What are crow’s feet?
- As you age, you may notice fine lines forming in your skin on the outer corners of your eyes known as crow’s feet or laugh lines.
- These small wrinkles form from tiny muscles contracting in the outer corner of your eyes as you experience the many different emotions that influence your facial expressions: laughter, stress and sadness.
- Two proteins that help skin retain its plump, youthful appearance — collagen and elastin — naturally decrease as you age.
- As these proteins wane, you develop fine lines such as frown lines and crow’s feet.Using sunscreen and some facial moisturisers can help prevent crow’s feet from developing.
How do you prevent crow’s feet?
- There are several lifestyle choices you can make to help combat fine lines and wrinkles. Topical creams available over the counter can help prevent crow’s feet.
Some over-the-counter options to prevent crow’s feet are:
- Exfoliation. Exfoliation removes dead skin cells from the top layer of your skin, leaving only fresh, healthy skin. This can reduce the appearance of fine lines that lead to crow’s feet.
- Peptide creams. Peptides are amino acids that occur naturally in your skin. When applied to your skin, your body interprets the amino acids in peptides as damaged collagen, so it produces collagen to repair the damage. This repair plumps fine lines and wrinkles.
- Retinol. Retinol is a well-known topical treatment for combating the effects of aging. Made from vitamin A, retinol stimulates the production of collagen and elastin — two key ingredients in your skin that give it a youthful, plump look.