7 facts about facial skin ageing

Of all the things that age your skin, nothing does more damage than the sun.

- Sumiko Tan

I hit menopause at the age of 55, and one of my biggest challenges during that time was melasma, a skin condition which causes dark patches to appear on the face. My skin in adulthood hadn't been that great to begin with. In my 30s, I went through a period battling nodule-like pimples that cleared only after several rounds of antibiotics. But the melasma that coincided with menopause was a different story altogether. Nothing seemed to erase the brown blotches that crept across my cheeks. At their worst, they looked like faint moth wings stamped on both sides of my face. The dermatologist prescribed topical brightening creams along with instructions to shield my skin from the sun. Over time, the patches have faded but not disappeared. If I spend too much time outdoors, even with sunscreen, they reappear.

Melasma made me realise that ageing skin isn't just about fighting wrinkles. It's also about understanding why the skin changes, and what can be done about it.

WHY AND HOW DOES THE SKIN AGE?

Skin goes through both intrinsic and extrinsic ageing, says Dr Eileen Tan, a dermatologist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.

"Intrinsic or biological ageing is determined by one's genes and is hard to change," she says. But it can be controlled to a certain extent by a healthy lifestyle and diet.

Intrinsic ageing includes loss of facial volume, such as fat and muscle atrophy, leading to sagging skin and wrinkles. Extrinsic ageing may start from one's late 20s and is accelerated by triggers such as excessive sun exposure, dehydration, smoking and pollution.

Associate Professor Chua Sze Hon, executive director of the National Skin Centre (NSC), adds that, with age, one sees more facial pigmentation, skin growths, large pores, prominent oil glands, static wrinkles, skin laxity, loss of facial fat, dilated blood vessels and thinner skin.

Men and women's skin age differently.