Is Loose Skin Something To Worry About
I think this is an important questionis loose skin really worth worrying about?
If your loose skin is causing pain or discomfort, and especially if you are getting chafing during activity, you may want to do something about it, like wearing compression garments. Exercisers that carry larger amounts of weight are often more susceptible to repetitive-use injuries like strains, shin splints, sprains, and other joint issues. But simply wearing some compression gear can help compress loose skin against the skeleton and minimize the tiny tissue tears that can be caused by skin vibration and oscillation.
Dont let the stigma of loose skin stop you from living your best life.
But if your loose skin isnt causing pain or injury, please dont let the stigma of loose skin stop you from living your best life. I’m a fan of the attitude expressed in an article from SELF magazine called “17 Women Share Pics of Loose Skin After Weight Loss to Prove How Common and Normal It Is.”
As one woman quoted in the article said, “Don’t you dare hold your potential hostage because you’re worried what someone might say or think.”
That said, even if you are ready to be as bold as the people in that SELF article, there are still some steps you can take to give your skin a little help.
Take Care Of Your Skin
Nourish and care for your skin. Daily exfoliation can help to remove dead skin cells and increase skin circulation. A hot bath with salts and minerals can improve skin tone. Skin tightening creams with herbal formulas and ingredients such as aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, yeast extract, soy protein, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A can help to hydrate and increase collagen and elastin formation in the skin.
For more information about skincare after weight loss, read the Nutrition Diva’s post on how vitamin E can help with stretch marks.
A few more things you can do to care for your skin include:
- Staying away from harsh detergents
- Limiting your sun exposure and staying away from tanning beds
- Not smoking and avoiding secondhand smoke
- Minimizing your contact with hot and chlorinated water
If you swim for fitness or fun, use soap and shampoos that are specially designed to remove chlorine. And be sure to moisturize as soon as you get out of the shower.
How Can You Prevent Crepey Skin
It is very important to safeguard your skin from getting the suns damage to prevent crepey skin. Make sure to wear sunscreen and stay away from the sun as much as you can. If you have sun-protective clothes, you should wear them more often. A good body lotion or skin moisturizer can go a long way to protect you. Use products that have glycerin or hyaluronic acid as they will help improve the appearance of crepey skin. The two ingredients will help hold moisture so that your skin remains hydrated.
While there are no supplements or foods that you can eat to prevent you from having crepey skin, eating a balanced diet that is rich in antioxidants will help support the health of your skin. Fruits and vegetables are great when it comes to improving skin health. Including vitamin C in your diet will be very beneficial to the production of collagen. You should however note that eating lots of antioxidants will not immediately fix the problem overnight. It takes time and patience.
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Many Ways To Firm Sagging Skin
A surgical lift, such as a facelift or eyelid surgery, will give you the most dramatic results, but youll find plenty of other skin-tightening options. These other options offer less downtime and lower cost. Another perk: Many can be used on just about any part of your body that needs a lift.
Heres the lowdown on your other options.
Other Causes Of Crepey Skin
While the sun is usually to blame, there are other causes of crepey skin.
One of them is reduced hydration. As your skin gets older, it produces fewer natural oils that keep skin smooth and act as a barrier against UV rays. This can accelerate the thinning process and can cause your skin to appear crackly.
Pollution, illness, stress, certain medication and a poor diet can all contribute to crepey skin or at least make it worse.
Losing a lot of weight is also a common cause of crepey skin. The loose skin is vulnerable to drying out and wrinkling especially with UV exposure.
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Lotions And Creams For Crepey Skin On Legs
Creams and lotions can help offset the appearance of crepey skin because of their hydrating effects as well as their ability to slowly thicken the skin.
It is important to hydrate your skin, Dr. Papantoniou advised. This means dont over wash and remember to moisturize regularly.
For areas that are both dry and crepey, Dr. Papantoniou recommends using a lotion or cream that contains ammonium lactate as an active ingredient. Ammonium lactate is a combination of lactic acid and ammonium hydroxide and is typically used as a moisturizer.
This can help both exfoliate and hydrate your skin, Dr. Papantoniou said. Women that actually apply this twice daily notice great results after 10 to 12 weeks.
According to Dr. Brod, treating sun-damaged skin and loss of elasticity on the legs can be challenging therefore, prevention is key by protecting this skin from the sun.
Additionally, using moisturizers to treat dry skin may improve the appearance and physiologic moisturizers with either ceramides or alpha hydroxyl acids that may offer modest improvement in the appearance, Dr. Brod noted.
