ABCs
OF BEAUTY
The real truth
about beautiful
hands
Beautiful, graceful hands indicate a person’s attention to details in grooming
and speak volumes about the way one takes care of oneself and probably
indicate how you generally handle things in life. When one looks good, one feels
more confident, which in turn instils faith in the people you are dealing with.
F
requently the focus of cosmetic improvement is the
face and it is common knowledge that women would
fork out top dollar to pursue treatments, creams and
potions to fight the signs of facial aging. Yet minimal or
little care goes into our hands although they are probably
the most age telling feature along side our neck. Being
constantly exposed to environmental factors such as water,
the sun, the wind as well as irritants in household cleaning
agents and such; it’s little wonder that our hands bear the
brunt of Father Time. Generally speaking, your hands are
subjected to the same processes of aging as your face. As
we age, our hands lose firmness and plumpness with fat
loss and muscle wasting. With collagen deterioration, the
overlying skin thins out and appears ghostly often flecked
with brownish spots from long-term sun damage. It is also
common for underlying veins to become prominent and
unsightly. So what steps can we take to combat the signs of a
pair of aging hands to make them more beautiful?
Moisturize and protect
The skin on the hands is thin and has few oil glands, to
begin with, hands can quickly become dry and this will
only worsen with age. To prevent sun damage and further
pigmentation, never leave home without slapping on some
sunscreen of SPF 30 or more. If you’ve got to play Cinder-
ella over the weekend, always remember to put on a pair of
gloves to minimize direct contact with the amount of clean-
ing agents used! Sure, good hands cream will moisturized
your hands but you also have to remember to apply it and
let’s be fair, it can slip our minds. Mesotherapy is a long-term
investment for those who might be forgetful. It is a natu-
ral renewal of the vital features of skin cells with hyaluronic
acid. This acid is commonly present in the human body. Its
main function is to bind water and activate the growth of
collagen fibres. Special cocktails based on this acid enriched
with vitamins, minerals and other beneficial elements cho-
sen for hands, mesotherapy is prepared specifically for each
patient according to the type and state of their complexion.
Pigmentation
Age spots are fairly common in older people with many
years of excessive, unprotected sun exposure. Genetics may
also play a role in their development.
In recent years, those seeking younger looking hands
may pursue other forms of medical treatments. Chemical
22 | YOUTH CODE 6 | 2017
peels have been proven to work as well on the dorsum of
the hands as they do on the face by removing dead skin
cells and encouraging the growth of new healthy ones. In
addition, the Candela laser V-beam works very well on spot
removal of targeted lesions and the Palomar, non- ablative
laser system, is excellent for total rejuvenation of shrivelled,
ghoulish hands.”
Skin Tightening & Volumization
As we age, collagen fibres begin to break down leaving
the back of the hands looking loose and wrinkled. As there
is little supportive fatty tissue in the hands to begin with,
wrinkles may even be more noticeable on the hands than
on the face. This problem can be rectified with Thermage, a
medical procedure that achieves skin tightening by deliver-
ing radiofrequency waves that cause collagen formation and
remodelling. The beauty of Thermage is that it can be ap-
plied to small areas of the body such as the back of hands for
target treatment, producing significant, long lasting results.
Volume loss and hollowing of the hands can be treated with
Hyaluronic Acid (HA) fillers injection. Placed beneath the
skin, the HA filler raises the skin level so that tendons, joints
and veins lose their prominence and re-plump and replen-
ish volume to the back of the hands providing a supple and
youthful appearance all in a “minute“!
Fighting the aging hand syndrome takes more than hand
cream, though that simple step does make a difference. The
latest technology has given us a set of procedures that will
have similar effects as those we have been able to accomplish
for the face.