Farage MA, Miller KW, Elsner P, Maibach HI, et al.
Advances in wound care. Date of publication 2013 Feb 1;volume 2(1):5-10.
1. Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). 2013 Feb;2(1):5-10.
Characteristics of the Aging Skin.
Farage MA(1), Miller KW(1), Elsner P(2), Maibach HI(3).
Author information:
(1)The Procter and Gamble Company , Cincinnati, Ohio.
(2)Klinik Fur Dermatologic , Jena, Germany .
(3)Department of Dermatology, University of California , San Francisco,
California.
SIGNIFICANCE: Although most researches into the changes in skin with age focus on
the unwelcome aesthetic aspects of the aging skin, skin deterioration with age is
more than a merely cosmetic problem. Although mortality from skin disease is
primarily restricted to melanoma, dermatological disorders are ubiquitous in
older people with a significant impact on quality of life. The structural and
functional deterioration of the skin that occurs with age has numerous clinical
presentations, ranging from benign but potentially excruciating disorders like
pruritus to the more threatening carcinomas and melanomas.
RECENT ADVANCES: The degenerative changes that occur in the aging skin are
increasingly understood at both the molecular and cellular level, facilitating a
deeper understanding of the structural and functional deterioration that these
changes produce.
CRITICAL ISSUES: A loss of both function and structural stability in skin
proceeds unavoidably as individuals age, which is the result of both intrinsic
and extrinsic processes, which contribute simultaneously to a progressive loss of
skin integrity. Intrinsic aging proceeds at a genetically determined pace,
primarily caused by the buildup of damaging products of cellular metabolism as
well as an increasing biological aging of the cells. Estrogen levels strongly
influence skin integrity in women as well; falling levels in midlife, therefore,
produce premature aging as compared with similarly aged men. Extrinsic insults
from the environment add to the dermatological signs of aging.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS: A deeper understanding of the physiological basis of skin
aging will facilitate progress in the treatment of the unwelcome sequelae of
aging skin, both cosmetic and pathogenic.
DOI: 10.1089/wound.2011.0356
PMCID: PMC3840548
PMID: 24527317