Lotions and creams that contain the following ingredients can also help offset the appearance of crepey skin on legs.
There are also creams and lotions on the market that claim to specifically address crepey skin. The following products were rated by customers with at least four stars or higher out of a five-star rating on Amazon:
Tighten Loose Belly Skin With Exercise
Youre going to need to use resistance exercise if you want to improve your total body composition. Youll end up losing muscle as you lose weight which will make your loosened skin appear worse.
Having muscle on your body will help to not only fill out your skin but also give you a lean and shaped look to your body. Lifting weights during your workouts will add more lean muscle, burn fat and tighten your loose skin.
Losing lean muscle mass is one of the big reasons youll get loose stomach skin after weight loss. The less muscle you have on your body then the harder itll be tofill out loosened skin.
The better you continue to lower your body fat percentage then the more results youll get. Your stomach skin will start to tighten back up as your shape and physique improve.
Dont worry about getting big bulky muscles too. If youre lifting weights the right way then theres no chance youre going to end up looking like a bodybuilder anytime soon.
For a complete exercise and workout plan that includes resistance training then I highly recommend the workout program in The Flat Belly Formula.
Vitamins to Tighten Loose Skin
Step number one is to make sure youre eating a diet high in protein-rich foods. Studies have found those eating a high-protein diet had better skin health and a more youthful appearance .
Having a lot of protein in your diet will also help you add more lean muscle while youre losing weight . This, of course, will better fill out your loosened skin areas.
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Things That Might Contribute
- Weight Loss | Weight Gain As we age, the sudden weight gain and weight loss dont play well with our skin. When we gain weight, our skin obviously has to stretch to accomodate our expanded girth. When we lose weight the skin shrinks back. As we age, our skin loses its elasticity and doesnt snap back and stay there as well as it used to. Think of the size and stretchiness of a rubberband right out of the box. Now look at a rubberband youve used multiple times. Not as tight and doesnt stretch back as quickly, right?
- Sun Exposure Years and years of sun exposure can screw with the collagen in your skin causing them to become stiff and inflexible.
- Smoking We all know that smoking causes premature aging. A lot of smokers or previous smokers have fine lines and puckered skin around the lips and mouth.
- Side and Stomach Sleeping Either of these positions will cause your face to be smashed against your pillow causing the skin to be pushed into this position for 6-8 hours. Side sleepers have you looked in the mirror first thing when you wake up? Notice the wrinkles from your bedding in your cheeks?
- Gravity If something is up, it eventually will come down. Law of gravity. We dont have a lot of control in this area.
- Age -Our skin isnt as able to retain its moisture as well as it did when we were younger. Dehydrated skin becomes dry skin, and dry skin becomes crepey, wrinkly skin. Bleh.
Can You Tighten Loose Skin After Weight Loss
If you have loose skin after weight loss, first celebrate your weight loss victory! Then, learn more about the factors that affect skin elasticity and what you can do to help your body snap back.
- Loose skin is usually a byproduct of losing a lot of weight quickly.
- Because skin is a living organ, it can tighten up some over time.
- Age, the length of time excess weight was present, and genetics all play a role in how much your skin can tighten.
- Eating well, staying hydrated, and looking after your skin health can help.
- If you think of your skin as a wrapper, putting on some muscle mass can help “refill” the wrapper.
If youve lost a lot of weight recently, then you may have noticed that you have a bit of loose skin hanging around. Common areas for extra skin after weight loss include under the arms, under the chin or a pouch around the stomach. But loose skin can appear almost anywhere on the body, especially if you have lost weight rapidly.
Before we go on, lets start with a brief anatomy overview, from the outside in. First you have your skin, a nice protective layer and the largest organ of the integumentary systemthink of it as the wrapper that holds your body. Then you have a layer of body fat. Under that is where your muscles live. So when you lose a substantial amount of body fat, along with some muscle , you are literally removing the mass that has previously been stretching your skin. When that mass is gone, you’re left with a partially empty wrapper.
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What Are Some Misconceptions About Treating Aging Skin
Collagen supplementation. Collagen is a very large molecule if ingested, collagen gets broken down and does not reach the skin intact. Alternatively, if it is rubbed onto the skin, it cant penetrate the skin layers.
Drinking a lot of water. Drinking water is essential for our circulatory and renal system, and for keeping our inner organs well hydrated. However, it wont repair dry or aged skin.
