Premature Wrinkles: What Causes Them And 7 Expert Tips To Prevent Them

In your 20s and 30s, you’ve got lots on your plate — and wrinkles are the last thing you want to worry about. Save that for later! But unfortunately, many people begin to develop wrinkles at an early age. We call them premature wrinkles.

It seems unfair to get wrinkles before they’re due, right? Thinking about those unwelcome signs of aging can make you frown, but don’t worry!

Easy steps like wearing sunglasses, skipping dessert, and using SiO Beauty patches help you care for your skin and ward off unwanted lines.

You can start preventing premature wrinkles now, and we’re here to help. But before we get to that, let’s explain what causes these pesky lines.

What Causes Premature Wrinkles

Skin stays youthful and wrinkle-free thanks to something called skin elasticity. That fancy term refers to how tight your skin is and how well it stays in place.

Skin elasticity is related to two major components of your skin: collagen and elastin. But as you mature, you naturally lose collagen and elastin, meaning your skin begins to lose elasticity.

When that happens, your skin becomes slack, and that’s when you say a less-than-enthusiastic hello to wrinkles and sagging.

Premature wrinkling is mostly due to the same process — loss of collagen and elastin — but it happens earlier than it should. Early loss of skin elasticity is the last thing you want!

So what contributes to it? The two big ones: the sun and smoking.

The sun is warm and happy, but its rays can damage your skin. They actually break down collagen and elastin. That means your sunbathing days (and cloudy days without sunscreen) contribute to premature wrinkles.

Smoking is another enemy of youthful skin. It breaks down collagen and elastin too and also leads to premature wrinkles.

As you can see by now, sun damage and smoking both contribute to the loss of skin elasticity, which makes them two of the biggest culprits of premature wrinkles. But wrinkles can get the upper hand on a young face through several other habits as well.

They’re little habits — like not drinking enough water, not wearing sunglasses (more on that later), eating too many sweets, and making repetitive facial expressions (like raising your eyebrows) — but they can really speed up the aging process.

How To Prevent Premature Wrinkles

Now that you know what causes premature wrinkles, you might be feeling discouraged. But don’t be!

There are tons of ways to prevent early wrinkling, and we’re here to give them to you! Here are our seven favorite tips to keep your skin glowing and healthy-looking for as long as possible.

1) Be Mindful Of The Sun

Caring for your skin (and preventing premature wrinkles) requires being mindful of the sun and its damaging rays.

This is important for two reasons: to protect your skin from UV rays and to keep you from squinting! Wear sunscreen on all the days that end in -y (even the cloudy ones!).

Dr. Dennis Gross, a dermatologist from New York, says, “Unprotected exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can trigger the breakdown of this important connective tissue, collagen and elastin. Initially, you won’t see the effects of this sun exposure, but over time, this breakdown of elastin fibers will trigger loose, slack, and even sagging skin — all signs of premature aging.”

You’ll also want to wear your sunglasses. Why? Sunglasses not only provide protection to the sensitive skin around your eyes, but they also help you not to squint — a repetitive facial expression that can cause premature wrinkles around your eyes.

2) Stop Smoking

While we’re talking about salvaging all the collagen and elastin that you can, we have to mention smoking again. We’ve already established that smoking destroys collagen and elastin and is bad for your skin.

But it isn’t just about smoker’s lines around your mouth. Smoking destroys collagen and elastin all over — that means that with every cigarette, you’re a little closer to premature wrinkles anywhere on your face.

If that’s not enough to motivate you to quit, smoking is also a repetitive facial movement. Over time, the simple act of holding a cigarette between your lips can lead to small lines and wrinkles around your mouth.

By saying no to cigarettes you’re also saying no to some of those premature wrinkles. So take the cigarette out of your hand and put a water bottle there instead.

3) Drink Up! (Water, Of Course)

Your doctor isn’t the only one telling you to drink plenty of water every day! While it won’t magically do away with all your wrinkles, hydration is super important for healthy, glowing, gorgeous skin.

And hydration starts from the inside. Using a good moisturizer is a necessity (we’ll talk more about that next), but your moisturizer shouldn’t replace the glass of water in your hand.

Water hydrates your skin from the inside-out, and well-hydrated skin is happy skin. Drinking plenty of water every day leaves your skin fuller, brighter, and less wrinkly.

Dr. Steven Deliduka, a dermatologist practicing in Illinois, says, “I’ve found that water can have a significant impact in skin health. Without adequate water intake, skin appears duller, and wrinkles and pores more prominent. Proper hydration levels help the skin to become plump and improves its elasticity, meaning it’s less likely to crack and have irritations and blemishes.”

Bonus: Try SiO Beauty patches to infuse some extra moisture into your thirsty skin!

