• Question: why do we get wrinkles as we get older?

    Asked by mojems (imogen) to Rebecca, Josh, Chris, Rob, Susan on 18 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by #nerdyweirdo.
    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 18 Jun 2015:

      As we use the muscles under the skin, we stretch and fold the skin (think about everytime you smile, shout, yawn, eat, cough, the skin around your mouth gets stretched and folded). This damages the skin by a tiny tiny amount every time. Then the skin heals itself but it will not be as elastic afterwards, so the skin is slightly stretched and has folds instead of springing flat against the muscles. These folds are the wrinkles.

    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      Your skin contains proteins which behave like rubber bands: when they are stretched, they snap back to their original size. As you get older, this elasticity of the skin becomes less effective, so when you stretch the skin, e.g. by muscle movements, it doesn’t spring back so easily. Hence the wrinkles.

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