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Even if smiling and frowning , would you really want to live your entire life not letting your face move freely just to look a bit younger in a few decades? Luckily, you don鈥檛 have to make that choice because, despite the names of smile and frown lines afforded to certain wrinkles, facial expressions are not to blame for creasing.
As , dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at 91社区 in Montreal, explained to me, 鈥淪miling and frowning aren鈥檛 the reason we get wrinkles as we age. The culprits are age-related changes in our skin and sun exposure. As we age, we produce less collagen and elastin, which decreases our skin鈥檚 resiliency. We also lose subdermal fat, and that loss of structural support leads to wrinkling and sagging of the skin.鈥�
So, it鈥檚 not so much that we wrinkle as we age, but rather that we wrinkle because we age. Given that we haven鈥檛 been able to successfully halt aging yet, protecting our skin from UV rays is the most significant thing within our control that can influence how raisin-like we look as grandparents. Skin wrinkling due to sun exposure is called dermatoheliosis, and Dr. Iannattone sent me an extremely dramatic clinical example: The man pictured below drove a delivery truck for twenty-eight years, exposing the left side of his face to more sun.
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As Dr. Iannattone says, 鈥淭he key to preventing wrinkles isn鈥檛 to avoid smiling or frowning, it鈥檚 to protect your skin from the sun.鈥� I hope that puts a smile on your face!