4) Create A Good Skin Care Routine

There’s no substitute for a good skin care routine! If you’re concerned about developing crow’s feet, smile lines, or other pesky wrinkles, it’s time to get serious about how you’re cleansing your face.

Shoot for simple but effective. You don’t want to overload your face with too many products and chemicals, but definitely give it what it needs. 

The goal of cleansing your skin is to keep it squeaky-clean without drying it out. To hit the right balance, don’t cleanse your face more than twice per day.

You’ll also need to find the right cleanser for your skin type and for the season. This means you might need to switch to a more gentle cleanser during the wintertime, when you’re more likely to have dry skin.

Listen to what your skin is saying to you! It might change its tune during different seasons.

As we mentioned earlier, drinking plenty of water is no replacement for a daily moisturizing routine! Use a high-quality moisturizer at least twice per day, even if you have oily skin (that goes for the man in your life, too!). Oily skin doesn’t necessarily mean moisturized skin.

Also, be sure to flood your skin with that moisture right after you get out of the shower — don’t wait!

Expert tip: As relaxing as they might be, avoid really hot showers. The hot water will just dry out your skin even more!

Exfoliate once or twice per week (more often can irritate your skin) to say goodbye to the dead skin hanging around.

If you’re not in the habit of exfoliating, you can start today! While you can purchase some great exfoliants, you can also whip up a DIY exfoliant from things you already have in your kitchen.

And lastly, show some love to your delicate eye skin. The skin around your eyes is different from the rest of your face and should be treated differently!

Eye cream is specifically designed to moisturize and tend to the thin, delicate skin around your eyes. Plus, most eye creams contain collagen, which will help ward off premature wrinkles around your eyes.

If you’re doing all of the above, your skin will thank you for it years down the road and you just might prevent some premature wrinkles!

If you’re looking for more, your skin can also benefit from products that are specially designed to nourish it while you sleep, like SiO Beauty patches for your eyes, brow, hands, and more.

5) Skip The Dessert

Your personal trainer is probably the main one telling you to eat right. But that’s not just good advice to keep fit — it’s also helpful in preventing premature wrinkles.

Your skin is a reflection of what you put into your body.

In a study called “Diet and Dermatology,” Rajani Katta, M.D., and Samir P Desai, M.D., note that “Rhytides, sagging of skin, and loss of elasticity are all related to changes in the collagen and elastic fibers of the skin, which are themselves impacted by diet. Ingestion of sugar, in particular, can accelerate these signs of aging.”

Stay away from sugar, and fill your plate with colorful vegetables and fruits and some healthy oils and fats from foods like salmon, avocados, almonds, walnuts, and olives.

Skin care is about maintaining healthy habits over the years, and eating right falls into that category! Take inventory of what you put into your body and start adding in some extra skin-healthy foods.

Fruits like pomegranates and blueberries will fill you with antioxidants. Other foods like olive oil, green tea, and brussel sprouts are loaded with yummy nutrients that will help your skin — and your whole body — stay in tip-top shape.

6) Relax Your Face

One of the causes of premature wrinkles is repeated facial expressions.

Every time you furrow your brow while concentrating or squint your eyes while working at the computer, you’re contributing to the formation of wrinkles called expression lines.

We already mentioned eye wrinkles from squinting at the sun (wear your sunglasses!) and lines from smoking a cigarette. But you may be making expressions that you aren’t even aware of, like raising your eyebrows or pursing your lips.

Take notice of your go-to facial postures. Then try to relax your face and go about your day calm, cool, and collected.

7) Use SiO Beauty Patches

Healthy habits will go a long way toward preventing premature wrinkles. But to maximize your efforts, wear SiO Beauty patches to hydrate and plump your skin and reduce wrinkles at any age.

Add SiO’s hydrating patches to your healthy habits and you’ll be on your way to smoother skin in no time.

These little miracle-workers are made with medical-grade silicone that hydrates your skin by drawing moisture into the dermis (the outer layer) and encouraging collagen production.

Simply apply your patches before bedtime. That’s it! The patches do the rest while you snooze. That means you’ll enjoy a great night of sleep and wake up to less-wrinkled (and more gorgeous!) skin. Easy, right?

Not only is it easy, but you can also reuse SiO patches more than once. In fact, you can use them up to 15 times before tossing them.

Just Say No To Premature Wrinkles

You can’t turn back the clock, but you can slow down wrinkles, and that’s almost as good!

No one wants to look older than they are. Staying wrinkle-free is key to looking young, and now you’ve got some expert tips to help keep those premature wrinkles at bay.

You know what to do: protect yourself from the sun, stop smoking, start guzzling water, exfoliate, cleanse, moisturize, and fuel your skin with healthy foods.

Now it’s time to get to work — or better yet, just go to bed and let your SiO Beauty patches do the work for you. There’s no easier way to say “no” to premature wrinkles!