Wrinkles

Wrinkles occur because as women age, their skin tends to become drier and less elastic. Wrinkles may be a natural part of this aging process, but that does not mean that most women are happy about them. Face lifts, dermabrasion, and chemical peels are options available to some women for eliminating sagging skin, deep frown lines, and pitted scars. In addition, a series of collagen injections can sometimes "plump up" the surface skin, thus erasing superficial wrinkles for several months or so. Beyond these rather drastic measures, however, not much could be done about wrinkles until recently, despite millions of dollars spent in pursuit of ageless skin.

A few years ago researchers reported a drug's seemingly too-good-to-be-true ability to accomplish what phony wrinkle creams had been promising to do for years: genuinely eliminate wrinkles! This miracle drug was Retin A and had been prescribed for years as a treatment for acne.

How does Retin-A work?
Retin-A appears to plump up and smooth out fine lines by actually rebuilding the damaged outer layer of skin. It reverses sun damage by speeding up skin cell renewal, stimulating blood vessel growth, and restoring the skin's ability to produce collagen, a fibrous protein that gives support and elasticity to normal skin.

To prevent skin irritation, Retin-A needs to be started at low doses, which can be increased gradually. Treated areas should be covered with a sunscreen.

Risks and Complications
Retin-A is not a miracle cure for wrinkles. It takes 6 weeks of regular use before wrinkles start to disappear, and once that drug is stopped, the lines tend to return.

Body image is a person's inner perception of her own physical being. This image may or may not correspond to objective reality. It is perfectly possible -- and quite common, for women within normal weight ranges to perceive themselves as grossly obese; this is a particularly severe problem in women who have anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It is quite possible for women who have unexceptional features to believe that their noses are too big or their lips too thin. Study after study indicates that women tend to be dissatisfied with their looks, rating themselves as too ugly, too plain, too old, too pimply, too fat, too hairy, too tall and so on. By contrast, men in general tend to be much more satisfied with their bodies, even when objective measurements indicate they might not meet certain standards of perfection.

It is often said that women are much more sensitive than men to certain aspects of their physical selves, perhaps because their daily lives are touched by bodily functions such as menstrual cycles, pregnancy and childbirth, not to mention the natural functions of children and other people in their care. Whatever the explanation, it is undeniable that in women, a poor body image can become an obsession so strong that it takes precedence over all other aspects of life. A poor body image is not merely a problem of women who are concerned about their sexual attractiveness but seems to be closely tied to women's overall sense of self-esteem and well-being.

A chronic dissatisfaction with physical appearance can be related to all sorts of health problems in women. Women with a negative body image are prone to develop anorexia, bulimia or obesity, for example. In addition, many women who are unhappy with their physical selves often experience sexual dysfunction, since sexual arousal depends to a large extent on feeling attractive and desirable. Finally, a number of the products and services women purchase to improve or alter their appearance -- from shoes to cosmetics to liposuction -- can lead to physical problems in their own right.