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  • Assessing Your Skin: When Do the Effects of Aging Set In?
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When I look at a patient's face, I evaluate from multiple different levels. The first thing I look is I look at the quality of their skin. I think skin is such an important part of our appearance. It's the biggest organ in our body. Sometimes patients have a lot of sun damage, a lot of discoloration on their skin that can be easily treated with laser, for example, with better skin care, and even something as simple as sun block. I always recommend using sunblock that's chemical free but that is a protective barrier, and even just using that can improve the quality of your skin.

As we pass the age of 30, we stop making collagen, so our collagen starts to break down with the environmental factors including UVA and UVB rays. So that's the start of us starting to age. As we age and we continue to age, we continue to lose that collagen. Our skin loses elasticity. Everything starts to sag. People often ask me, 'Where did I get these labial folds from?' It didn't come out of nowhere. It's just that all of your skin is now starting to sag and that's why you're starting to see this.

So when I look at somebody, the first thing I look at is the quality of their skin. The second thing I look for is the elasticity of their skin, and their anatomy. So if I'm starting to see tear troughs underneath their eyes and these labial folds, marionette lines and jowls, when I see those four things, it's time for a facelift. It's time for something a little bit more invasive.

Assessing Your Skin: When Do the Effects of Aging Set In?

Dr. Kimberly Lee discusses the aging process and how she assesses a patient's skin to determine the best facial rejuvenation process for each individual.