Sagging Skin

There are several ways that you can prevent sagging skin. By following some of the tips in these articles you could save a lot of money on expensive cosmetic anti aging creams in your later years.

One of the main causes of sagging skin is prolonged exposure to sunlight. Sunburned skin is much more prone to wrinkling and sagging over the long term. To prevent ultraviolet light from causing free radical damage to your skin stay out of the sun during its most intense time which is from ten am to two pm. If you must go out wear a broad rimmed hat, sunglasses and plenty of sunscreen. Remember that your skin needs a bit of sun to stay healthy, the idea is to avoid over-exposure. Ten minutes at a day in direct sun on off hours is the right dose to keep your skin healthy.

Another major cause of sagging skin is yo yo dieting. The stress of constantly gaining and losing weight causes the skin to become less elastic. As you age this makes it more difficult for the skin to resist the forces of gravity. Being overweight causes you to look pouchy and old and too much weight loss leads to a wrinkled, sagging appearance. To avoid sagging skin, eat sensibly, drink plenty of water, take your vitamins and participate in both anaerobic (weight lifting) and aerobic exercise (running or swimming) activities.

Of course what you eat also has a great deal to do with whether or not you will develop sagging skin or wrinkles. Vitamin pills can help but they don't do as good of a job at preventing aging as nutrients that are derived from wholesome, natural foods. This is because these foods contain micronutrients that have yet to be replicated in a pill.

The best sources of antioxidants are in raw fruits and vegetables. However if you cannot find the time to eat your greens and brightly multi-colored fruits you can buy powdered mixes that make a quick fix for people on the run.

Another way to prevent your skin from sagging is to use products that contain natural oils to keep it moisturized. Good examples of these types of moisturizers are coconut oil, glycerin and shea butter. As these are natural oils they can help prevent the formation of free radicals as well as keep the skin's connective tissues supple and strong. These natural substances can also help bring back a youthful appearance by dissolving dead cells on the skin's surfaces. These oils are also lubricants that protect the moisture barrier of the skin as well as attract more moisture to its surface. The use of coconut oil, shea butter or glycerin has been shown to restore damaged skin so when you look for soaps, creams or lotions try to find ones that contain these two natural oils.

Speaking of oils, Omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent skin sagging. Making sure you get enough omega-3 in your diet, by taking fish oil or cod liver oil regularly Omega-3 fats help to normalize skin lipids and prevent dehydration in the cells. This keeps skin cells strong and full of moisture. Omega-3 fats may have an anti-inflammatory effect that can help to calm irritated skin. When choosing omega 3 oils try to choose oils that come wild varieties of fish which are less likely to contain dioxin or other types of smoke.

Avoiding smoking and cigarette smoke can also go a long way to preventing the kind of collagen break down that causes sagging skin. Smoke damages the microcapillaries in the skin as well as its ability to absorb creams with nutrients.

The rate at which your skin sags or wrinkles might also have to do with how much stress you are under. People under stress tend to fret and frown more creating unattractive wrinkles. They eat on the run, which means they consume more damaging free radicals then people who take the time to prepare healthy meals. The more quickly that your skin is able to recover from damage has a great deal to do with whether or not it will start sagging. If the person is under stress, the skin's collagen tends to break down more quickly causing unattractive results. Meditation, getting enough rest and taking time out to smell the flowers might go a long way towards repairing wrinkles and preventing sagging skin.

Sagging Skin Therapies Under Fire

Do nothing about your appearance because critics claim nothing works, or do something to reverse sagging skin, excess body fat build up and cellulite dimpling?

Are dimpled thighs, double chins or sagging loose skin around your stomach really going to miraculously tighten up due to treatment by any of the new high-tech and highly marketed skin rejuvenation therapies?

Scientists and skeptics will argue that cause-and-effect relationships between alleged skin tightening therapies like laser dermabrasion or the radio frequency based Thermage or Titan are simply too weak to demonstrate conclusively across a wide population.

Not surprisingly, the real story is complex with some wrinkle reduced winners and some sagging skin losers arguing strongly about these New Age saggy skin therapies.

What The Smoother Skin Winners Say - Voting With Their Pocketbooks. The current crop of baby boomers are individually putting out thousands of dollars for skin rejuvenation treatments, and combined are spending almost $4.3 billion dollars in 2006 for the full spectrum of body shaping procedures. Big trend setters are those non invasive non surgical body contouring devices.

Clearly, lasers and their satisfied customers agree that this cold-light technology can stimulate collagen production, tighten loose saggy skin. Otherwise, the market wouldn't pay out these sort of monies, like $2,500 for a Thermage face lift and neck sagging skin treatment.

The Winners also point out that these non surgical therapies benefit customers through lower costs, no surgical health risks, no down time and loss of salary or vacation time.

What The Sagging Skin Losers Think. Here's the straight talk from industry skeptics. Insufficient clinical evidence exists to show the sort of predicted result claimed by the medical device promoters. Results in terms of reducing sagging skin are variable and random, rather than straight-line and predictable.

Worse, these critics tout that the alleged skin tightening results reflect swelling or inflammatory response rather than actual collage stimulation, or repairing skin laxity.

Their further argument is that the laser and other light-energy device makers rely on selective before-and-after photos, cherry picking results from the success end of the therapy spectrum rather than showing the miniscule typical candidate.