If you’re in your 40s, you need to be doing this for your skin

As you enter your 40s and start to approach menopause, you may notice many changes within your skin. Oestrogen, which keeps the skin firm, plump and hydrated, begins to decline and visible signs of ageing become more prominent. Your 40s are a crucial time for collagen-boosting and radiance-enhancing products and procedures, to encourage a brighter, more youthful appearance for longer. If you’re in your forties and have noticed changes in your skin, these are the best products, treatments, and habits to adopt in your midlife and beyond.

What happens to your skin during your 40s?

In terms of our body’s largest organ – the skin – the ageing process can manifest in many ways, including dryness, hyperpigmentation, fine lines and deepening wrinkles, redness, and thinning skin. In your 40s, these changes will become more noticeable as you approach and enter perimenopause.

At this stage in your life, it’s time to shift focus towards promoting collagen and elastin production: the duo of proteins that keep your complexion plump. Production of both slows from your mid-twenties, and now is the time to go hardcore on reigniting them. Your skin at the age of 40 is still young, and adding in the right products and treatments will help keep your complexion healthy, happy, and firm well into your later years.

Take a targeted approach with your skincare

If you’ve never had a proper skin analysis or consultation, now is the time to get one. Supporting your skin with good, medical, clinically proven skincare is more important than ever during this phase in your life. It will help support your skin through the changes of menopause and prevent signs of ageing from worsening. In your forties, your skin may become more sensitive, so seek out gentle ingredients. Start with a gentle cleanser and nourish your skin barrier with lots of moisture-trapping lipids like ceramides and cholesterol as well as Hyaluronic Acid, one of the key molecules that affect skin moisture levels, with an impressive ability to hold water, therefore improving moisture levels in the skin.

Vitamin C brightens the complexion, but it also protects the skin from environmental damage. Using an antioxidant will provide a shield for your skin, helping to repair the skin from the inside, minimise levels of free radicals that accelerate the ageing process and reduce inflammation whilst enhancing the skin’s glow. Retinol is another crucial ingredient. It effectively rebuilds collagen, repairs sun damage, stimulates cell turnover, increases radiance, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and is widely considered the gold standard in anti-ageing skincare.

Restore volume and bone loss

Another effect of ageing is that the bones in the face start to recede, and the fat pads begin to shrink, making the face appear hollow and gaunt. When we lose this supportive fat, which once gave the face youthful volume or structure, your skin will begin to sag and droop, particularly around the jawline.

A great way to counteract this change is to restore crucial volume and support in the midface and cheeks. Doing so can give a subtle lift to the drooping tissues in the lower face, softening the appearance of jowls or nasolabial folds. The best tool we have at our disposal to achieve this is facial filler.

Improve skin quality

As we lose collagen and elastin, the skin becomes thinner, crepey and less elastic. Anything you can do in your 40s to improve skin quality and boost collagen and elastin levels will go a long way. Profhilo is a great way to do this.

Profhilo is the texture of runny honey, and is injected into five key sites of the area being treated. It spreads through the dermis, finding its way underneath the skin’s surface to treat the area as a whole. Once in place, Profhilo boosts skin hydration by enabling the skin to hold more moisture. It also stimulates the production of collagen and elastin, which is what, in time, will make the skin smoother, plumper, and bouncier.

Support collagen production

In your 40s, you may notice that your skin looks more lax, and the lines around the lower face and neck are becoming more apparent – this is because collagen and elastin levels are declining rapidly in the skin. A great way to address this is by utilising non-surgical skin tightening with an RF Microneedling or Ultrasound device. These treatments build collagen to tighten the skin of the lower face, the cheeks, and sometimes, even the eyes.

Prevent lines and wrinkles

Anti-wrinkle injections will help to soften lines and wrinkles on the forehead and around the eyes, or lift drooping brows, to keep you looking fresh and youthful. The best approach is to treat lines and wrinkles before they become deeply etched into the skin. Good, clinically-proven products can help here, too – look for skincare ingredients like retinol, vitamin C and peptides.

Take an inside-out approach

The foods you eat are just as important for maintaining healthy, radiant skin. Try to avoid processed foods, refined sugar, and chemical additives, as these can all trigger inflammation. Foods high in probiotics, such as blueberries, kale, almonds, and greek yoghurt, can help counter inflammation.

If you’re in your 40s and are starting to notice the effects of ageing on your skin, there are many solutions available which can help. Click here to enquire or to book a consultation with an expert practitioner.