Wrinkles: What are Causes, Preventive Measures & Treatment?

As we age, our skin has to contend with wrinkles. This is a natural process that everyone has to go through. Brands are marketing massively, from severe medical procedures to make-up techniques to hide these wrinkles. But have you ever wondered about a healthy skincare routine to reduce and slow the appearance of these unwanted folds on your skin?

Knowing your wrinkles helps you understand the root cause and the accurate treatment, and you save a lot of money. This blog details everything from the types of wrinkles to their causes and preventive measures.

What are Wrinkles?

The creases or folds on the skin that no one wants are wrinkles and are a natural part of the ageing phenomenon. Medical science called wrinkles as rhytids. These wrinkles tend to appear more on your skin parts that are exposed to the sun, including your face, neck, and hands. Some folds can be deeper into your skin, while others may not.

So, what exactly causes wrinkles?

What Causes Wrinkles?

Wrinkles can be formed due to multiple reasons, while some factors are beyond your influence, fortunately, some factors are within a grasp of your control.

Ageing: The major underlying cause is ageing. As you pass more years of your life, your skin naturally becomes drier and starts losing elasticity. The deeper layers of your skin lose the fat and collagen that are highly crucial for your skin’s tightness and firmness and your skin becomes saggy and loose.

Smoking: Tobacco smoke has chemicals that can constrict blood vessels and this reduces the blood flow in your skin, hastening the ageing procedure. The reduced blood supply makes your skin deprived of essential nutrients. Thus, smoking is one of the major contributors to wrinkles.

Pollution: Pollutants may trigger inflammation in your skin that may lead to premature ageing. Your skin may become loose and saggy due to a loss of collagen. In particular environments, air pollution can cause severe dehydration by stripping the natural oils of the skin.

Ultraviolet Radiation: When your skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sunlight, the chances of wrinkling even become higher. Some parts of your skin may be prone to sunburn, ultraviolet radiation affects these regions particularly. After the radiation hits your skin, it breaks down the elastic fibres and collagen, and as a result, your skin becomes loosened.

Genetic Factors: You can inherit the tendency to develop wrinkles. Certain genetic factors can decide how you age. Some people’s genes may predispose them to make collagen in less quantity while others can produce more. Moreover, your genetic variation can also decide your skin’s ability to retain moisture.

Types of Wrinkles

Broadly, there are two major categories of wrinkles, including dynamic and static. Whereas dynamic wrinkles occur due to continuous facial movements, static wrinkles happen because of loss of elasticity as you age. Let’s learn more about them in detail.

Dynamic Wrinkles

Have you noticed the lines around the eye area when you laugh? The repeated facial movements and expressions end up in dynamic wrinkles. The muscles on your face contract when you make expressions like smiling, frowning, or squinting. When these expressions are made for longer durations, over time, they get deep into the skin, resulting in some creases or folds appearing on your face.

The common regions on the face where dynamic wrinkles can be noticed are around the eyes, forehead, lips, and between the eyebrows.

Static wrinkles

You must have heard of the term “fine lines”, they are static wrinkles. When those dynamic wrinkles become steady after a continuity over a long period, they become static. They occur due to many reasons, primarily ageing, and can become even more pronounced over time.

Collagen is the tissue that is responsible for providing elasticity and structural support to your skin. As we age, this loss of elasticity results in static wrinkles. Apart from ageing, other external factors contribute to ageing.

Other Kinds of Wrinkles

We further categorise these two primary kinds of wrinkles to reveal more types.

1. Compression Wrinkles or Pillow Lines or Sleep Wrinkles
   When we sleep while nuzzling our face into the pillow, our facial muscles find it difficult to endure that pressure for longer hours. Your skin is tender to handle that for the whole night and you may end up with these compression lines. During the ageing process, these sleep wrinkles often are noticeable during the morning hours. Sun rays are the enemy of these sleep wrinkles and can deepen the wrinkles.
   
   But if you change your sleep habits, these wrinkles don’t get deeper into the skin and often disappear too.
   
   
2. Gravitational Folds
   As we age, the loss in soft tissue volume and the gravitational force may make your skin loosen its natural tightness and end up becoming saggy. These folds often occur on the upper eyelids, jowls, brows, and lower face area.
   
   
3. Expression Lines
   Our facial muscles are deeply connected to the skin tissue, and these facial muscles get automatically activated when we make any expression, including frowning, laughing, and smiling. Those creases and lines are natural and don’t create an issue. But as we age, the skin loses its collagen and that’s when the actual problem arises. The skin finds it tough to bounce back to its original position after the movements end and you can get those expression wrinkles or lines.
   
   
4. Atrophic Wrinkles
   Atrophic wrinkles develop when the natural elastin structure of the skin breaks down. The two main culprits are sun exposure and ageing. You can witness these wrinkles on the areas especially exposed under the sun, including the face, hands, and neck.

Types of Facial Wrinkles

Apart from the above-mentioned types, you might have witnessed these forms more;

1. Under-Eye Wrinkles: Your whole orbital area is super sensitive and thin, and the very first signs of ageing begin from here. The continuous contraction of the muscles around this region can contribute to those unwanted wrinkles.
   
   
2. Marionette Lines: These lines are called smile lines and stretch from your nose toward the mouth’s curved part.
   
   
3. Crow’s Feet: They are very similar to under-eye wrinkles but appear on the side eye region, giving the appearance of the crow’s feet hence named after it. They may get deeper when you smile or contract your near-eye muscles often.
   
