Do your hands make you look old? It might not be a question you’ve thought about much, but it’s one that’ll be on your mind once your hands start to, well, stick out a little bit. It doesn’t happen to everyone. Sometimes your hands look just as youthful as you feel. But sometimes it feels like the hands age a little bit faster than you do. So what, exactly, can you do about that?
What to Do When Your Hands Make You Look Old
We spend a lot of time thinking and talking about wrinkles in the face. But maybe it’s not your face that is prematurely making you look a little old. Maybe it’s time to stop and ask yourself: do your hands make you look old? Or, at least, older than you feel? The question itself is often surprising to people. They don’t think of the hands as communicating anything about them.
But hands aren’t neutral. They’re incredibly important in terms of body language and in terms of identity. In other words, your hands say a lot about you. And your hands can also be particularly susceptible to the signs of aging.
So, today, we’re going to look at several ways you can make your hands appear a little more youthful. Luckily, there are both surgical and non surgical ways that you can add a little youth back into your hands. Which is good, because your hands will get noticed. So if you’re feeling a little self conscious about your hands–if you’re already wondering if your hands make you look old–then there could be a solution out there just for you.
Signs of Aging in the Hands
There are several signs of aging that can appear on your hands before anywhere else on your body–or, at least, with greater intensity than anywhere else on the body, including the face. In other words, for some people, the hands might be where you see the first signs of aging. And that can be distressing for some patients, largely because hand treatments are not nearly so well known as facial treatments.
Some signs of aging in the hands that might present in patients may include:
- Thin skin around the top of the hands
- Age spots, lines, and wrinkles that become prevalent around the hands
- Veins and arteries in the hands become more prominent
- The value of the skin color begins to change (favoring blues)
- Wrinkles around joints become much more prevalent
There is no singular sign of aging that appears in the hands. Rather, different signs of aging will show up in various orders depending on the patient. There are some things you can do that might slow the appearance of such signs:
- Hydrate every day. There’s some evidence to suggest that if your skin stays hydrated, wrinkles and lines will be much less apparent.
- Quit smoking: There’s nothing that will add wrinkles to your body and degrade your skin quite so quickly as the use of tobacco products. So if you’re currently smoking, well, try to quit.
- Be careful of the sun: The other thing that is notorious for creating lines, wrinkles, and spots, is sun damage. A little bit of sun can go a long way, so make sure you’re using a good amount of sunscreen. We usually take this advice for granted when it comes to the face, but it’s important to remember that it applies to one’s hands as well.
How to Rejuvenate Your Hands
If your hands are looking older and you’re not a big fan of it, there are two basic options you can choose from. On the one hand, you can try a surgical solution. Or you can try a non invasive solution. Each have advantages and drawbacks.
- A surgical “hand lift” can help make your hands look more youthful by eliminating excess lines, wrinkles, and tissue. Because the skin around the hands is so thin, you have to carefully select a surgeon to perform this procedure. Indeed, it’s often a good idea to get a consultation from a hand surgeon as well as a plastic surgeon.
- A non surgical hand lift usually involves the injection of dermal fillers to add some volume to the tops of the hands. This can make the skin appear fuller and help to diminish lines and wrinkles. On the upside, there’s no need for surgery. On the downside, the results are temporary, and will dissipate in a few months (the actual duration will depend largely on the type of filler chosen).
There’s no one right way to rejuvenate your hands. The correct approach will vary depending on several factors: how comfortable you are with surgery, how healthy you are, how your symptoms present, and so on. In other words, you’ll really need to talk to your plastic or cosmetic surgeon to find out what the right approach for you is.
