Crow’s feet, signs of ageing- causes, treatments & prevention

Ageing is a natural process. And as you age, your body tends to change gradually.

Crow’s feet are basically the little lines spreading out from the corners of your eyes. They develop with time because of tiny muscle contradictions with every facial expression you make.

Wrinkles are generally of two types:

  1. Dynamic
  2. Static

Dynamic are the ones appearing with muscle contradictions. While static is visible all the time even when the face is at rest.

The Causes

Even though ageing is a natural and an ongoing process, there are several causes of the same. Let’s dive into each one of them briefly.

  1. Collagen breakdown

The quantity and quality can either break or make your skin appearance. Collagen represents 75% of your skin’s dry weight. Slowing down the degradation of collagen fibres is quite important to skin youth.

  1. Oxidation

The process of oxidation starts with damaging your molecules in your body. This damage creates havoc in every layer of the skin. Even though our bodies have been built with internal antioxidants, they are not enough to prevent irreversible breakdown.

  1. Photo Defence

The long exposure to UV rays from the sun accounts for almost 99% of premature skin ageing. Photo ageing occurs over a period of time. With every exposure to sun, skin loses its power to repair itself from the damage caused leading to fine lines and wrinkles.

However, treatment of any type of crow’s feet is available. Following are the different types of treatments:

  1. Topical creams

You can cure the problem of fine lines and wrinkles with over-the-counter (OTC) topical creams.

There are many anti-ageing serums and moisturisers that are readily available in the market. You can definitely give night recovery cream a try. It is enriched with Hyaluronic acid and jojoba that replenishes your skin and may help reduce fine lines on your face.

  1. Botulinum toxin (Botox)

Botox is one such treatment which is very effective for crow’s feet. It smooths out your wrinkles caused by muscle contradictions.

  The Procedure followed:
  • It is injected directly into the affected area with a small needle.
  • This causes the muscles to relax.

It prevents the muscles from contradicting and make your Wrinkles disappear. This method is most suitable for people of age group 30-50 whose wrinkles have just started to develop.

  1. Chemical peels

Chemical peels are definitely your saviours when it comes to promote healthy, younger looking skin.

A chemical solution is put on the face to remove the upper layer of the skin. Thus, it leaves behind new and smoother skin.

Peels are relatively painless and are not time consuming. 

 Prevention is the way out!

It is rightly said that prevention is better than cure. Thus, there are several ways in which you can limit the severity of wrinkles and slow down their development.

  1. Limit your skin exposure. Wear a sunscreen if you’ll be out in the sun for too long.
  2. A healthy diet is the best you can do. Add fruits, vegetables and greens in your diet to protect yourself from any kind of skin damage.
  3. Work-it-out. Yes! Workout gets you moving which brings oxygen to your skin.
  4. Adopt healthy habits. Quit smoking! It produces radicals in the body which makes wrinkles appear soon.
  5. Keep your skin moisturised that is enriched with Vitamin C.
  6. Wear sunglasses as well. Your under- eye area is the most delicate part on your face. It needs equal protection.

Conclusion

Crow’s feet are a natural part of ageing, but there are many treatments available to reduce their appearance. The treatments however, are quite costly. Thus, it is important to focus on prevention.

Chemical peels and Botox are among the more affordable treatments.