As we age our skin changes in ways we often wish it wouldn’t. Brown spots and wrinkles form, making our skin look old, tired and less healthy. What causes skin aging and wrinkles, and how can we prevent them?

The number one cause of skin aging and wrinkles is ultraviolet (UV) light exposure from the sun. Every time our skin is exposed to the sun, ultraviolet rays cause a small bit of damage to our skin. UV rays from the sun are present from sun up to sun down and penetrate clouds and car windows. The most damaging UV ray is UVA. We think of the “A” for skin aging. These UVA rays fracture the elastic and collagen fibers in our skin causing the skin to wrinkle and droop. They also bind together parts of our DNA in our skin which can lead to skin cancers.

The key to preventing this damage is to wear broad spectrum sunscreen which blocks UVA and UVB rays on a daily basis on all sun exposed parts of the body. My favorite forms of broad spectrum sunblock are mechanical or physical blocks containing Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.

If sun damage has already occurred, certain medical products like Retin-A and Hydroquinones have been shown to reverse some of the damage caused by ultraviolet sun exposure. A deeper level of reversal can be achieved with laser and light sources. Broad Based Light treatments have been shown to cause the skin to revert back to a younger genetic state. My deep laser RESET procedure can dramatically remove sun damage and certain early skin cancers and restart a person’s skin back to a younger, healthier and more attractive state. To learn more about this topic, take a look at the blog I wrote called What You Need to Know About Aging of the Skin.

I hope you found this interesting and I invite you come back and watch again for our next Medical Minute.