One of the first signs of rapid aging is weakened skin elasticity. It is quite natural for the skin to lose its firm state as we age, after all, aging is natural too.
The skin is the largest body organ and has many facets to it. It is also the most exposed. As a result, it changes constantly. All we can do is keep up with products, regimens, and lifestyles.
If you are wondering why you should care about skin elasticity? Simple, to maintain a good grab on your skin. No one wants sagging or leathering skin, even when covered.
Therefore, skin elasticity will be discussed to help you gain more knowledge on the change, why loss occurs, and how to improve skin texture. Read on to find out all about it.
What Is Skin Elasticity?
Skin elasticity simply means the ability of your skin to stretch and rebound easily to its original shape. This is a sign of healthy hydrated skin.
Flexibility is key to skin elasticity. It shows the skin is plump, hydrated, firm, and healthy. If your skin is none of these, it means your skin has lost its skin elasticity.
However, this does not happen in an instant. Loss of skin elasticity is gradual. The reduction, improvement, and rebuilding of tissues or elasticity happens in the dermis (middle layer of the skin), where proteins elastin and collagen reside.
These proteins are what keep our skin by reconnecting and rebuilding what was lost. However, if these proteins are deficient in the skin, the skin loses its elasticity. The loss of skin elasticity is called elastosis.
However, to make sure your skin’s elasticity is still intact, you need to constantly watch the changes that occur. This includes carrying out elasticity tests randomly but occasionally.
Skin Elasticity Test
You can check skin elasticity using simple observation skills. You also do not need to get a checkup for skin elasticity. It only needs a few seconds of your time. You can incorporate the test into your skincare routine to measure the outer wellness of your skin.
Simple skin elasticity tests include:
Pinch test
This test involves pinching a part of your body you can visibly see directly or through a mirror. It could be your cheeks, abdomen, thighs, arm, or hands. All you have to do is pinch and stretch.
If your skin snaps back almost immediately, your skin elasticity is in shape. Nonetheless, it takes time to slowly bounce back to shape, you are losing elasticity.
Squeeze test
This involves almost the same method as the pinch test. All you have to do is squeeze any part of your fingers (thumb, index, or middle finger). If it bounces back to normal, it means you have healthy, hydrated, and elastic skin. If it doesn’t, your skin is lacking.
Snap test
The snap test involves snapping the delicate skin under your eyes. If the skin snaps back almost immediately, you have healthy skin elasticity. However, if it doesn’t, your skin’s firmness is weak.
What Causes of Loss of Skin Elasticity?
Aging
This is primarily the cause of loss of skin elasticity. This weakening is called elastosis and is completely natural as we age. The skin’s elasticity remains firm until your late 20’s. This is when the skin’s collagen and elastin start to deplete.
By your 30s, your skin’s elasticity begins to loosen, and by your 40s and 50s, there are visible signs. When the skin begins to experience this loss, it causes several issues such as bunny lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin.
Unhealthy lifestyle
This includes bad sleeping habits, drug abuse, smoking, and eating unhealthy meals. Lifestyle habits gradually weaken the elasticity of your skin. For instance, smoking harms the skin by thinning the flesh, causing it to lose its firmness.
The same goes for bad sleeping habits. Sleeping too little or not at all can cause the skin to sag. When we sleep, our skin rejuvenates and rebuilds. However, without much time given to the skin organ to recoup, it leads to the depletion of proteins collagen and elastin in the dermis.
Moreover, having poor nutrition and diet affects all parts of the body and the skin is a telltale sign.
Environmental exposure
Exposure to harmful chemicals or pollutants can lead to loss of skin elasticity. Toxic fumes, gas, or pollutants affect the skin.
In addition, exposure to the sun’s UV rays causes the skin to lose essential fibers, which leads to elasticity loss. These fibers – elastin and collagen – are attacked by free radicals causing damage to the skin cells and the proteins protecting and rebuilding them.
How to Improve Skin Elasticity
Losing skin elasticity is not a bad thing; the skin goes through this process eventually. Regardless, you can improve on it and help your skin stay firm and youthful.
Improving your skin’s elasticity involves, making changes to your lifestyle, using specific skincare products, and treating it medically if experiencing an unnatural or rapid weakening of skin elasticity.
The following includes how to improve skin elasticity.
1. Boost collagen
The skin loses its firmness due to the depleting collagen and elastin proteins in the dermis. Therefore, to improve elasticity, use collagen supplements or skincare products.
A study found that oral collagen supplements significantly changed skin’s elasticity starting from the 4th week, improving the firmness of the skin. Consequently, taking collagen supplements would help the skin retain its elasticity.
2. Use helpful skincare products
Skincare is essential in keeping your skin looking healthy and youthful it should not be disregarded. A good skin regimen not only improves skin health but also helps your skin stay radiant.
Skin ingredients that would improve skin elasticity include:
Retinoids and retinol
These vitamin A derivatives come as OTC (over-the-counter) and prescription products to treat the skin. They effectively boost skin cell regeneration, improving the firmness of the skin.
Furthermore, the derivatives are essential for anti-aging purposes. Prescribed retinoids like Retin-A and tretinoin have been found to immensely improve the skin’s look and reverse photoaging from the sun.
