Avoiding Wrinkles: Ways to Protect and Prepare Your Skin for Aging
Posted by on January 17, 2014 - 2:01pm

Everyone wrinkles at the same rate and there’s not really much we can do to prevent it, right? Wrong. There are certain habits that can help you avoid premature wrinkles, making your skin look younger (and healthier) longer. Tanning is one of the leading causes of premature wrinkles. When you go tanning, ultraviolet rays are penetrating deep layers of the skin, weakening the skin’s support structure. Wearing lotion with SPF 15 or higher will help protect your skin, and should become part of your routine. Smoking also accelerates the skin’s aging process, and early wrinkling has been found in smokers as young as 20! The smoke from tobacco also turns the skin an unhealthy color and texture, so the best thing you can do for your skin and your body is to quit smoking!

Sun exposure and smoking are the fairly obvious skin detriments, but there are more culprits to wrinkling than meets the eye. Daily facial contractions, such as frowning, smiling, and squinting are thought to cause crow’s feet and frown lines. Wearing sunglasses or corrective eyewear to avoid squinting, while also relaxing your resting face, will help minimize extraneous contractions. Yo-yo dieting is another surprising factor in wrinkle development. Some experts attest that years of losing weight and gaining the weight back can damage the skin’s elastic structure. Losing or gaining weight in a healthy, steady manor can ease your skin into accepting the size of your new body.

Your skin is your body’s largest organ and needs protecting. Eating a balanced diet and staying hydrated with plenty of water will help keep your skin healthy. While you can never truly rid yourself of wrinkles entirely, protecting your skin can help minimize signs of aging. Take this wrinkles quiz to see how much you know about your skin!

Source: WebMD

The Importance of Skin Color on Women's Health
Posted by on October 10, 2012 - 12:56pm

On Monday, The Scientist printed a valuable article linking to a TED video and a new book entitled Living Color by Nina Jablonski. The video and book delve into the importance of skin color and types for health and social well-being.

To me, there are three points of greatest value: 1) that as humans, our personal melanin and intake of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) are vitally important to our individual health, 2) that as migration and evolution has occurred our pigmentation gene is exceptionally labile, and 3) that skin pigmentation and our individual variations are not discussed nearly enough in our society.

Although I am an advocate for more open, honest dialogue about the significant role race has in this country, this argument for better quality health is different. We need to begin also addressing what pigmentation means for the individual and how women have varying skin needs.  This message is not about Black, White, Asian, Latino, or any other socially constructed label for race or ethnicity, this is about individual health concerns.

As the author correctly explains, the MC1R gene, which is the gene predominantly responsible for pigmentation, has little variation in African people. Those with darker (or more melanin-rich) skin have a “built-in defense” against harmful ultraviolet radiation, is often ideal for health and normal cell reproduction. However, as humans migrated and evolved there was a depigmentation of skin, leading to lightly pigmented (or melanin-poor) peoples. This mismatch of genetic predisposition and solar regimes can mean very different things for a woman’s health.

For example, Nina Jablonski asserts that, “People of Northern European ancestry, for instance, living in Florida or Australia confront intense UVR conditions with pale, melanin-poor skin and suffer from sunburns, high rates of skin cancer, and accelerated skin aging. People of central African or southern Indian ancestry living in Wisconsin or Wales face low and highly seasonal UVR conditions with exquisitely sun-protected skin and suffer from vitamin D deficiencies as a result.”

Ladies, knowing your body also means knowing the health risks and benefits associated with your skin.  Remember, your skin is the largest organ in your body, talk to your health care providers and keep yourself safe!

Facial Wrinkles May Predict Bone Density
Posted by on July 4, 2011 - 7:56am

"In postmenopausal women the appearance of the skin may offer a glimpse of the skeletal well-being, a relationship not previously described," said Lubna Pal, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

The study demonstrates only an association between bone density and skin wrinkling. However, Dr. Pal called these findings noteworthy."This information," Pal said, "may allow for the possibility of identifying postmenopausal women at fracture risk at a glance, without dependence on costly tests."

The study is an ancillary study to an ongoing multicenter trial called the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study, or KEEPS, which is funded by the Aurora Foundation and the Kronos Longevity Research Institute in Phoenix. This ancillary study included 114 women in their late 40s and early 50s who had had their last menstrual period within the past three years and who were not taking hormone therapy. Women were excluded from participating if they had undergone any cosmetic skin procedures.

Women received a score for face and neck wrinkles based on the number of sites with wrinkles and on the depth of the wrinkles. The skin firmness or rigidity was measured at the forehead and the cheek with a device called a durometer. Study participants also underwent measurement of bone density by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and by a portable heel ultrasound device.

The investigators found a significant inverse correlation between the wrinkle score and the bone density, meaning the higher the score (and the worse the wrinkles), the lower the bone density. This relationship was evident at all skeletal sites -- hip, lumbar spine and heel -- and was independent of age, body composition or other factors known to influence bone density, Pal said. Additionally, firmer skin of the face and forehead was associated with greater bone density.

Although the connection between bones and skin may seem unclear, Pal explained that they share common building blocks -- a group of proteins known as collagens. As we age, changes in collagen occur that may account for age related skin changes including worsening skin wrinkles and sagging skin, and also contribute to deterioration in bone quality and quantity.

Long-term studies are needed to substantiate a relationship between wrinkles and the risk of bone fracture, Pal said.

"Ultimately, we want to know if intensity of skin wrinkles can allow identification of women who are more likely to fracture a bone, especially the femoral neck or the hip, an often fatal injury in older people," she said. "If this is the case, then including the study of skin wrinkles to other clinical risk factors may allow identification of fracture risk in populations that do not have access to more costly technology."   The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.