Ever noticed crepey skin in your body? Just acknowledge it, because everyone has their own crepey skin. Take a look at your knee or elbow. The skin texture on those areas is different with the others. It’s called crepey skin. But as we grow older, the skin will start to appear crepey. Actually we can’t generalize the type of crepey skin because it may looks similar with other aging character of skin, such as wrinkle. That’s why in this article, we will discuss further about crepey skin, especially the tips to get rid of crepey skin. Before we talk about that, let’s get to know more about crepey skin.
Crepey skin can appear in many places, where the skin is more delicate and thin. It looks like elephant skin due to its crinkled-texture. There are many names to this condition: crepe-paper; grandma skin; or paper-thin skin. Dermatologist from New York, Macrene Elaxiades, MD defined crepey skin as one of the most difficult signs of skin aging to be prevented, due to its different causes [1]. It can occur on so many different parts of our body. Crepey skin usually appears when you are 40s. But, it can also appear early when you are still at 20s. This elephant-like skin doesn’t come out of the blue. Crepey skin needs months, or even years, to transform. That’s why the question of how to get rid crepey skin becomes one of the most concerns of people.
Like what we’ve mentioned before, crepey skin can appear anywhere. But it tends to appear at susceptible areas like neck, shoulders, back, upper inner arms, chest, finger joints, and more commonly on elbows and knees. Actually the character of our skin is elastic. But as we age, the elasticity is decreasing. So crepey skin can appear anywhere on the skin that is thin and often stretched. But what is the main cause of crepey skin? You will discover it in the next part of this article.
First and foremost, as we grow older the skin will gradually become loose and lack of collagen. This element has important role to the stretchiness of our skin. At early 30s, the protein production in your skin also begins to drop. This situation will lead to wrinkle and thin skin. The moisture level of skin also becomes lower as we age. Thus, aging plays a primary role in the appearance of crepey skin.
Loose and flaccid skin also comes from the exposure of sunlight. Anyone who has low melanin level will see the sign of crepey skin sooner than anyone else. This also applied to those with lighter skin tone, who are more sensitive to sun exposure. The American Academy of Dermatology (ADA) stated that 95 percent of skin aging is easier to find due to sun exposure. The UV radiation also becomes more dangerous if it’s run within your family.
Similar to cellulite, drastic change in your weight can lead to crepey skin. Like what we have mentioned above, the elasticity of skin is no longer in its maximum condition. If you are doing diet and experiencing major change in your weight, the skin can’t get back to its former condition easily. The difference of skin before and after weight loss will appear as crepey skin.
How is your sleeping habit? If you are more likely to sleep in one side, please do notice that this comes as one of the causes of crepey skin. Dermatologist from Cleveland Clinic, Melissa Piliang, MD, explained that when we sleep in our side or stomach, our face will be smashed down against the pillow. This condition will make the skin pushed into creases as we sleep for about 6 until 8 hours. Stay alert, because this is not only applied to our face, but also to the whole part of our body. Gravity when we sleep to one side will press the bottom part. Add more pressure and heat, will result to crinkly skin. It’s better to sleep on your back to get rid of crepey skin.
Pay attention to this. It’s not only salt intake that affect our skin. When you have too much sugar intake, there will be a process called glycation. What is this? It’s the bonding of lipid or fat with sugar molecule. If this occurred, the protein fibers will be stiff and form incorrectly. Another shortcoming is when we have low level collagen and elastin, the skin will be weak and less pliable. Do remember that proteins have critical role to maintain the freshness of our skin.
This is the downside of using medication related to skin-aging. Please be very careful, because taking too much medication won’t give any help to your skin condition. Consider more before doing tanning-bed because the amount UV intake can affect your skin. Studies show that exposure to UV radiation will damage the DNA in skin cells. Besides indoor tanning, the use of cream and medications has its limitations. Chronic use of medical things will affect the structure of the skin.
Are you a smoker? Then it will be no surprise if crepey skin appears in most of your body’s parts. The duration and amount of smoke that you consume will affect your skin’s condition directly. There are thousand chemicals ingredients in smoke. Those ingredients are likely damage the collagen and elastin of the skin. Pay more attention too if you are living in environment and be the passive smoker. The cigarette smoke that touches your skin will be a shortcoming for you.
The answer for question above is yes, we can. Before we come to a condition where we can’t control the elastin and collagen level in our body, try the best to prevent the appearance of crepey skin. It’s so much easier to be safe than sorry, right? Here it goes, we have summarized 4 easy tips to prevent crepey skin.
As much as possible, stay in shade. But if it’s impossible for you who work on the field every day, use the protection. Have a good choice of great moisturizer or body lotion that can protect your skin. Heidi A. Waldord, MD, director of cosmetic dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital recommended products with hyaluronic acid ingredients to prevent the appearance of crepey skin. Use sunscreen with SPF 30 or 45 before you step outside the house. Working indoor? Still, make sure the glass wall next to your table has UV filter.
The dry condition of the skin is the beginning of crepey skin. Drink proper amount of water daily, like 8 glasses a day, to make sure that your skin is well-hydrated. Just water, not the one with color or sugar addition. Keep the moisture level of your skin to enhance the collagen production [2]. More moisturized you are, the more elastic your skin will be. Moisture also has vital role to balance the oil content in the skin to prevent crepey condition.
The role of prevention works from within the body. Besides the amount of water intake a day, consume meals rich in vitamins and minerals. Start small with foods like fruits, vegetables, and healthy fat. Make it as a habit. And don’t forget to limit the sugar intake like we discussed above. This will give you a bonus: healthy body.
Not every moisturizing product on the rack is good for your skin. Test it first, make sure that the hypoallergenic label is safe for you. There are so many choices of cream to prevent or get rid of crepey skin, but don’t use too many. Choose wisely which product that suits you the most. Usually it takes 3 months for a product to give impact to your skin.
Dinner should be dinner, not late night eating after 8 p.m. Avoid highly processed foods with rich sodium contents. Remember, eating late night may be enjoyable. But it will make your skin worse and make you older than it is. Do healthy diet, but lose the weight slowly, never too drastic.
Don’t be panic if the prevention steps that you did weren’t giving you any good impact. There are still many ways to get rid of crepey skin. You can choose the range of anti-aging creams on the rack. But, you can also do it by yourself. Some of them are very easy, you can do it at home. Here, we have summarized the treatments to get rid of crepey skin easily.
After all of the tips we gave you, basically we know that it’s impossible to avoid aging. But doing the prevention of crepey skin will give many benefits to us. Know the causes of crepey skin, and do your best to preserve your skin. Nothing comes instant at a glance, but do it to prevent the breakdown of your skin over the years. Pick healthy decisions to improve your skin, prevent dry skin, and get rid of crepey skin. After all, choosing which one is the best treatments should suit your needs and budgets. Make sure that you have consult with the professionals like dermatologist or do deep research to help you decide which treatment is the best. Good luck!
Education is the gate of the future and student loans were created to make education…
Even though mosquitoes are small creatures, but they can be a very disturbing and sometimes…
Ground squirrels are non aggressive mammals that are still in the same family as chipmunks,…
Bed bugs might be almost invisible when compared to mosquitoes or cockroach that we always…
Bad breath, is it common? Yes and don’t be embarrassed, unfortunately this problem is not…
Ant is one of the insects that’s very common to find in almost all places.…
This website uses cookies.