When you are in your 40's you will begin to see the real effects of the past abuse you have inflicted on your skin. This is the age that most of use look in the mirror and start to regret the hours unprotected fun in sun that we had in our teens. The signs of aging are apparent have become apparent and can now been seen on our face, neck and chest.

Our skin is under going numerous changes for various reasons including the loss of collagen and elasticity, skin cell turnover is slowing, sun damage in the form of blotchiness, red spots or ruddiness becomes visible and hormone fluctuations caused by perimenopause can cause acne or rosacea. Your skin is less efficient at holding moisture and dry skin is more evident, light no longer reflects evenly off your skins surface so you appear to loss your natural glow.

The 40's also welcome not only fine lines but wrinkles, bags under the eyes, skin tags and protruding moles that seem to appear out of nowhere. For a growing number of individuals the answer is one or several treatments including surgery. Injections such as Botox or Restylane can be used on selective areas of the face to fill in fine lines and wrinkles. Chemical peels, laser resurfacing and dermabrasion are all procedures used to help turn back time and to undo damage to our skin. There is of course plastic surgery to lift and stretch our skin back to where it should be.

For most of us the answer is daily skin care and prevention; which it is never to late to start if you have not yet made the commitment. To start with use a daily cream cleanser, morning and night. It is also recommended that you incorporate a mild cleanser with salicylic acid to use once day if possible. Not everyone can use cleaners that contain salicylic acid, if you have sensitive skin will need to determine for yourself if this is a reasonable option for you.

Moisturizing is a must. It is important to chose a moisturizer with at least 15 SPF to continue to protect your face, neck and chest from the damaging rays of the sun. There are so many products on the market today so it is necessary to choose one or two that will give you the results you are looking for. Formulas that contain peptides are said to strengthen collagen. Ingredients such are hyaluronic acid, shea butter and petrolatum are the moisturizing power houses so if you suffer with extreme dryness these should be on your short list.

Many moisturizers tote antioxidants which all work on different aspects of various problems so to get the biggest bang for your buck alternate different products. Retinoid is also very effective to fight the aging issues that present themselves when you enter your 40's. Using this product as a night time treatment can help reverse sun damage and increase collagen production.

How you decide to approach your skin care issues is a personal choice but where or not you decide to go under the knife or laser, prevention is still the key. It is never to late to start a skin care regime, you will be thanking yourself in 20 years.