How Our Skin Ages — A Cellular View
Resolution at the level of single cells reveals specific proteins correlated with skin aging
Written in our skin
Entering the realm of old age requires sacrifice. Many processes in our body change when we have lingered in adulthood for a while.
The extent of those changes is quite individual and depends on, among others, genetics, metabolism, lifestyle, and environment. Still, as we age our immune function declines, the risk for cancer increases, muscle turns flabby or disappears, joints creak, connective tissue loosens, and memory is no longer what it used to be. Even our microbiome and body shape change.
Our skin changes as well.
What was once smooth becomes wrinkled. Our skin also tends to become thinner as we age (we shed skin cells all the time, and most old bodies can’t keep up with making new ones).
Part of this is simply exposure. More time on earth means more UV exposure, more contact with potentially abrasive chemicals, and so on.
But, there are biological processes at play too. Less stem cells, as alluded to earlier, is one.
In the skin cells themselves unwanted changes occur too.
