"I turned 40 and my skin just changed!"

‘I turned 40 and everything just changed!’

‘You get leg veins.’  Spider veins and varicose veins have a number of causes. One of the most common is an inherited tendency towards ‘weak valves’ in our veins. Our veins have valves meant to push the blood forward. As we get older these valves get weaker and blood start to pool or flow slower through these vessels leading to varicose and spider veins. It’s important to have these evaluated by your dermatologist or vascular surgeon. Our blood vessels are like a series of rivers and streams- if one of the larger vessels upstream is not effectively working it can impact the vessels downstream. These should be evaluated to verify that they are not at risk for worsening over time or clots.

‘You get hair on your chin.’ This women hate. They can’t help but run their fingers over their chins and find those spiky little nuisances and wonder how long they have been there. Waxing, plucking, shaving, threading and bleaching are all good. If someone is seeking permanent options, I tend to recommend electrolysis over hair laser for these hairs. Hair laser can be disappointing because it only targets hairs actively growing and completely misses white or light hair. Electrolysis is more focused and definitive to get these hairs to go away!

‘You start to get thinner sparser eyelashes.’ So frustrating. Mascara, extensions, artificial lashes- are all options. However, a product called Latisse (bimatoprost) can help. This product improves eyelash growth over 4 months.

‘Your nails get ridges.’ Vertical ridges in the nails that extend the length of the nail plate are a natural change our nails undergo as we get older. I kind of think of it as our hair gets gray our nails get ridges. 

‘You get new growths.’ We start to see a common lesion develop by our 40s called seborrheic keratoses. These rough ‘wart like’ grows are scaly and dry and appear like stuck on growths. They are often found on our backs, legs and arms. They can be treated with cryotherapy in your dermatologist office but often do grow back.