The skin

Abstract

Perhaps no manifestation of aging is as dramatic or readily obvious as that which occurs in the skin and its appendages. The development of either grey hair or facial and body wrinkles represents irrefutable evidence of the passage of time and of progressive aging. Intrinsic or genetically programmed factors that occur with time and extrinsic factors caused by environmental insults that accumulate with exposure are responsible for the complexity of skin aging processes (1). Yet, many descriptions of the aging skin fail to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic aging changes. For example, chronic solar damage changes are far more prevalent in the elderly than in young people, since they result from cumulative exposure over time (1-7). These changes involve cells (8-10), glands (11), and connective tissue (particularly, collagen) (12) of the skin. Intrinsic changes in the structure and function of skin that occur with aging also make the skin more vulnerable to external insults. It is not surprising then that dermatologic problems are very common in the elderly (13-17).