How To Treat Saggy Loose Skin At Home
Im not going to lie, if your skin is loose then youll probably need professional help. But for mild changes to the laxity of your skin, there are some things you can do at home.
Firming Creams
The first and most obvious choice for home treatment is a body firming cream. Firming creams can work in two ways: they can help keep your skin hydrated and they can have collagen-stimulating ingredients.
Your skin needs to stay hydrated in order to stay healthy and supple. Dehydrated skin is more likely to look wrinkled and lose its elasticity.
A good firming cream will not only hydrate your skin, but it will stimulate collagen and elastin production too. Providing it with the nutrients it needs to regenerate and produce healthier, stronger and firmer cells.
Many body firming creams over promise and under deliver. Its important to recognise the limitations of a body cream other than moisturising benefits and providing hydration to your skin.
Look out for products that contain the following ingredients:
- DMAE
We recommend Circadia Skincare Firming and Shaping Gel
Massage, Body Scrubs and Dry Body Brushing
Whilst massage, body scrubs and dry body brushing wont necessarily tighten your skin, doing them regularly can help increase blood flow and oxygen to the area and help your skin to function better. This will have a beneficial effect on how you skin looks, feels and ages.
Nutrition & Supplements
Vitamin C
Protein
Collagen
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Can We Prevent Crepey Skin
The answer for question above is yes, we can. Before we come to a condition where we cant control the elastin and collagen level in our body, try the best to prevent the appearance of crepey skin. Its so much easier to be safe than sorry, right? Here it goes, we have summarized 4 easy tips to prevent crepey skin.
Types Of Skin Tightening Procedures
The following treatments use devices to deliver targeted energy to heat deeper layers of your skin and stimulate collagen and elastin production.
Ultrasound skin tightening. A micro-focused ultrasound is used to send heat deep into your skin, up to 5 millimeters below the surface. This can tighten and lift skin on your face, neck, and upper chest, reducing the appearance of wrinkles.
Results from your ultrasound therapy can take up to 6 months to appear, but they may be visible after only one treatment.
Radiofrequency therapy. As with ultrasound skin tightening, a handheld device is used to send heat into your skin to trigger collagen production. Unlike ultrasound, radiofrequency targets the outer layer of your skin called the epidermis. It is FDA-approved to treat the face, neck, body, and hands. RF treatments can be combined with microneedling to treat deeper layers of skin. In either case, results appear gradually.
While many people see results from only one RF treatment, it may take from two to six treatments to achieve the desired results. Results can last up to three years with the right skincare regimen.
Laser treatment. Here, handheld lasers send heat deep into the skin, destroying the epidermis to reach the underlying dermis. Laser treatments have proven to be particularly effective on the skin of the belly and upper arms. Most people receive from three to five treatments.
Continued
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Taking Care Of Your Body
Drink Plenty Of Water
Drinking plenty of water is necessary to maintain good health overall, but in this case, it is all about the skin. Drinking lots of water can help keep your skin moisturized and supple, and help give it a little more elasticity.
Consistently dry skin has the tendency to crack, wrinkle, and become damaged, which can lead to crepey skin in those areas. If you notice your skin becoming dry, drink more water.
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Should You Use Firming Creams
There are many firming creams that contain collagen and elastin. For example, this cream promises to tighten up your crepey skin. While this cream claims to slim, tone and firm loose skin.
These creams may temporarily give a boost to skin tightness. However collagen and elastin molecules are too large to actually penetrate the skin.
Loose Skin And The Right Solution
Is a tummy tuck right for you? You should know that abdominoplasty is not a substitute for weight loss, so patients should be near their ideal weight to be a candidate for surgery. A tummy tuck can also resolve small pockets of fat in the lower abdomen as well as loose skin. This is achieved through an additional liposuction procedure performed at the same time, saving you recovery time and resources. A lower body lift can also be combined with an abdominoplasty procedure to give patients optimal results. Moms wanting to target loose abdominal skin and deflated breasts after pregnancy can combine breast augmentation with a tummy tuck procedure, which allows twice the results and just one recovery period.
Loose skin after weight loss or pregnancy is a common concern among patients. With surgical advances and progressive cosmetic options, tummy tuck procedures can be customized to match a patients needs. Men and women can obtain their aesthetic goals and get a slimmer, flatter midsection while eliminating saggy, loose skin. With three different options available for the abdominal area, Dr. Khorsandi will determine the best procedure for you.
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