Continued from Skin or Facial Wrinkle Causes (Part 1)
Free Radicals
These are atoms that are naturally occurring in the body as by-products of metabolic and biological processes but they can cause a lot of damage if they are accelerated by getting exposed to harmful UV rays, air pollution, smoking, age, stress, sickness, etc.
The problem with these atoms is that they have an odd number of electrons that are unpaired. And since having unpaired electrons for atoms is like you being able to hear with only one ear, this produces an imbalance and instability in the atom which it tries to fix by taking the electron of another molecule to complete its pair. This electron-napping can become a big chain reaction if the amount of free radicals in your system is left uncontrolled and could leave a lot of healthy cells damaged.
The consequences of this is that the damaged cells will no longer be able to function as normal, it could get its genetic material altered or it could die in the process.
Free radicals are said to cause wrinkles because they facilitate the release of a protein that breaks down collagen.
Antioxidants are believed to be the most effective defense against free radicals because they facilitate the elimination of free radicals before they can cause cellular damage. And because there is a link between free radicals and collagen break down in the skin, it is believed that antioxidant antiaging supplements are good anti wrinkle treatment.
Habitual Expressions and Good Ol’ Gravity
Wrinkles are pretty common in the face because of facial expressions that we repeatedly do over time. As we age and as we get exposed to other causes described in these articles, our skin loses its natural elasticity and creates permanent lines due to the contraction of muscle tissues in the areas like the forehead, eyelids and the conner of the eyes.
Gravity pulls down the skin when it loses its natural firmness and elasticity. These are the skin sags that you usually see under the arms.
The skin is the largest and toughest organ of the human body. It has to be because it is the body’s designated armor which gives it protection from the outside environment.
But what causes it to wrinkle up and give us that not-so-nice feeling about how we look? Before you go about hunting for the best anti wrinkle cream out there, you need to read this first.
To understand the why our skin wrinkles up we need to understand that the skin, being an organ composed of human tissue, is a part of the body that also has to maintain a certain equilibrium of many factors to achieve that healthy state. Below are the most common causes of skin or facial wrinkles:
Aging
This is the most intuitive explanation we have for why our skin wrinkles and is for majority of cases true. The problem with the skin is that as we age, the three layers that make it up, the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous layer become thinner and instead of it protecting us from the environment by keeping water and nutrients in, it actually starts to become less efficient at that and starts to release more water out which dehydrates it. This impedes the skin’s ability to heal itself and create new skin cells.
Aging affects the entire dermal layer and affects even the production of the necessary collagen which is essential for the purpose of regeneration. The skin also loses its elasticity and becomes less able to produce sweat and oil which also has a direct adverse effect on skin hydration.
UV Sunlight Rays
This is something that affects everyone and not just the old. Ultraviolet rays have a very adverse effect on the skin and is known to be the main cause of premature skin aging or wrinkles. UV rays disrupts the normal processes in the skin by causing collagen to break down faster than what you would expect when you age naturally. This accelerated degeneration of collagen causes a rush in the skin to replace the lost collagen but this process does not always complete successfully and instead causes abnormal collagen fiber formation that, after many repetition, will result into those unwelcome skin or facial wrinkle manifestations.
Proceed to part 2 of this article: Skin or Facial Wrinkle Causes (Part 2)
