Anti-Aging Hand Care Tips from a Dermatologist | Reverse Dry, Wrinkled & Spotty Hands

If you thought I was perfect, I can see why you might make that mistake. Listen, I get it. I get it. But I do in fact make my fair share of mistakes. Many mistakes, including skincare mistakes. And a mistake that I have made in the past that I have tried to correct moving forward, and I do the best I can, is focusing all my skincare efforts on my face and ignoring my hands. Yeah. So, in today's article, I'm going to give you my dermacked tips for anti-aging for your hands. This is one of the first locations where the visible signs of skin aging show up. Wrinkles, dryness, age spots. And in today's article, I'm going to be giving you five dermatologist back tips, strategies, things that you can do, guess what? At home. At home. You don't have to book an appointment. These are things you can do starting today and make a difference in preventing and reversing. Prevent and reverse. We're doing both today in this artile with five simple tips.

First of all, what's going on here? What is going on with the backs of our hands? Why is this pro-aging territory for some reason? Well, first of all, the anatomy of the skin is unique here. It's thinner. It's more delicate. Fewer oil glands, the sebaceous oil glands that make us oily, cause acne or contribute to acne that we loathe on our face, contribute to dandruff on our scalp. They also have a little little something anti-aging, saucy going on in them. Fewer oil glands on the hands. And let's face it, the challenges of the skin as a barrier are greatest, one might argue, on the hands because we are constantly challenging the barrier with our hands. I don't know about you, but I'm not picking up anything with my crow's feet. I spend a lot of time moisturizing them, but I'm not picking up anything with them. Meanwhile, the majority of the aggression that my skin faces on a dayto-day basis has to do with me touching stuff, washing my hands, doing wet work. And by wet work, I mean water plus detergent, hands submerged, really challenges the skin. Not to mention the sun exposure, including when we are driving on long car trips, the sun that comes in through the window, that UVA does play a role in discoloration and aging of the hands.

Over time, of course, it's normal for us to lose collagen and elastin, contributing to thinning and wrinkles, but that's going to be even more obvious when you're not starting out with much to begin with because, well, it's thinner skin. Couple that with estrogen decline in menopause in women, you get even more collagen loss, as I've talked about in my article on how your skin changes in your 40s. So, check that one out if you missed it.

Now, I know what some people are saying. It's not all about anti-aging. No, it's not. No, it's not. But the reason you should concern yourself with these things is that they manifest underlying issues that can cause skin health. Yeah. Because it is an organ system. Skin health problems for you later on in life. Collagen loss, the loss of the supportive framework leads to blood vessel fragility. The subsequent development later on in life of what is referred to as solar pera or scenile. I don't like that pera. I don't think it's very nice. Basically, prominent bruising that can be very stubborn to get rid of. And because the skin thins even more over time, when you get up there in your older, wiser years, it's more vulnerable to tearing and of course slow healing. So, the things we're going to talk about in today's article can help not only prevent and reverse some of those visible signs of aging on the hands, but also help to support healthy skin long term, which is the goal. Skin health and the cosmetic benefits, there are a little added a little added relish, if you will. Okay. Obviously, but we need to talk about it.

Daily Sunscreen

Okay. Obviously, the number one thing that you need to be doing that we forget. I forget. Okay. I forget to do this. Daily sunscreen on the hands. Yeah. Sunscreen queen. I've not always been the best at putting sunscreen on my hands, but it's super important. I know a lot of you guys are like, I'm skipping this section. I'm skipping this section. I already know about the sunscreen. I'm listen Margaret, sunscreen is doing quite a bit for you. First of all, yes, it is a preventative for slowing down collagen destruction from sun exposure. It is a preventative for preventing dark spots. And it does prevent those dark spots, the discoloration, and hello, it protects against the DNA damage that can set the stage for skin cancers later on in life. Skin health metric.

Again, the other reason to be really proactive with using sunscreen is that, as I point out, and people forget, sunscreen is a moisturizer. Moisturizers on the hands are going to be your friends for reversing dryness, keeping hands, skin healthy, helping to support barrier integrity, cutting down an irritation, oxidative stress. I mean, it has additive benefit to just be moisturizing your hands with a protective sunscreen. So, I suggest SPF 30 or higher to the hands daily to protect from dryness and from UV damage. It's a good idea to keep a travel size one with you in your purse, for example, so you can reapply on the go. Make sure you reapply after you pat dry the hands after cleansing cuz you will inevitably rinse some of it off. Plus, after you wash your hands, you want to moisturize them to cut down on dryness and irritation.

