Unfortunately, there’s no stopping the aging process. It’s as inevitable as the fact that Summer will soon be over. Fortunately, we can slow down the appearance of aging, and in fact, turn back the hands of time.
Want to know a person’s real age? Just look at their hands, reports a study in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). According to the study, most people can accurately tell a person’s age by viewing only their hands.
A primary motivation to have plastic surgery is to look and feel better. And there is nothing like a facelift or eyelid surgery for a younger looking appearance. However, looking younger after your facelift or eyelid surgery can conflict with aged hands that simply do not match the face.
After the face, hands are the second most visible, tell-tale sign of one’s age. If your goal is to look more youthful or you are bothered by the appearance of your hands, you may seriously want to consider hand rejuvenation.
In a recent study, people examined unaltered photographs of female hands and were asked to estimate the women’s ages, i.e., younger than 20 years, 20 to 30 years, 30 to 40 years, etc. In the majority of cases, participants were able to accurately estimate the age of each woman in the unaltered photographs.
Participants were also asked to compare digitally altered photographs of female hands – blemishes were removed or jewelry and nail polish were added – to unaltered photographs to assess which hands looked younger. The majority of participants felt that the altered photos of women’s hands appeared younger. However, alterations to photos of very elderly hands – characterized by thin skin, age spots, wrinkles, deformity, and prominent joints – did not change the participants’ ability to distinguish the person’s age.
Some of the physical characteristics which most commonly gave away age was prominent age spots and wrinkles.. Nail polish and jewelry were also found to make hands appear younger looking.
The good news is, although your hands may reveal more about your age than you desire, there are remedies out there. A good medical skin care regimen that focuses on the hands can be highly effective in maintaining skin thickness and fullness. Non-surgical procedures like laser treatments and chemical peels can reduce age spots. Fat injections can be used to plump up hands and reduce the visibility of veins.
Of course, the eyes are still the absolute most telling sign of age.As we age, the skin around our eyes loses its elasticity. You may develop loose folds of skin on the upper eyelids and deep creases on the lower lids. At the same time, your muscles in this area may also slacken so that any fat bulges forward and looks baggy. Sometimes you can develop baggy eyes in your 20s before your skin changes. You can inherit this trait from your family Cosmetic eye surgery can remove the excess skin, fat, or both, from around your eyes.
And, there’s nothing like a facelift to take years off your appearance. As people age, the effects of gravity, exposure to the sun, and the stresses of daily life can be seen in their faces. Deep creases form between the nose and mouth; the jawline grows slack and jowly; folds and fat deposits appear around the neck. A facelift can’t stop this aging process. What it can do is “set back the clock,” improving the most visible signs of aging by removing excess fat, tightening underlying muscles, and redraping the skin of your face and neck. A facelift can be done alone, or in conjunction with other procedures such as a forehead lift, eyelid surgery, or nose reshaping.
So, we may not be able to stop the fountain of youth, but we can deceive it!