Wrinkled skin on the neck: Is there a skincare product that can diminish crepey neck skin?
It seems like wrinkled skin on the neck is the holy grail of skin care right now. Do you know a single woman over the age of 50 who doesn‘t want to improve her neck. I can think of very few! Nora Ephron, the late, wonderful feminist/humorist even wrote a book on this “I Feel Bad About My Neck.” It’s quite funny!
So …..to answer your question……not really or at least not to the extent that we’d all like. Why? Because neck skin is thin and very easily damaged by the sun so sun damage is a factor. Sun damage causes discoloration and loss of the thickness of the epidermis (outer layer), and damage to the collagen and elastic fibers that are deeper.
Also, the neck moves a lot so there’s constant stretching and pulling which, over time, alters the elastic fibers in skin. They just don’t contract back as well. The neck and face skin are connected so as we lose volume in our faces the neck sags some too. AND, if that weren’t enough, we don’t have much fat under the skin on the neck to support it.
What to do about wrinkled skin on the neck
What to do? TREAT YOUR NECK SKIN LIKE YOU DO YOUR FACE! That means every morning use a high zinc containing sunscreen on your neck and chest (and face, of course) and use an antioxidant or a hyaluronic gel or both under the sunscreen. And at night, use a gentle retinoid over a good moisturizer. That will help some and prevent further damage. Always start new products one at a time about 3-7 days apart in case you react to them.
I’ll write another post on how to correct problems with lasers and radiofrequency next week. 🙂
Hope this helps, Dr. Irwin