There is a turning point in every human being’s life when looking in the mirror after a night’s sleep ceases to be silent joy and instead becomes reality.
Cheek looks fine. You have just treated your teeth. But… Wrinkles show it all.
Wrinkles around your eyes are scientifically proven to signal friendliness and sincerity. After all, we do contribute to the wrinkle process when we laugh.
Wrinkles on the face or under the eyes occur naturally as we get older, but environmental factors and habits are also the main causes of sudden skin changes. Here are unexpected causes of wrinkles under the eyes:
Aging
The skin around your eyes starts to wrinkle as you get older. The overall health of your skin depends directly on several important elements in your body, all of which are affected as you age:
Collagen
Collagen is one of the most abundant proteins found in the human body. Present in bones, muscles, tendons, and dermis (middle layer of skin), this protein is responsible for forming the scaffolding that provides firmness and structure to many of our body structures. Here are several facts about collagen:
- Collagen draws new cells to damaged or worn body fibers.
- Certain types of collagen molecules are stronger than steel.
- At age 60, the body produces much less collagen.
- Collagen contributes to your skin firmness.
Elastin
Elastin is a major extracellular matrix protein that is important for the elasticity and resilience of many vertebrate tissues including large arteries, lungs, ligaments, tendons, skin, and elastic cartilage. Elastin keeps your skin elastic and prevents wrinkles. Some facts about elastin:
- Elastin helps skin tissue return to normal
- Elastin helps blood flow through the blood vessels, thus increasing the supply of collagen to the skin
- Elastin and collagen are the two main structural components of skin
Glycosaminoglycans
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are responsible for maintaining skin hydration. In general, Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are a family of highly sulfated, complex, polydisperse linear polysaccharides that exhibit various important biological roles. GAGs play an important role in enabling proteins — such as collagen and elastin — to do their job properly.
Habits That Cause Wrinkles Under Your Eyes.
Your small daily habits can have a long-term impact on the wrinkles around your eyes and face.
Changing these habits can be very difficult, and they are not your biggest enemy when it comes to fighting eye wrinkles.
These are the habits that affect the skin around your eyes.
- Common Facial Expressions
Expressive people tend to have the most wrinkles — the names “smile wrinkle” and “angry wrinkle” exist for a reason.
When it comes to eye wrinkles, all facial expressions that cause frowning and squinting can be the main cause of wrinkles around our eyes.
Does this mean you need to stop laughing so much? In fact, research shows that crinkling your eyes subconsciously makes you think other people are happier. - Rubbing Your Eyes
You may rub your eyes when tired and sleepy. Prolonged activities that require intense visual effort such as reading a book, driving long distances, or staring at a computer screen also cause eye strain.
Unfortunately, the skin around the eyes is rubbed too often, which can cause significant wrinkles.
While this doesn’t mean you will have permanent wrinkles under your eyes after a few intense “scrubbing sessions,” these effects will add up and can ultimately lead to permanent wrinkles. - Sleep on Your Belly
Most of you probably prefer sleeping on your stomach. However, this can ultimately cause the under-eye wrinkles to become deeper and more prominent.
The biggest reason why sleeping on your stomach is bad is because you never actually sleep facing your pillow — otherwise, you’ll have trouble breathing.
When you sleep on your stomach, you tilt your head to the side, causing the skin around one eye to crease. This can ultimately lead to permanent wrinkles under your eyes.
Worse yet, if you tend to sleep more often on one side than the other, the wrinkles in the skin between your eyes can become uneven. - Environmental and Sun Damage
In addition to naturally lower levels of collagen, elastin, and GAG. Certain “external” factors also have a big impact on how well your body produces, absorbs, and utilizes these proteins and cells.
Several environmental factors also have a more direct influence on wrinkles on the skin around the eyes. - Exposure to Sunlight and Ultraviolet Rays (UV).
Did you know that a suntan is just your body’s protective response to UV radiation?
According to the World Health Organization WHO there is no such thing as a “healthy suntan.”
The reality is that overexposure to sunlight causes damage to your body in several ways:
Sunburn. In its mildest form, sunburn means mild redness and irritation. In most severe cases, sunburn can result in blisters and peeling. - Photosensitivity.
A certain percentage of the population suffers from increased sensitivity to sunlight and UV radiation. This effectively rules out all sunbathing and limits it to long-sleeved clothing options. Certain drugs may also cause increased photosensitivity.
Skin cancer.
This is not to scare you away from your next beach vacation, but you should know that UV radiation is a major factor in the development of non-melanoma skin cancer and melanoma.
As far as wrinkles are concerned, UV radiation also has an important role to play in this regard.
The main reason why UV radiation causes wrinkles in the skin under the eyes is because it interferes with cellular activity in the dermis and epidermis.
Basically, what happens is due to your skin’s natural defense reaction, namely the cell layer under the skin thickens, making it difficult for collagen and elastin to renew and restore dead or damaged skin cells. This ultimately causes the skin to become “older” and less elastic.
In addition to the direct effect UV rays have on your molecular processes, there’s a more direct reason why direct sunlight is so bad for your eye wrinkles: squinting!
If you don’t fit sunglasses, years of squinting will eventually take their toll, causing the area around your eyes to wrinkle. - Smoke
Does smoking cause wrinkles under the eyes? Yes, they can, and they actively do so.
Tobacco use is thought to contribute to skin wrinkles only after 10 years of continuous smoking.
How exactly does smoking cause your skin to wrinkle?
Smoking can be a major cause of your eye wrinkles because nicotine forces your blood vessels to constrict, thereby restricting access of oxygen, collagen, elastin, Vitamin A, and other proteins and nutrients to the skin.
This means that even if you are in your 30s and your collagen and elastin levels are normal, nicotine effectively prevents these nutrients from reaching the dermis to restore your skin’s firmness and elasticity.
Although narrowed blood vessels are the main reason why smoking is bad for the skin of your eyes, the problem doesn’t end there.
Many of the dangerous chemicals contained in tobacco smoke (read: other than nicotine) interfere with the production of collagen and elastin throughout your body, and break down existing collagen and elastin molecules.
This means that smoking not only causes temporary wrinkles: it also systematically deactivates the body’s ability to regenerate skin firmness and elasticity. - Air pollution
There is a close connection between air pollution in some of the world’s busiest cities and a number of lung diseases, diabetes and even mental illness.
But recently, scientists have discovered another harmful effect of air pollution: skin aging.
