Sun Damage and Aging of the Skin

Sun damage and aging of the skin are the common skin problems. In fact, when you get older, the aging of skin can increase your risk of getting sun damage because it becomes more vulnerable. Here are some things that you may need to know about sun damage and aging of the skin.

What you need to know about sun damage of the skin?

What is sun damage?

In one hand, the warmth and light of the sun brings you benefits for your health and your feelings. On the other hand, excessive sun exposure can dramatically damage your skin. The heat by sun make your skin dried and prevent its ability to provide itself natural lubricating oils. Moreover, ultraviolet radiation released by the sun can lead to sunburn and long-term changes in the structure of your skin. Sun damage is commonly divided into four types:

Dry skin;

Sunburn;

Actinic keratosis ;

Long-term changes in the skin’s collagen.

What are the symptoms of sun damage?

Dry skin

Your skin becomes dry, flaky, slightly and wrinkled, while the skin on other parts of your body that have not been exposed to the sun is still in normal condition. The another consequence of dry skin is that can make you feel itchy.

Sunburn

If your sunburn is slight, you can experience pain and redness on sun-exposed skin. You can realize the clear boundary lines where the skin has been protected from the sun by shirt sleeves, shorts, a bathing suit or other clothing. In severe cases of sunburn, you can even have painful blisters, may be nausea and dizziness sometimes.

Actinic keratosis

When you have actinic keratosis which appears as a small bump with the size of pimple at first. It is rare that an actinic keratosis may itch or be slightly tender.

Long-term changes in the skin’s collagen

In the long-term sun exposure, the collagen of your skin can be changed. You can face with fine lines, deeper wrinkles, a thickened skin texture and easy bruising on sun-exposed areas.

What you need to know about aging of the skin?

What causes our skin to age?

Your skin can age for many reasons. There are some of them we can control, the others we cannot influence. First, you cannot change the natural aging process as a rule of life, which is responsible for the aging of your skin. Ultimately, no one can avoid visible lines on the face associated with thinner and drier skin. And this is regulated by our genes, which is also called as intrinsic aging.

The environment which you live in and the way you live also decide your premature aging of your skin. The medical term for this type of aging is extrinsic aging. These are the factors that you can influence to delay your skin’s aging, especially include smoking and sun damage.

The effects of aging on your skin

The aging of your skin can make your skin not smooth or tight any more. Your skin turns into drier, more fragile, and thinner than it used to be. In addition, bruise can easily appear on your skin because blood vessel walls do not support your skin enough.

You can also have to face with looser skin due to loss of fat in your cheeks, temples, chin, nose, and around your eyes, which gives your face the leaner look. Even the nose may change, if you lose cartilage there. When you make expression, you can see the clear lines on your face, which usually occurs as early as your 30s and 40s. These include horizontal lines on your forehead and small, curved lines on your temples, upper cheeks, and around your mouth. Moreover, your skin becomes less elastic while eyebrows and eyelids droop.

Although you cannot avoid the process of aging, you can take action to postpone it and avoid getting sun damage. In return, when you can protect yourself from sun damage, you can help yourself look younger and keep your skin healthier.