ALCOHOL & skin aging

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Can drinking alcohol really speed up the aging process?

Well, the truth is that yes, it can make you age faster by causing wrinkles. This includes premature wrinkles, loss of collagen, elasticity, redness, dehydration and puffiness. However, it’s the amount and frequency of your drinking that really matters.

To begin with, there are no nutrients in alcohol. In fact, alcohol can adversely affect your nutrition levels by causing a depletion in healthy nutrients that aid in carrying oxygen throughout your body. Specifically, alcohol can have a huge negative impact on your vitamin A level, which is a very important antioxidant for your skin/body and it is vital in the regeneration of new cells.

Vitamin A is also extremely important in the production of collagen. When you have lower amounts of collagen, you lose elasticity in your skin. Collagen and elasticity are what keep your skin supple, taut and looking young. By drinking in excess, you actually speed up the aging process because you are already losing collagen and elasticity as you age. Your facial skin is already so delicate as compared to other areas of your body. We are constantly exposed to pollution, smog, smoke and the sun. The more you drink in excess, the more you’re speeding up the clock.

When alcohol is metabolized, it works as a vasodilator in that it widens the blood vessels that bring blood to the face. This can cause redness as well as puffiness or swelling. When you consume a lot of alcohol over a long period of time, the blood vessels just continue to grow and enlarge. This will eventually lead to a loss of skin tone and/or permanent redness including skin that is blotchy and similar to rosacea. This redness can also turn into broken capillaries or vessels that can burst, especially around the nose and face.

Alcohol is also very dehydrating in that it acts like a diuretic. The more you drink, the more dehydrated you will be.

Katy Sullivan

Laser expert

Nightcliff Shopping Centre

89856088