Fernandes 1

Hayane Amorim Fernandes

Carly Vogelsang
Writing 154-2
20 November 2014
Premature Aging: Prevention X Plastic Surgery
Ageing is an inevitable process, over the 20s the production of collagen and
elastin, proteins that give our skin shape and firmness, start to decrease, however, is
aging skin preventable? Dermatologists classify the aging process in two categories, the
intrinsic and the extrinsic. The intrinsic is a natural aging process and is influenced by
the genes that we inherit while the extrinsic aging is influenced by external factors such
as sunlight exposure, tobacco smoking and even stress. The external factors acting
together with the natural process can cause premature aging of the skin thus to prevent
the premature aging of the skin is necessary to avoid the external factors which catalyze
the skin aging.
The factor that contribute most for the premature aging of the skin is the extreme
exposition to the sunlight. The skin damaged by solar exposition is called
photodamaged. The characteristics of a photodamaged skin are yellowing, blotchiness,
wrinkling and dryness. According to Warren et al. sunlight is an outstanding factor for
premature aging independent of other factors (1). This was concluded after a study
made with a group of health people living in the same sunny area. The group of study
were women with different ages and different levels of solar exposure.

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Were analyzed the level of collagen and elastin in the skin face of each woman and
using high resolution photograph was possible to notice that women with higher solar
exposure looked more aged.
Another factor that can cause premature aging is having an unhealthy lifestyle.
Some habits such as smoke tobacco can contribute to an aged appearance of the skin.
Smoke tobacco is a poor habit for the human health and it can cause multiples diseases
such as bronchitis, respiratory infections and even cancer. Smoking is also related with
many dermatologic problems. Many authors have studied the effects that smoking
cigarettes cause in the skin. Bernhard et al. states that cigarette smoking exhaust
cellular defense and repair functions which leads to an accumulation of damage e.g.
mutations and malfunction proteins (2). Akimichi Morita in the article Tobacco smoke
causes premature skin aging, inform that was concluded in a long time ago that
tobacco has deleterious effects on skin (3).
Stress is also a factor that can contribute for skin aging. The mechanisms of
stress are not well understood yet but is known that when a person is under stress
chemicals are released into the body, these chemicals can damage the body cells
causing premature aging. Stress also contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle, since that a
person under stress have tendency to care less with the health, eating poorly,
exercising less which can also lead to skin problems and consequently premature
aging.
Exposition to sunlight, unhealthy lifestyle and stress are, then, the main reasons
for premature aging, and are really common in many countries around the world,

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because of the stressing and busy lifestyle that people have. When people face the
problem of premature aging, there are usually two options to deal with it: plastic surgery,
when premature aging is already a problem, or prevention, which is used before the
problem becomes real. However, is important to think about which one of these
methods is worth.
When the skin is already aged by natural or external factors, there is the option to
have a plastic surgery. The convenience of having a plastic surgery attract more
supporter each year, since that a plastic surgery is capable to recover signs of
premature or natural aging and has immediate results. However, this method has more
disadvantages than advantages. The major disadvantages of this process are related
with the risks to the human health. A plastic surgery has cosmetic objectives but does
not let to be a surgery, thus, there are risks like every surgery, and some processes can
go wrong in the moment such as an allergic reaction causing even the death of the
patient, nevertheless, this is an extreme possibility. Another and less invasive option is
the use of the botulin toxin, known as BOTOX, which has risks too. According to the
FDA, US food and drugs administration, BOTOX may cause serious side effects that
can be life threatening, including problems breathing or swallowing and spread of toxin
effects, another disadvantage of the use of BOTOX is that it has a temporary effect,
about 2-6 months, making necessary the reapplication to obtain the desirable results.
Another option to have a healthy and beautiful skin is to avoid the external
factors that contribute to the skin aging. Simple habits like apply sunscreen and have a
healthy lifestyle can retard the aging. The sunscreen protects the skin against the
ultraviolet radiation that has deleterious in the human skin and may cause including

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cancer. Avoid other habits such smoke can retard the skin aging too. Prevention of
premature aging has only positive effects. It is inexpensive, not harmful and can lead to
a healthy lifestyle and healthy skin.
Aging is a process that occurs with every person. It is not possible stop the aging
but the prevention of a premature aging is achievable and desirable. There are other
options to make the skin look less aged such as surgery plastic. However, this can be
an invasive and dangerous procedure and has temporary results, making the adepts of
this method dependent of it. Because of that, people should be more concerned in
prevent the premature aging, avoiding mainly the extreme exposure to the sunlight,
applying sunscreen every day, not only in sunny days, and having a healthy lifestyle.

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Works Cited
1

Warren, Raphael R., PhD. "Age, Sunlight, and Facial Skin: A Histologic and

Quantitative Study." Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 25.5 (1991):

751-60.
2

Bernhard, D., C. Moser, A. Backovic, and G. Wick. "Cigarette Smoke an Aging

Accelerator?" Experimental Gerontology 42.3 (2007): 160-65.

3

Morita, Akimichi. "Tobacco Smoke Causes Premature Skin Aging." Journal of

Dermatological Science 48.3 (2007): 169-75.