4. Tech Neck: Commonly called neck wrinkles, these lines appear horizontally on the neck area and look as if you are wearing a neck choker. They are small and thin in appearance.
   
   
5. Forehead Wrinkles: This form is very commonly seen. With the passage of years, the lost collagen may make these lines more visible on the forehead.

Does Makeup Cause Wrinkles?

There is no straightforward answer to this question. We cannot directly claim that make-up is the reason causing you wrinkles but there are various factors involved, including how you apply it, which quantity is appropriate for your skin type, and how you remove it.

If you are using cheap quality products, your skin may have to face the consequences. The ingredients might clog your pores. Go for fragrance-free products, with skin-friendly ingredients that are less irritating to your skin.

Additionally, you must be doing the right skincare practices. Don’t sleep with your make-up on. It can do disasters to your skin. The relationship between the wrinkles and the makeup is complex depending on how you balance it.

How to Prevent Wrinkles?

Preventing wrinkles requires a comprehensive strategy and involves a multi-faceted approach. Combating creases on the skin starts with your lifestyle, skincare practices, food habits, and exercise. You can control some types of wrinkles caused by internal and external factors and may delay the arrival of wrinkles, but cannot entirely prevent them.

On this note, let’s explore some effective tips and methods to prevent wrinkles and fine lines.

1. Hydrate Your Body

When you give your body enough water, it functions better. If your skin is dehydrated, it is more prone to sagging and wrinkle formation. Water flushes the toxins out and makes your skin glow. Well-hydrated skin retains moisture. Aim to drink appropriate ounces of water and maintain your skin’s elasticity.

2. Sleep on Your Back

While some of your sleeping positions end up giving you those unwanted sleep lines you can always make a habit of sleeping on your back to prevent those lines. You need to minimise your facial contact with the pillow. Additionally, when you are sleeping on your back, it facilitates lymphatic drainage better from your face.

3. Don’t Wash Your Face Too Often

Excess of anything is not good, and the same applies to cleaning your face. Make a routine and follow it religiously but that doesn’t mean you have to wash your face every 2-3 hours. Leave your skin alone. Let it breathe. Overwashing your face can strip off the essential natural oils on your skin and make it dry. That dry surface can contribute to the fine lines.

4. Shield Your Skin Against the Sun

Sun damages the skin, and so causes wrinkles. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet rays may play a significant role in creating deep-skinned sagging and wrinkles. It contributes to premature ageing as well. Include SPF 30 or 50 in your skincare. Get extra protection with covered clothes.

5. Moisturise

Provide your skin with proper nourishment and hydration with appropriate moisture. As you age, this becomes a necessity as your skin tends to lose elasticity and is susceptible to creases and folds. You can start with a moisturiser infused with hyaluronic acid, peptides, and vitamin C. These vital ingredients can reduce the development of wrinkles and make them appear less.

6. Adhere to a Consistent Skincare Routine

Manage a diligent skincare routine. It is paramount to your skin and its overall health. A religiously followed skin care plan can delay the appearance of wrinkles on your skin and allow it to breathe afresh. Regular care and attention can ward off the development of wrinkles and fine lines. Choose skincare products that suit your skin type for effective outcomes.

How to Treat Wrinkles?

Wrinkles are normal! They are not problematic until they appear before the right age. But again, that “right age” differs from person to person. You can delay the development of wrinkles and how they appear with the above-mentioned effective tips and a persevering skincare regimen.

Let’s explore some effective ways to enhance your visual appearance and combat the wrinkles.

1. Facelift: It is a surgical procedure to improve the appearance of the face, neck, along with jawline. Cost can be a limiting factor and the wrinkles may still appear over time despite the facelift.
   
   
2. Ablative Laser Resurfacing: It is a kind of facial rejuvenation process that is done to improve the look of your skin with the help of a laser. You can find your skin smoother and firmer but the results are not permanent.
   
   
3. Chemical Peel: A chemical solution is applied to the skin by a healthcare expert to peel the top layer of the skin. Afterwards, the skin comes back with a smooth surface naturally. One treatment is hardly enough. You may have to undergo multiple sessions, depending on your condition.
   
   
4. Serums and Creams: The most used products are these prescription-strength retinoids. These anti-wrinkle products are incredibly effective if you are using them appropriately. But you need a lot of patience and consistency to witness improvements. DRSQ has some effective products for saggy skin and wrinkled texture.
   
   (a). Hydrafusion: Hydrafusion is a luxurious lightweight moisturiser blended with SNAP-8 peptide, hyaluronic Acid & biomimetic lipids to give anti-ageing and anti-wrinkle effects, promoting comprehensive cellular revitalisation for damaged skin.
   
   (b). Collagen Boost: It is a collagen-boosting firming cream to lift and firm your sagging skin. This has a powerful combination of Vegan DMAE, MSM, and organic phytolipids that work synergistically to revitalise the thinning dermal/epidermal layers. You can get visibly firmer skin with a restored youthful glow.
   
   
5. Botox and Fillers: Botox and fillers are injected into the skin to help with wrinkles and facelifts. These treatments are temporary and must be repeated regularly to maintain the effect.

The Bottom Line

Before starting with your treatment, you must know that wrinkles are a normal part of the ageing process, and everyone has to go through them. However, a few internal and external factors may speed up the process of skin sagging and might leave you worried. Early intervention and the right skincare routine can slow the ageing process of the skin