What is the “great age betrayer” to which nobody pays attention? Well, to answer that question, it is best to first know what a “great age betrayer” is.
A “great age betrayer” is the most visible part of your body that makes you look older. So you would think that the “great age betrayer” would be your face, right? After all, in the course of daily skincare, everyone pays attention to their face.
It is hard to ignore, as it is right there looking back at you in the mirror. Your bathroom cabinet is probably full of cleansers, toners and moisturizers for your face. People are even paying more attention to their own neck and decolletage (the lower part of the neck closer to the shoulder area).
So while the face, neck, and decolletage all qualify as “great age betrayers”, they are obviously not the ones to which nobody pays attention. Despite everything you do to reverse the clock from the chest up, the dead giveaway to your real age lies in your hands!
Truthfully, if you take a good look at your hands, they show more signs of age you don’t notice when looking at yourself in the mirror. They may have pesky age spots (also commonly known as sun spots or liver spots) caused by harmful UV rays. However, hope is not lost on getting rid of such spots.
There are plenty of skin lightening or bleaching products on the market, but they only slightly work. The bleaching agents will not convert a spotted aged hand into a youthful hand, no matter how expensive the product or how long you use it. Such over-the-counter antidotes are meant for very minor or faded spots that are just starting to appear, or to maintain the effects of a previously-applied, more aggressive treatment that actually was effective.
The fastest and best way to remove age without using a time machine is laser. It rarely takes more than 15 minutes to treat the backs of both hands, and it is relatively painless.
The back of the hands contain few pain fibers because most of the nerve endings are on the palm and fingertips. As a matter of fact, I have treated the backs of my own hands using a laser without any problems. It was fast, there was minimal discomfort, and my hands looked great after only two treatments.
Since the skin that covers the surface of the hands is relatively thin, the dark pigment left by sun damage is fairly shallow. After the first treatment, the spots look immediately darker, but many of them will literally flake or peel off in the first several days.
In the next few weeks, the skin will gradually continue to lighten, but less dramatically than the first few days. In most cases, a second treatment will result in a significant improvement from the baseline appearance. From then on, over-the-counter skin illuminating agents should be tried and will be more effective.
As we age, the skin on the backs of our hands can also lose volume. In fact, many people, especially women, are bothered by the increased appearance of bones, veins, and tendons in such areas. To decrease this look, fillers can work wonders. Use of topical numbing cream makes the procedure relatively painless. Also, only one injection is generally needed.
The fillers that we also use on the face can be injected into the hands. One injection is made of a syringe of Juvederm. Then, the filler is massaged throughout the back of the hands which creates a layered and natural effect turning back the volume loss of the hands by at least 10 years. The fillers last at least one year and up to 18 months before retreatment may be needed.
As always, prevention is the best medicine. After you have invested in your hands’ improved appearance, or if you want to halt their further aging, protect your investment and stop further sun damage with daily application of sunblock. If you are applying sunblock on your face and neck everyday anyway, simply squirt a little extra on the backs of your hands, rub it in, and you’re done!