If you haven’t been protecting your skin,
it can start to give away clues about your age. Fine lines and wrinkles
begin to appear, along with brown spots and rough skin patches caused
by sun exposure. Your skin might be producing less collagen, and dead
skin cells don’t flake off imperceptibly anymore. If this sounds like
your skin, it’s time to turn to anti-aging products and treatments to
slow down, reduce, or even reverse the signs of aging and regain younger-looking skin.
Any skin that’s been regularly exposed to the elements can be
expected to show its age and needs special care to maintain its
youthful look, says Sonia Badreshia-Bansal, MD, CEO and medical director
of Elite MD, Inc. Advanced Dermatology, Laser, and Plastic Surgery
Institute in Danville, Calif.
Your Anti-Aging Action Plan

At-home and doctor’s office procedures can have a visible impact on your complexion, giving you back younger-looking skin.

1. Protect your skin. The first rule of thumb:
   Prevent the damage. “The best thing to do to protect your skin is
   prevention,” Dr. Badreshia-Bansal says. The sun is enemy number one, so
   you need to wear sunscreen
   with a sun protection factor, or SPF, of 30 or higher whenever you’re
   outside. You also should wear long-sleeved shirts and pants. Protect
   your face and neck with wide-brimmed hats, your eyes with sunglasses
   with UV coating. Dryness is enemy number two, making lines seem more
   noticeable, so choose a moisturizer made for your skin type and use it regularly to keep skin supple.
2. Apply a vitamin A cream. Prescription-strength,
   vitamin A–based topical gels or creams known as retinoids can reduce
   wrinkles and produce younger-looking skin. “It helps to build collagen,
   which can prevent the development of fine lines and wrinkles, and to
   lighten dark spots,” Badreshia-Bansal says. “We also use it to treat acne,
   and it can help prevent precancerous growths.” Prescription retinoids
   include Retin-A and Renova (tretinoin), Differin (adapalene), and Avage
   (tazarotene).
3. Bleach your brown spots. You can try lightening
   brown spots (also called age spots) with a bleaching cream that contains
   hydroquinone. “Hydroquinone helps inhibit an important enzyme in
   pigment synthesis,” Badreshia-Bansal explains.
4. Pick up a pentapeptide anti-wrinkle cream. These
   anti-aging creams stimulate the skin’s production of collagen and
   elastin and are found in some drugstore or beauty counter products.
   “You’re helping to build back the support structure that’s been lost
   through aging and sun damage,” Badreshia-Bansal says.
5. Peel to reveal fresher skin. Dermatologists use
   various methods to remove the top layer of skin and expose new skin.
   These procedures can help tighten the skin and diminish fine lines and
   brown spots. “By exfoliating that top layer, you’re allowing the
   moisturizers and other products we use to penetrate deeper and work
   better,” Badreshia-Bansal says.
   Procedures include:
   
   • Chemical peel solutions to loosen and slough away the top layer of skin
   • Laser skin resurfacing to vaporize the surface skin
   • Microdermabrasion that sprays tiny particles to strip away topmost skin cells
   • Plasma skin regeneration using a stream of ionized nitrogen gas to heat the skin and cause the top layer of cells to flake away
6. Consider Botox. Injections of botulinum toxin
   have become tremendously popular as an anti-aging therapy. The
   injections relax the muscles under the skin and can eliminate deep lines
   and wrinkles around the face. Botox treatments also can help prevent
   new wrinkles from appearing.

You have many options available to create younger-looking skin.
Factors including cost and the recovery time associated with procedures
like peels will help you decide on your best course of action.