Hyaluronic acid
Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring carbohydrate in the skin. It plumps and firms the skin by increasing and regulating moisture.
Moisture is essential in maintaining your skin’s elasticity. Therefore, using products with hyaluronic acid helps to improve the natural firmness of the skin.
Witch hazel
As an ingredient present in skincare products, witch hazel helps to improve skin firmness. The ingredient is common in skincare products due to its effectiveness in treating skin issues.
Genistein
This soybean isoflavone extract mimics estrogen effects in the body, this helps to improve the skin’s elasticity. The extract can be taken in soybean products or as a supplement.
Aloe vera
Aloe vera is one of the most versatile plants in skincare and health. The gel contains properties like vitamins that boost collagen production and protects the elasticity of the body.
3. Hydrate
Increasing and balancing moisture in your skin is essential in protecting your skin. Moisture boosts skin health. It also keeps the skin supple. Drinking enough water every day would retain your skin’s elasticity.
For women, eight glasses of water every day, and for men, ten glasses of water. This prevents wrinkles from forming and weakening the firmness of the skin.
4. Healthy lifestyle
This includes sleeping at regular hours and with enough rest. A regulated sleep routine would improve skin regeneration and reduce stress hormones in the body.
Furthermore, collagen and elastin production is enhanced with the growth hormones in the body. This helps the body heal, rebuild, and firm the skin.
A healthy lifestyle also includes eating good food, maintaining a healthy diet, and quitting smoking. Smoking is a pollutant that destroys skin cells over time.
5. Laser treatment
Laser treatment is quite common in beauty and skincare maintenance. It involves using laser therapy to remove dead skin cells, exposing new and fresh skin. While this treatment works, it is invasive and reactive. Therefore, your skin needs a soothing cream to reduce inflammation.
6. Ultherapy
Ultherapy helps to tighten your skin. The treatment improves the thermal effect of the skin with ultrasound waves, enhancing collagen production. For this procedure, it takes about two to three months before seeing the full effects on the skin.
7. Chemical peel
Chemical peel is a treatment session that removes the top layers of the skin over time. The procedure is like exfoliating your skin. It’s done to improve the aging signs and skin complexion. Therefore, it improves your younger-looking skin.
8. Dermabrasion
You’ll need the expertise of plastic surgeons or dermatologists to get this done. This treatment entails deeply exfoliating the skin by removing the outer layer.
The technique requires you to care for your skin after treatment to avoid pigment changes and scarring.
9. Fillers and platelet-rich plasma injections
Sculptra is one of the fillers used in improving collagen levels in the skin, thereby improving elasticity. The filler contains L-lactic acid, which stimulates collagen production in the skin.
Furthermore, you can opt for platelet-rich plasma, which involves drawing blood and separating the platelet cells, then infusing (through injections) it in the needed parts.
The platelet is rich in protein, helping to improve collagen and elastin production in the body. In addition, this procedure improves wound and cell healing.
10. Contouring cosmetic surgery
When you experience skin elasticity caused by weight loss, you can use this treatment to bounce back your skin.
The treatment requires you to remove excess fat in your skin surgically. Body-contouring surgery removes extra skin around the underarms, thighs, and abdomen.
Skin Elasticity Food
Your diet plays an important role in improving skin elasticity. If you want to build firm skin, add the following foods to your healthy diet:
- Berries
- Pumpkin
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Walnuts
- Pomegranate seeds
- Salmon
These food contain one form of antioxidant or another, which helps to improve collagen production, protect the skin, and help it glow. Therefore, to maintain your skin’s elasticity, take foods rich in antioxidants to protect your skin always.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the loss of skin elasticity aging?
No, it is not. Loss of skin elasticity is not necessarily aging. Nevertheless, aging is one of the factors that affect your skin’s elasticity.
Will weight loss weaken skin elasticity?
No, it would not. However, weight gain will. Gaining weight stretches your skin, which becomes apparent when a significant amount of fat has left the body. This makes the stretched skin evident.
While you will see a loss of skin elasticity after losing weight, it is not the cause of elasticity loss.
Can you use cream to improve skin elasticity?
Yes, you can. You can apply creams with active ingredients like hyaluronic acid, collagen, retinol, and others to improve the elasticity of your skin.
These ingredients help to perfect your skin’s elasticity through a treatment cream product.
Is elastosis a stretchmark?
No, it is not. Elastosis is the weakening of skin elasticity. It can occur on any part of the body over time. Meanwhile, stretch marks are tissue marks caused by a sudden stretch of a particular part of the body.
Both a weakening of the skin, which causes evident sagging or lines on the body. However, they are not the same.
Conclusion
Skin elasticity is your skin’s firm state. When your skin is firm, it looks plump, smooth, and healthier. However, the skin’s elasticity can be weakened by lifestyle choices, aging, and environmental pollutants.
Regardless of the cause, you can maintain firm skin by introducing good skincare ingredients to your routine, changing your lifestyle choices, and seeing professionals for in-office treatments.
With all the care highlighted in taking care of your skin, you realize, skin elasticity is important. Therefore, if you want to keep glowing skin always, pay attention to the firmness of your skin.
Thanks for reading.
Serum101 is your one-stop shop for all things skincare and beauty.
