temperature without breaking the surface, which tightens skin and prompts new collagen. This is different from the everyday heat in the Why skin ages section, because it is delivered at a set temperature to start your skin's repair response.
Aftercare depends on what was done and how your skin responded, so follow your provider's aftercare instructions before going back to your usual routine. If you are a client at our New York City LAZ Clinic, ask us and we will tell you exactly when to restart each product.
After microneedling, we do not apply exosomes, peptides or anything anti-inflammatory for the first forty-eight hours while the micro-channels close, although soothing products are fine. Those channels let the whole formula travel far deeper than it is meant to, which is where irritation comes from.
Common questions
When should I start an anti-aging routine?
It depends on your genetics. Your mid-twenties is the average age and the time we most often recommend, because that is when collagen production begins to slow. Some people start aging earlier than that, and in our clinic we see signs of aging in some clients in their early twenties.
Daily sunscreen is worth starting at any age, as early as you can. Adding an antioxidant and a retinoid in your twenties or thirties helps you hold on to the collagen you have.
Is it too late to start in my fifties or sixties?
No. Skin keeps responding to retinoids, vitamin C, glycolic acid and barrier support at any age. Results can take a little longer to show, and they are still very real.
Do retinoids thin the skin?
No. Some retinoids can cause peeling and sensitivity while your skin adjusts, which is often mistaken for thinning. Over time, retinoids thicken the living layers of your skin and increase collagen.
Can a cream with collagen replace the collagen I have lost?
No. Collagen in a cream is not the collagen in your skin. Collagen molecules are too large to reach the deeper layer where your own collagen sits, and in a cream they work as a moisturizing ingredient on the surface. To build more of your own collagen, use ingredients that prompt your skin to make it, such as retinoids, vitamin C, glycolic acid and peptides.
Can I use vitamin C and a retinoid in the same routine?
Yes. Many people use vitamin C in the morning under sunscreen and a retinoid at night. With modern formulas, and depending on the form of vitamin C, the two can even be layered together in your evening routine. If your skin is sensitive, start them on different days and bring them together once your skin is used to both.
How long until I see results?
Most anti-aging ingredients take three to six months to show a clear difference, because new collagen builds slowly. Hydration and glow improve sooner, often within two to four weeks. Photograph your skin on day one, in the same spot and natural daylight, and again every four weeks, which lets you see the change side by side.
Which anti-aging ingredients can I use during pregnancy?
Some ingredients are generally considered safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding, such as azelaic acid, glycolic acid and vitamin C, along with sunscreen, hydrating serums and moisturizers. Most retinoids are avoided. Some are considered acceptable, but it depends on the retinoid, so speak to your doctor.
For everything else, including peptides, exosomes and supplements, which ingredients you use depends on your doctor's advice and your own preference, so check with your OB or midwife before you start anything new. Injections and most other cosmetic procedures are usually postponed until after pregnancy and breastfeeding.
How to use it
Apply sunscreen every morning, and reapply it through the day.
If you are just getting started, build your basics first with a cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen, then add one serum and see how it works before adding anything else.
Introduce retinoids and exfoliating acids two to three nights a week at first, and use them more often as your skin allows.
Use retinoids and glycolic acid on alternate nights when you first combine them.
Apply serums to clean, dry skin, then follow with your moisturizer.
Keep your routine going once you see results, because collagen keeps breaking down every day.
Good to know
Stinging above a mild tingle, or lingering redness, means you are using an ingredient too often or at too high a strength for your skin barrier.
Retinoids and exfoliating acids make your skin more sensitive to the sun, which is one more reason daily sunscreen matters.
Do not apply retinoids or exfoliating acids to broken, picked or sunburned skin.
Keep retinoids and exfoliating acids away from your eyes, lips and the corners of your nose unless the product is made for those areas.
Retinoids and exosomes speed up cell turnover, and some people notice extra texture or small breakouts in the first weeks. This is purging, and it can take three to six months to settle. Breakouts in areas where you do not usually break out mean the product does not suit your skin, and burning means it is too strong for your skin barrier.
Skin aging is personal. Everybody is different, and the change that bothers one person may not bother another. Give a new routine three to six months before deciding it is not working. With daily sunscreen and the right ingredients for the changes you want to improve, your skin can look healthier and more rested at any age.
If you would like help working out which signs of aging to focus on and the routine that suits your skin, we would love to take a look at your skin together, whether that is a virtual consultation or a visit to our New York City LAZ Clinic.
If a product causes swelling, real burning, or a rash that spreads, stop using it and see a doctor. If you have any difficulty breathing, swelling of the face, lips or throat, or you feel faint, treat that as an emergency and seek medical care immediately. Once your skin has settled, we are happy to look at your routine with you and work out what to adjust.
A mole that changes shape, color or size, or a spot that bleeds and does not heal, is something to show your doctor.
Everything here is general education rather than personal advice. If a doctor is treating you or you use prescription skincare, check with them before changing your routine.
Products and supplements mentioned here are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
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