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What to Know About Thinning Skin and Easily Bruising Skin
Avoid injury and care for older skin
November 12, 2018, originally published on NextAvenue.org
If you’re an older adult, you may have noticed your skin isn’t the same as when you were younger; you bruise more easily and your skin seems thinner. That’s because as we age, our skin changes.
For one thing, it does get thinner. “This is multifactorial, from the degradation of collagen and elastin from ultraviolet light in sunlight, a decrease in estrogen levels in menopause and other factors,” says Dr. Meghan Feely, attending physician at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Department of Dermatology in New York City.
“With aging, the cells that make up the layers of our skin shrink and decrease in number,” adds Dr. Noelani Gonzalez, director of cosmetic surgery at Mount Sinai West in New York. “The fatty layer beneath our skin, which acts as a cushion, thins out, too.”
Repeated exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun breaks down collagen, which is why it’s important to always use a broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher to protect the skin from skin cancer and thinning. If you’re interested in seeking treatment for thinning skin, “topical retinoids or in-office treatments, such as lasers, may help to remodel collagen and thicken your skin,” Feely says.
In addition to collagen and elastic fibers in the middle layer of the skin, or dermis, getting…
