Caring for Often-Overlooked Areas

The face is often the focus of our anti-aging efforts. But there is a good chance you’re neglecting areas that, when not taken care of properly, can make you look significantly older than you actually are such as the neck, eyes and lips.
The skin in these areas is some of the thinnest on the body, and develop signs of aging quicker than most, meaning these areas need just as much attention and sometimes more as our faces.

The neck, eyes, and lips can make you look older if not properly cared for. These areas have thin skin that ages faster, so they need special care.

Keeping Your Neck and Décolleté Protected

Sun damage is one of the main contributors to the breakdown of the skin on the neck and décolleté.
It is very important to take care of the skin on your neck in the same way you take care of your face. Bringing all your products down to the neck and décolleté, especially broad-spectrum physical sunscreen is your best bet.
Treat your neck exactly as you treat the face—same cleanser, serums, followed by a neck cream that helps tighten and firm skin while diminishing unevenness and dark spots.

A good skin-care routine using ingredients like peptides, antioxidants and hyaluronic acid (HA) applied to the neck promote and protect collagen and elastin and keep the neck supple.

Combine these topicals with monthly preventative treatments that nourish, hydrate and boost collagen and elastin production. At Spa Matrix, we have a range of skin tightening facials that we also extend down on to the neck area.

Neck Care Tips:

Use sunscreen daily
Apply face products to your neck too
Try neck creams with peptides and hyaluronic acid
Consider treatments like Jet Plasma, Aerolase Laser or chemical peels

Sun damage speeds up neck aging. Treat your neck like your face - use the same cleansers and serums. Pick neck creams that firm skin and fade dark spots. Monthly treatments can boost collagen and keep skin tight.

Eye Care Tips

The skin on and around the eyes is approximately 10 times thinner than the rest of the face. The result is less protection than other parts of the face. After factoring in smiling, squinting, diet, water intake, allergies and stress, the eyes show signs of degradation more quickly and with more severity than skin elsewhere on the body.

With few oil glands to maintain natural moisturize, the skin around the eyes is subject to dehydration. As we age, the skin’s natural process of shedding dead cells slows, and the eye area often develops a buildup of dead skin cells.

To maintain healthy skin around the eyes and delay the signs of aging, collagen-stimulating ingredients such as peptides should be incorporated into both daily regimens, as well as monthly professional skin treatments.

With the advancements in skin lasers, we are able to treat the eye areas in ways that were not possible a few years ago.

Eye Area Advice:

Use gentle, hydrating eye creams
Wear sunglasses and hats outside
Sleep on your back to reduce puffiness
Don't rub or tug at your eyes

In addition to sunscreen, wearing sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats will help protect skin and prevent squinting.

Sleeping on your back if possible helps to stop puffiness around the eyes. When you lie of your side, fluid can build up on the side of the face closest to the mattress. By lying on your back, you discourage this pooling and reduce puffiness.

Keeping Lips Plump

Lips often age more rapidly than the rest of our face does. This is partially due to the skin on our lips is thinner than skin elsewhere and does not contain sweat glands.

Without sweat glands, lips do not have the natural oils that protect skin from drying out. Other factors that lead to thin, unsightly lips are genetics, natural aging, sun exposure, dry air, certain medications, and smoking.

The lips have structural fat pads that diminish as we age, but lose volume faster from alcohol, smoking and some medications. This causes them to shrink and/ or the upper lip to wrinkle.

Aside from keeping lips moisturized and hydrated, they also need to be protected from the sun. Lips experience sun damage just as much as the rest of the skin on your face, resulting in sagging and hyperpigmentation.

Lip Protection Pointers:

Keep lips moisturized
Use lip balms with SPF
Try lip scrubs and masks
Pick organic lip colors

Good lip care consists of lip scrub followed by a mask, lip balm and/or lip plumping treatment and organic lip color. In some cases, a lip primer is applied before lip color if the lips need a little extra care or if there are lines around the lips.

Make the delicate areas of skin around the eyes, lips and neck a priority by adding professional products and monthly spa treatments to your skincare routine. From nourishing lip treatments, to moisturizing, lifting, and firming eye treatments or makeup removers and neck and firming treatments, take the time to please the most fragile areas of your skin.