I am 29 years old, but I look like a 40 year old. How to look my age?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am a 29 year old male, who looks like a 40 year old. I have aged very poorly. What caused this to happen? What can I do to look my proper age?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

Early aging can be a consequence of multiple factors. The most important ones are sun exposure, poor nutrition, improper sleep, bad lifestyle habits, and poor regular care of the skin. Excessive sun exposure damages the normal texture of the skin by altering the collagen and elastic fibers. Poor intake of vitamin C rich foods and antioxidants further worsen this issue. Stressful habits, lack of regular fixed sleep cycles, and eating a lot of junk food adds a burden to this problem. However, it is never too late, as there are measures which could help to recover to a fairly good extent. The most important of them is the use of a sunscreen lotion with SPF (sun protection factor) more than 30 in the mornings after a bath. This would help to protect the skin from further damage by photo exposure. Also, you need to start focusing on vitamin C rich foods such as lemons and oranges. And fix a regular sleep time and avoid junk food. Kindly upload appropriate images of your present skin condition, so that I can suggest necessary creams accordingly.

I hope this information will help you.

Thanks.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I can understand your concern.

From your clinical images(attachment removed to protect patient identity), you appear to have a fair amount of sunburn, along with occasional comedones, dark circles around eyes, and fine wrinkling. It is still not too late if you decide to take adequate care of your skin. Some of the following measures could help you.

Sunscreen with SPF (sun protection factor) greater than 30 for your entire face, daily in the morning after a bath.
Preferably avoid sun exposure from morning to afternoon.
Drink eight to 10 glasses of water every day.
Eight hours of continuous sleep at night.
Reduce intake of junk food and bakery stuff to the maximum possible.
Use 0.1 % Adapalene gel, only a peanut-sized volume to be applied to the entire face, only in the evenings, for not more than two hours. Prolonged applications may lead to dryness of the skin and lips.
In the case of excessive dryness after using Adapalene, a break of two to three days can be given, and then the treatment can be restarted.

I hope this information will help you.

Thanks.