Degenerative changes in aging skin

Abstract

Over the last 2 centuries, medical progress has dramatically extended the human lifespan, more than doubling life expectancy across the world. Average global life expectancy has risen from about 25 (for both sexes) to 65 for men and 70 for women [1]. Women, whose average life expectancies exceed those of men, can now expect to spend more than one-third of their lifetimes in post menopause [2]. More than 40 million postmenopausal women live in the USA today, comprising 17% of the total population [3]. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.