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virgoox
New Member
 
Joined: 14 Jan 2014
Posts: 2
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Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:01 am  |
Hello
I am new here and have a question regarding smile wrinkles. My eyes look fairly wrinkle free which is pretty good for being 40 but years of bad habits have caught up with me. (i.e. smoking, no sunscreen, sleeping on my face etc.)and when I smile I have intense wrinkles.
I am desperate to do something about them but have no idea where to start. The problem is I spent my 30's having babies and nursing and have not managed to get into a good retin A or routine and I am currently pregnant so I can't expect to use retinal products or botox until at least 18 months.
Any recommendations on what to do to my eyes to alleviate some of these issue. Mainly they are under my eyes and crows feet type. I also have dark circles but need to attack the wrinkles first for my own sanity.
Thank you anyone who can help! |
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Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:13 pm |
| Wear sunglasses and sunscreen. |
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Tue Jan 14, 2014 2:00 pm |
I don't know about topical products but face exercises/massage and facial gadgets can help.
I have shared this before, that for some reason as people move from childhood, they start making exaggerated scrunched faces when they smile or laugh which you rarely see kids make and this may be why crow's feet form so early in them. It sometimes looks like part snarl, part smile.
Eva Fraser taught me a long time to avoid making unnecessary faces unless I mean to express a related emotion. Eg, no frowning if not mad or confused, etc. And another thing I learned from her is a natural smile takes the corners of your mouth toward the center of your ears. Like this:
But it seems as if as we grow older, we lose that natural relaxed smiley face and start to scrunch up our faces even if just smiling not laughing out loud:
So maybe re-learning to relax you face and smile aiming mouth corners to the center of your ears may also help a bit. |
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Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:57 pm |
Congratulations! Pregnancy is the time to chillax, eat healthily, lots of sleep, and, ahem, a little extra baby weight will soften those lines!
You know all that... To begin, you need to get a solid skincare regimen started. After 40, even lucky genes can do with a little help. So moisturise, moisturise, moisturise, twice a day slap it on. Dab a good creamy moisuriser (like cetaphil) around your eyes to soften the look of the lines: you don't need expensive 'eye creams' (just a marketing tool to get us to spend more). Use a broad spectrum sunscreen starting today. And then every day. You cannot use any vit a creams (retinoids, retinol) whilst pregnant, but you can use a vitamin C serum. You can make it yourself - recipes on this forum - keep it in the fridge. Put this on half an hour before you moisturise, as vit c doesn't always marry well with other ingredients. Mine goes on when I stagger into the kitchen for my morning coffee.
You can use a mild fruit or lactic acid peel. This will encourage cell turnover, and soften the lines a bit. Loads of info here.
Consider microdermabrasion which will immediately reduce the appearance of the wrinklies, and help skin regeneration. You can get it done professionally, or invest in an at-home device such as the PMD, a little sandpapering device for the skin. All of these do the same thing really, get rid of dead skin cells, encourage cell turnover, aid product penetration, and rejuvenate the skin, softening the look of lines. Your skin can be more sensitive during pregnancy due to hormonal changes, so go easy on this stuff.
Red light therapy will give sluggish cells a gee up. You can go crazy and buy a Quasar, but you can find much cheaper dinky red light devices on ebay that are perfect for the orbital region. Red light stimulate the cells encoraging them to produce more collagen and elastin.
A bit more aggressive is microneedling. I am a big fan, this works. Use shorter needles(0.25 or so) and do not needle directly under the eye. great for crow's feet. This is like manual fraxel, creating tiny wounds, which force the area to create more collagen as part of the healing process, which in turn thickens the top layer of your skin. Can be a bit painful with a little blood spotting, and take a few days to heal. Thickening of the epidermis will help the dark rings under your eyes which become more noticeable as aging thins the skin making it more transparent. Needling hurts (good to use a numbing cream), and may require a few 'down' days. There is no contraindication about needling when pregnant. However, because your skin may change character a bit whilst pregnant, begin conservatively. With Both the red light and needling, results are cumulative and may not be seen for months.
I don't think it would be harmful to use the at-home lasers (Tria, Reaura, Palovia) solely for your laugh lines, but check it out with your MD first.
Do NOT use microcurrent or ultrasound devices on your face during pregnancy. This forum has been hijacked by a few microcurrent zealots, but whilst microcurrent maybe a good adjunct along side your daily skincare routine after the baby is born, now is NOT the time to try it.
Your lines are dynamic wrinkles caused by muscle contractions ( at least for now) botox is the only surefire way to freeze those muscles, but botox is a no-no whilst pregnant. However, starting an assertive and rigorous skin routine will delay those expensive injections. Really.
Good luck. |
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virgoox
New Member
Joined: 14 Jan 2014
Posts: 2
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Sat Jan 18, 2014 3:16 pm |
Great advice BillyBob. So microdermabrasion on the eye area is safe? I have seen conflicting responses regarding this.
