Forty might be the new 30, but that doesn’t mean your skin still looks the way it did when you were 30. Those changes that might have looked subtle when you were in your 30s, like a few fine lines here or a bit of dryness or discoloration there, might become much more noticeable as you enter your fifth decade. Whether you’ve just hit the 4-0 or have been in your 40s for years now, here are few ways to cope with and even fight back against the changes in your skin.
Skincare
Great skin can start at home. Sure, you can schedule lots of treatments to fill in lines or to minimize pores, but if you don’t have a great skincare routine at home, you won’t see long-lasting results from your treatments. Many women start to see their estrogen levels dip once they hit 40, which can mean drier skin, a loss of facial bone structure, and a reduction in collagen, leading to less smooth and less elastic skin.
There are a few things you can do to improve your skincare routine at home. First, if you aren’t already using a product that contains retinol, start. Your facial plastic surgeon might prescribe a product to you, or you can find countless options available at drugstores or makeup counters. Prescription-strength retinol products will work more quickly and tend to be h2er, but you will see some results from over-the-counter options.
Retinol is a known wrinkle fighter. It does a number of things to improve the health of your skin, ranging from increasing cell turnover so that dry, dead skin cells don’t hang around, to increasing collagen production in the dermis so that your skin has a h2er support system.
It’s also important to continue to protect your skin against the sun’s rays. If you already wear sunscreen daily, keep it up. If not, your 40th birthday is the perfect time to start. Go for a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. Get in the habit of wearing it daily, even if you don’t plan on going outside and even if it’s cloudy out.
Non-Surgical Treatments
The 40s tend to be a time when women start to think more seriously about minimally invasive anti-aging treatments. You might not be ready for a full facelift at this stage, but you might be willing to do something to reduce your wrinkles, at least on a temporary basis. Some of the most popular treatments for patients in their 40s include Botox and Dysport, which treat wrinkles caused by facial expressions, and fillers, which treat static wrinkles. Fillers vary when it comes to materials and how long they last. If you’re starting to notice deeper creases on your face, a filler such as Radiesse, which is made from a heavy material similar to what’s found in human bone, might be appropriate. Radiesse works in two stages. First, it instantly adds volume and fills in lines. Meanwhile, the material works on stimulating the production of collagen beneath the skin so that your lines stay filled in even after the initial material has worn away.
You face might also begin to lose volume as you enter into your forties. Juvederm Voluma, a type of specially formulated hyaluronic acid filler, might be just thing for you. While many other fillers focus on treating certain wrinkles or lines, Voluma focuses on adding volume to the cheek area. In fact, it was the first hyaluronic acid filler to be approved by the FDA for adding volume.
The material found in Voluma is thicker and denser than the hyaluronic acid you’ll find in other injectables. That not only means that it’s better at adding volume, it also means that it tends to last longer. For the most part, results from Voluma can last for about two years.
Is it Time for Surgery?
You probably don’t have enough skin laxity or looseness in the lower face and neck area to make you a suitable candidate for a facelift while you’re in your 40s, but that doesn’t mean that all facial rejuvenation surgeries are off limits. Since the eye area is often one of the first to show signs of aging, eyelid surgery is often the first surgical procedure considered by people. It’s a fairly popular procedure among people in their 40s. An eyelid lift can minimize droopy upper eyelids or reduce the appearance of under-eye bags.
The best way to figure out which skincare products, non-invasive treatments or even surgery are right for you is to sit down and discuss your options with an aging face specialist like Dr. Jessica Kulak at the Naderi Center. Dr. Kulak is a board certified facial plastic surgeon who only performs procedures that rejuvenate the aging face. To learn more about your options, call (703) 481-0002 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Kulak in Virginia. For an appointment at the practice in Maryland, call (301) 222-2020.
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