Reduce Wrinkles

The British magazine, The Economist, reports that beauty products and services are a “$160 billion-a-year global industry, encompassing make-up, skin and hair care, fragrances, cosmetic surgery, health clubs and diet pills.” The desire to look and feel one’s best – to reduce wrinkles, lose weight, smell good and so on – “is not mere vanity,” the article concludes. “Being pretty … confers enormous genetic and social advantages.” Of course, looking and feeling one’s best also confers a tremendous amount of confidence and self-esteem to people in achievement-oriented Western cultures. Products and services designed to reduce wrinkles and restore youthful looks are no longer limited to the female of the species. In fact, the fastest-growing segments of the “personal care services” and beauty industries are men’s products. Therefore, the products and services that can be marketed to both men and women have a built-in advantage.

The Best Wrinkle Reducers

These changes in the beauty marketplace have resulted in dramatic growth of topical treatments, exercise regimens and surgical procedures designed to reduce wrinkles. As with most conditions, there are various ways to approach the challenge to reduce wrinkles, especially on the face. Botox (botulinum toxin) achieved its fame (and notoriety) because of its ability to relax facial muscles and, thus, smooth the appearance of wrinkled skin. The effects are temporary, however, requiring repeated treatments at no small cost. Manufacturers of beauty products understood immediately the need to expand their research into products that would successfully, and cost-effectively, reduce wrinkles. Tremendous progress has been made in just the last several years.

Natural Ways to Reduce Wrinkles

The hydration principle – adding moisture to the skin – is the mechanism behind many topical treatments devised to reduce wrinkles. Various emollients and moisturizers are added to facial creams in hopes of adding enough bulk moisture to “fill in” wrinkled areas of the skin. The success of this type of treatment will vary from person to person, depending on the amount and depth of wrinkles, skin pH and other factors. Also enjoying rapid growth are various exercise and muscle-toning systems that take a different approach to the underlying problem. Whereas botox treatments relax underlying muscles, facial exercise regimens seek to build up the muscles. The increase in muscle bulk stretches the skin above it to reduce wrinkles.

Plastic Surgery to reduce wrinkles

Finally, of course, there is plastic or cosmetic surgery, which should always be the last resort to reduce wrinkles. Interestingly, the principle at work with most surgeries is the same as in other approaches, which is essentially to stretch the skin. Facial exercise can do this, too, although in a much milder, less dramatic fashion than surgery. The fact is, it may be a combination of approaches, of varying intensities and durations, which helps you to reduce your wrinkles. Surgeries for facial wrinkles actually seem to have peaked several years ago, although data is notoriously difficult to assemble and interpret. It is clear, however, that both men and women are getting positive, life-changing results from non-surgical approaches, and you can be certain that beauty product companies (and “Big Pharma”) are hard at work developing other elixirs and potions for the modern consumers’ version of The Fountain of Youth. In the last analysis, you will have to make up your own mind and decide on your own method to reduce wrinkles. There is a wealth of information on the Internet, and it is recommended that you do some research on the underlying physiology of your face and body, as well as on the basic chemistry of anti-wrinkle moisturizers and other topical formulas. Talk to your physician, of course, before you undertake any new therapies or treatments.