Wrinkles are the facial lines caused by ageing and effects of facial muscles. Wrinkles are a by-product of the aging process. With age, skin cells divide more slowly, and the inner layer, called the dermis, begins to thin. The network of elastin (the protein which causes skin to stretch) and collagen fibers (the major structural proteins in the skin), which support the outer layer, loosen and unravel, causing depressions on the surface. With aging, skin also loses its elasticity, is less able to retain moisture, oil-secreting glands are less efficient and the skin is slower to heal. All of these contribute to the development of wrinkles.

If your wrinkles are bothering you, you have more options than ever to help eliminate or at least diminish their appearance. Medications, skin resurfacing techniques, fillers, injectables and surgery top the list of effective wrinkle treatments. As a person ages the epidermal cells become thinner and less sticky. The thinner cells make the skin look noticeably thinner. The decreased stickiness of the cells decreases the effectiveness of the barrier function allowing moisture to be released instead of being kept in the skin. This causes dryness. The number of epidermal cells decreases by 10% per decade and they divide more slowly as we age making the skin less able to repair itself quickly.

Removing skin layers to reduce wrinkles or irregular depressions is an effective way to regain smoother, more youthful looking skin. Dermabrasion (scraping layers away) and chemical peels (dissolving skin away) are two of the traditional methods used in skin resurfacing. Laser skin resurfacing with an ablative laser (such as an erbium or carbon dioxide laser) is another technique that, like dermabrasion and deeper chemical peels, may require some downtime during the healing process.

Factors that promote wrinkling include:

Smoking

Light skin type (people with blue eyes and easily burned skin are more prone to sun damage)

Heredity (some families wrinkle more)

Hairstyle (some styles provide cover and protection against sun damage)

Dress (hats, long sleeves, etc.)

Occupational and recreational habits (farming, sailing, golfing, using tanning booths, and so forth)

Here are some things people can do to prevent getting many wrinkles at an early age:

Don't go to the tanning salon. The UV light from tanning booths is just as damaging as the sun's - and sometimes worse.

Don't smoke! Smoking robs your skin of precious moisture and causes premature (early) wrinkles. (Did you ever notice that most heavy smokers have wrinkles around their mouths?)

Wrinkles on the face are an unsightly and irritating problem. They make our faces look much older than we'd like, and certainly older than we feel. The last decade has seen an incredible amount of research done on why skin ages, potential damage from the sun, how to prevent it, and how to improve the wrinkles and fine lines we already have. Dramatic improvements in laser technology and injectable fillers have helped tens of millions of Americans improve their skin. This website was created by some of the world's leading authorities on dermatology to give you insight into how to improve your skin and feel better about it.