Medical Questions » Skin Questions » Question No. 896
| Question: | Does the skin naturally get thinner with age? I am just over 60 and recently noticed the skin on my fingers getting very wrinkled. |
| Answer: | The reason that young people, and children in particular, have smooth, firm skin is that there is a layer of fat immediately under under the skin, and the skin cells are large and full of fluid. As you age, the amount of fat in the skin (as distinct from the amount of fat that may be present elsewhere in the body), and the amount of fluid in the skin cells, gradually diminishes. This causes the skin to become thinner and wrinkled.
The elastic fibres that are present in young skin, also stretch and become replaced by fibrous tissue with age, so that the skin does not react to changes in shape (eg. over joints such as the elbow) as readily. Ageing is a process that involves every cell in the body, and unfortunately wrinkles, thin skin, age spots, poor healing and sagging tissue are all part of this inevitable process.
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