Also, what do you think about vitamin C and glycolic acid as topical applications in the daily regimen?
finally is the clarisonic safe? I use that 2-3x a week as I have sensitive skin. |
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Sat Jan 18, 2014 6:21 pm |
Vergoox, no, I wouldn't use microdermabrasion directly under the eye, but I think you are addressing the lines that spread out over the top of your cheek bones and the sides of your temple? Some gentle microdermabrasion there is fine, ditto a mild peel.
With regards to your glycolic peel question, I actually have a product by BeckerMD, Ultimate Glycolic Exfoliate, which can apparently be used daily... HOWEVER, I could NEVER recommend anyone, pregnant or not, to use ANY acid exfoliant every day. Theoretically, a mild glycolic peel can be used every 2 - 4 weeks. However, sometimes during prgnancy your skin can become more sensitive, so a low concentration lactic or enzyme peel should be okay. These peels do not penetrate very deeply, but will soften the look of fine lines. Always apply sunscreen after a peel.
I think using a Vitamin C serum topically every day should be fine. It helps boost collagen production, and it appears to tighten and tone the skin. You really do not have to buy some fancy serum. Vitamin c powder (l-ascorbic acid) can be bought at your local health food shop or chemist. A 10% vit c solution is made with a 1:9 ratio (1 being the vit c powder and 9 being the liquid), a 15 % solution would be a 3:17. You can mix it with tepid distilled water or vegetable glycerine. I whizz mine with a little coffee frother thing I got for a few bucks at Ikea, otherwise it can take some shaking to dissolve it. Keep it in the fridge, it should last a few weeks. As soon as it starts to yellow, mix a fresh batch. There are some excellent recipes to be found on the forum too.
No problems using your clairisonic. (Ultrasonic is the speed, not to be confused with ultrasound - very high pitched sound waves), you can buy the sensitive heads which are gentle.
I would avoid moisturisers containing too many complex cutting edge ingredients that may not have been properly tested for safety during pregnancy, and even whilst breast feeding. Use this time to establish a habitual routine morning and night, remember sunscreen daily.
Finding time when you have little ones demanding your attention constantly is difficult. The forum offers a wealth of information on diy skincare and gadgets you can buy to use at home. Use your Clairisonic whilst showering, pat moisturiser over damp skin, wave your red light over your face whilst watching Sesame Street. Don't forget YOU matter too. |
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Sun Jan 19, 2014 2:09 pm |
| Billybob wrote: |
A bit more aggressive is microneedling. I am a big fan, this works. Use shorter needles(0.25 or so) and do not needle directly under the eye. great for crow's feet. This is like manual fraxel, creating tiny wounds, which force the area to create more collagen as part of the healing process, which in turn thickens the top layer of your skin. Can be a bit painful with a little blood spotting, and take a few days to heal. Thickening of the epidermis will help the dark rings under your eyes which become more noticeable as aging thins the skin making it more transparent. Needling hurts (good to use a numbing cream), and may require a few 'down' days. |
Hi Billy bob, you say needling works on wrinkles......so did you do it on any of yours? How soon did you see results and were you able to eliminate them or just reduce?
Also, when you say dark areas are you saying to needle the tear trough area? I have hereditary thin skin under my eyes so I always have dark circles and am curious about that.
Thanks! |
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Sun Jan 19, 2014 8:46 pm |
Tomison, I was one of the few people who bought the Dermajet, (electronic needler). I have used it 4 times in six months, getting a bit braver each time. The last time was in November and I was using the 1.5 needles on my face, and the 0.25 around the orbital area. A lot of people had problems with defective dermajets, and it is no longer being sold, but I believe that Vaughter Wellness is developing an improved model. However, my device appears to be working well and I have been impressed by the results.
I am in my mid 50s, fair with sensitive but oily, skin, I am plagued with wrinkles and blocked pores. I too have 'thin' skin.
I believe that needling actually thickens the skin by encouraging the body to produce more collagen during the healing process of the micro wounds. Yes, absolutely, I believe it softened my 'laugh' lines which spread out across my cheeks and crows feet on the temples. Getting rid of them completely? Sorry, no, but I understand the process is cumulative, and I will definitely continue to needle a few times a year.
No, you cannot needle directly under the eye. I have read that gently pulling the tear trough area taut away from the eye and needling with very short needles is possible, but no, I have not done this. If you access the Vaughter Wellness site, you will find a wealth of information, and there are some very knowledgeable people contributing here on the EDS site discussing microneedling. If you are considering needling read as much as you can first, there is preparation and downtime required.
I have been using the Reaura (NOT concurrent with Needling) but did not see the results I had hoped for. For me, personally, the reults I see from needling are more quantifiable.
As a caveat, I have to admit to having botox, this prevents the deep grooves when smiling, but does not get rid of the wrinkles etched into my skin, I believe needling is reducing their appearance. |
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