TIGHTEN Up

Say goodbye to sagging skin! Technology and skincare have collided more than ever before and Dr. Kate Jameson, Cosmetic Physician and the Medical Director of Youth Lab, Australia’s premier medical aesthetics clinic, has everything you need to know about skin tightening.

WHAT CAUSES SAGGING SKIN?

One of the hallmark signs of ageing skin is a loss of skin elasticity and laxity which presents to many as “sagging skin”.

With age, the skin itself changes with a loss of collagen and support as well as a loss of elastin. Elastin provides the skin with the ability to stretch and snap back into position when elastin is lost the skin becomes loose and slack and is unable to maintain its structure and position. This can all result in skin that is thinner, looser and sagging.

Although many of these changes eventually occur in everyone, the changes to skin quality, especially the quality and amount of elastin and collagen, are significantly affected by the environment. Factors such as long term UV exposure and smoking are the main culprits. Other causes include air pollution, poor nutrition, and rapid, extensive weight loss (and also weight fluctuations over time). One of the major causes of skin sagging, smoking, causes a loss of elastin and collagen by the production of free radicals. This is when once-healthy oxygen molecules become overactive and unstable. Free radicals damage cells, leading to, among other things, premature wrinkles and sagging.

Skin damaged by the environment appears course, roughened and is deeply wrinkled with a loss of elasticity and recoil, making the skin appear “saggy.”

Skin sagging generally becomes more apparent as the effects of environmental and lifestyle changes appear, usually in the 40-50s, especially for women. These environmental factors can worsen and accelerate wrinkling and sagging of the skin.

WHAT TREATMENTS WORK BEST FOR NECK AND JOWLS?