Ageing is inevitable and, through the lens of gratitude, a privilege. But ageing can also be tough because, let’s be honest, an extra candle on a delicious birthday cake is cause for celebration, but an extra line, wrinkle or age spot on your skin? Not so much. The good news is that while we can’t turn back life’s clock, we can turn back your complexion’s clock with the right information and innovative interventions.
First, Let’s Talk Cause and Effect
Have you ever met a 40-year-old who looks 30 or a 30-year-old who looks 40? Well, that’s the difference between taking care of your skin at every age versus not taking care of your skin at any age.
Skin ageing is a combination of the natural ageing process, genetics (you really did get it from your Mama), and environmental and lifestyle factors (think smoking or not wearing sunscreen).
As we get older, our collagen and elastin production slows down, which is why, as we age, we may start to notice fine lines, wrinkles, pigmentation, textural changes and gravity-induced sagging. And, while a little sunshine helps boost Vitamin D levels, having too much unprotected fun in the sun is like hitting the fast-forward button on your skin’s ageing process. Throw in other environmental factors (like pollution) and lifestyle choices (like poor diet and not drinking enough water), and you’ve got a recipe for looking older than you are.
You see, our skin has two distinct layers: the epidermis, which makes up the outer barrier of our skin (protecting us from environmental insults, such as bacteria and UV radiation) and the dermis, which is rich in collagens and other proteins (responsible for skin’s strength and elasticity). Both of these layers take strain during our lives, and over time, what these layers did without much help in our younger years needs a helping hand in our more golden years. In a nutshell, ageing as gracefully as we can becomes a team effort.
Let’s Talk Serums
Adding a serum to your skincare routine, morning and night, is important at every stage of adult life but becomes particularly critical when embarking on an anti-ageing skincare mission. We’re big fans of the Endocare Expert Drops Firming Protocol and SkinCeuticals Cell Cycle Catalyst.
- Endocare Expert Drops Firming Protocol is an all-encompassing day and night product system designed for daily use that incorporates a firming serum for daytime use and a soft peel serum for night-time application. Engineered with cutting-edge SCA® Growth Factor Technology and Collagen Boost Complex, the “morning” Firming Serum regenerates skin cells, improving skin texture and promoting a youthful and vibrant complexion, while the “night” Soft Peel Serum is packed with Retinol and an array of active ingredients, to deliver a comprehensive enzymatic and chemical exfoliation.
- SkinCeuticals Cell Cycle Catalyst is a daily, layer-able serum clinically proven to enhance anti-ageing results. Formulated with a multi-acid complex (including alpha hydroxy and beta hydroxy acids) and Taurine, this serum gently exfoliates and boosts cellular turnover on the skin’s surface. The multi-acid complex gently peels and enhances cellular turnover, leading to smoother skin texture, while the innovative formulation helps to maintain optimal hydration, crucial for a healthy skin barrier. Regular use of this product improves the appearance of discolouration and visible lines, making it an excellent first step in any anti-ageing skincare regimen and the perfect “prep” ahead of a professional chemical peel.
Let’s Talk Moisturisers
Three words: Hydration, hydration, hydration. Moisturising alone can improve the appearance of your skin, temporarily plumping the skin, making fine lines and wrinkles less visible, and, with regular use, increasing your skin’s water content to prevent new fine lines and wrinkles from moving in. Using a moisturiser every day, morning and night, restores, protects, and maintains your skin’s first line of defence—the skin barrier.
- Lamelle RFM Elixir Cream is the ultimate moisturiser for rejuvenation, featuring a superstar active ingredient, Stem Cell Conditioned Media (SCCM), which delivers the “liquid essence” of stem cells through natural encapsulation technology that ensures maximal absorption and optimal results. SCCM contains active growth factors, anti-inflammatory cytokines, potent antioxidants, collagen-encouraging peptides, and stem cell-derived exosomes. The result? Powerful anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and pigment-inhibiting properties.
- Lamelle Dermaheal Renewal Cream is a powerful corrective moisturiser with 50% more Growth Factors than Lamelle Dermaheal Cellular Repair Cream. One of the key benefits of this moisturiser is its high and active levels of Growth Factors, which help to rejuvenate photo-damaged and ageing skin using natural repair pathways. With its unique blend of ingredients, this moisturiser quickly remodels all layers of the skin, leaving you with a radiant, smooth, and firm complexion while reducing visible lines and wrinkles with regular use.
- NeoStrata Skin Active Triple Firming Neck Cream is a specially formulated anti-ageing solution for the neck and décolleté areas. Working synergistically, this powerful blend counters visible signs of ageing, rendering skin firmer and more youthful and providing extra relief for dehydration and sun damage. Combining three clinically proven matrix-building ingredients—pro–amino Acids, NeoCitriate, and NeoGlucosamine—this innovative formula lifts and firms, stimulating deep-layer collagen production in your skin, promoting new collagen formation, and enhancing the surrounding support matrix.
Let’s Talk Sunscreen
There’s no sugar-coating it. Sun exposure (UV light) causes many skin problems, including premature ageing of your skin. The result is called photoaging, and it's responsible for 90% of visible changes to your skin that stem from damaged skin cells. Hyperpigmentation, age spots, fine lines, wrinkles and crépe-like sagging in areas that used to be firm and supple are all unwanted side effects of unprotected sun exposure. Many experts in the skincare and aesthetics arena are quick to say that if you had to choose just one anti-ageing skin care product of great quality, multi-tasking sunscreen would be it.
Speaking of great quality and multi-tasking, Heliocare 360 Age Active Fluid SPF 50 ticks all the boxes. This broad-spectrum, anti-ageing fluid provides protection while preventing visible signs of ageing and contains Fernblock®, a potent antioxidant that protects your skin against four types of radiation (UVB, UVA, VL, IRA) as well as blue light from your digital devices. Its antipollution system and triple anti-ageing complex work together to correct damage caused and prevent future damage. And, the addition of Hyaluronic Acid means that this product hydrates and firms your skin, too. We love its light texture and the fact that it’s fast-absorbing, which makes it both easy to apply and an excellent make-up base.
Let’s Talk Fillers
While prevention is always better than cure, we can’t hop in a time machine and correct all of our past skin sins or reverse the effects of gravity with a morning/night skincare routine alone, which is where dermal fillers come in.
Dermal Fillers are injections that plump up wrinkles and smooth lines on your face, producing results right away that can last months or years. At Skin Renewal, we offer the tried and tested MD Codes system, which is based on the strategic placement of HA filler treatments to a combination of different injection sites. Our MD Codes System achieves direct and indirect effects by giving volume and structure to the face – volumising hollow cheeks, lifting jowls and strengthening the SMAS (superficial muscular aponeurotic system), one of the most critical facial and neck support structures.
- The FOUNDATION CODES strengthen the SMAS; improving deep hollows under the eyes, volumising hollow cheeks and lifting jowls.
- The CONTOUR CODES feminise the jawline area; softening the marionette lines and jowl area, lifting a downturned mouth corner, and softening a protruding chin or improving a double chin.
- The REFINEMENT CODES soften nasolabial folds, improve tear troughs and soften “smokers” lines around the mouth. Lip augmentation can also be artistically done to achieve fuller, ‘naturally younger’ looking lips.
There’s No Time Like the Present
Whether you’re already making anti-ageing skin care a priority or looking to pop it at the top of your ‘to do’ list, make an appointment to chat to your Skin Renewal therapist or doctor about upping your anti-ageing game. Because, whatever your age, you deserve to look in the mirror and love who you see.