Aging dermis: the basics. The second layer of your three skin layers plays an important part in how attractive you appear.
Your dermis makes up about 90% of your skin’s thickness. It includes collagen and elastic fibers. It also contains fibroblasts, which are the cells that repair your skin. It also contains sweat glands and special glands found in your armpits, ear canals, nipples and genital areas that secrete ‘pheromones’ which are subtle attractors – especially to the opposite sex.
OK…so those are the basics. Now what happens as you age?
This layer of your skin undergoes a number of changes as you age.
- One of the most noticeable changes to Aging dermis is in the bonding of the two outermost layers of your skin. There are tiny projections from your dermis that connect this skin layer with the epidermis. These projections become flatter as you age. Result? There is less sharing of nutrients and the moisture holding molecules between these two layers of skin.Also, since the projections are flatter, the attachment between the layers is less firm. Even a minor injury can cause the two layers to separate and so skin blisters occur more often as you age.
- The blood vessels in your dermis also undergo change – especially if you have let it be exposed to the sun very much. (Remember all the notices about using Sun Screen every time you go out?) The sun causes the blood vessels in your dermis to thicken. Then as you age they begin to dilate. This is what causes the spidery web of tiny red threads you sometimes see in older people.
- The most common sign of aging dermis is the reduction in the cells (fibroblasts) that actually make you collagen and elastin. When this happens your skin can not renew itself quickly. The ordinary skin repair process slows down. Your elastin fibres become rigid and your skin loses some softness or elasticity.If you have been exposed to the suns ultraviolet rays very often, this breakdown in elasticity is more severe. That is why you see some people who have spent a great deal of time outdoors(and without sunscreen) with ‘tight’ skin.
Although it is normal for your skin to thin with age, an increase in rigidity of the elastin may cause your skin to thicken in some areas. Again this is especially true in sun exposed skin.
While your collagen is thickening, the elastin begins to thicken and also tangle. Again this is more noticeable in sun damaged skin. (Now you know why everyone advises using Sunscreen with a SPF of at least 30 every time you will be in sunlight.)
The destruction and tangling of collagen and elastin leads to wrinkling. The greater the destruction, the greater the wrinkling.
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