Now, if you're going to be taking a long road trip, you might want to invest in either UV protective films or some UPF driving gloves, which I have, of course, sunscreen queen. You know, I have the UPF protective clothing as well. Bit of an investment. It pays off. It pays off. I have a pair, two pairs actually. Yeah, two pairs. I'm I'm fancy like that. Two pairs from Bar. Not sponsored.

Retinoids

Moving away from the sun protection or you've already skipped to this point. You know, if you've skipped to this point, then number two, another one you probably think you already know all about, but we're going to talk about it anyway because I guarantee there are some pointers here that you don't know about. And that is consider consider not mandatory, but consider using your retinoid if you're already using one to your face. Consider using it on your hand. Why not? Why not? You say, "I don't use a retinoid." Um, have you considered using adapylene over the counter? Yeah, it's an FDA approved acne treatment. But yes, off label, it can help to reverse sunspots. It can help to improve collagen production which is going to help to thicken the deeper layers of the skin. Can be used on the backs of the hands. Of all of the topical retinoids, it's one of the easiest to tolerate. Can be drying, can be irritating, but on the back of the hands, definitely worth doing.

Retinoids also help calm down inflammation. They help to put the brakes on the upregulation of enzymes that damage your collagen. Remember, you want to preserve as much as possible the collagen that you have there cuz it's not very much, right? It's not a very thick area of the body in terms of skin. on the backs of the hands. One thing about retinoids that is not spoken about enough is that with long-term consistent use of a topical retinoid, it can actually help to improve skin barrier integrity. Ultimately, that's going to help keep the hands hydrated and it's going to help cut down on irritation to environmental exposures. It's going to strengthen the skin barrier, which as a reminder, skin barrier integrity can decline with age and with menopause as well.

Topical retinoids also can help to reverse and prevent sunspots, age spots. They can be really effective. Now, if you're not using a prescription retinoid, you don't have access to over-the-counter adapylene as is sold here. There's also retinol and there's retinaldahhide. These are cosmetic ingredients that have been shown uh to improve collagen production, to uh lighten age spots. Um so, they are marketed as cosmetics because they can't make drug claims. They're marketed as being able to improve the visible signs of uh skin aging also on the backs of the hands. Yeah. So, that's another alternative as well.

Targeted Treatments

Number three, let's talk about targeted treatments, if you will, for the backs of the hands. We're going to keep it really simple here cuz I don't I don't like overwhelming with a bunch of different active ingredients because just irritation, spending money, compliant. I mean, it's just the more things you tack on, the less likely you are to do them. When we're talking about dark spots, we already talked about sunscreen, we already talked about retinoids. The other thing that is worth considering is a topical called Cistamine, brand name sesper, but there are a lot of others out there. And this is a product that you can use to lighten sunspots. It is widely used in richly melanated skin types to fade various types of hyperpigmentation as these groups are more inclined to develop hyperpigmentation including you know as the result of cumulative sun damage.

This topical basically acts to reduce some of the melanin that has accumulated in those spots and it also acts as an antioxidant to cut down oxidative stress that would otherwise drive more pigmentation as well as damage to the supportive framework of your skin. This active ingredient cistamine, it's interesting in that it's used a little bit unconventionally from what we're used to using as far as skincare products in that you apply it and you leave it on as directed, usually about 15 to 20 minutes, and then you actually rinse it off. So, it's a little bit of a diva ingredient to incorporate into your routine, but if you're motivated to do it, you could do it in the morning when you wake up. You apply it to dry hands, let it sit on there, maybe while you make your coffee, and then you just rinse it off and follow with a moisturizer or, of course, for daytime use, a moisturizing sunscreen. It does not increase sun sensitivity. And with consistent use, it can help to fade sunspots on the backs of your hands. Takes about 6 weeks to start seeing much of an improvement, but you start seeing optimal results around 8 to 12 weeks. can be pricey, but there are a variety of different brands that have their version of it. For example, Urban Skin RX has one that you might consider. Not sponsored.

The other active that is worth considering applying to your hands, especially if you already have it and you're rubbing it all over your body. It's like put a little love on the backs of your hands, and that is 12% lactic acid. You may be going, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do I find that?" Listen, it's called Amlactin. Yeah, that boring lotion that they stick in the back of the Costco pharmacy. Yeah, that has kind of an odd odor for some people. They don't like the way it smells. But 12% or higher, cuz there are a lot of different amactins that amactin makes. Look for the 12% strength or higher. 12% lactic acid, um, which in amactin is ammonium lactate.

As a side note, 12% lactic acid. Listen to this. It has been shown to improve the thickness of not just the epidermis, the top layer of the skin, which again is thinner on the backs of your hands, but also also the deeper layers. It's been shown to improve the thickness down there as well. And it shows promise for reversing skin thinning that happens as a result of topical steroids. But here, you know, you've got age related skin thinning. Definitely worth considering. Plus, it's a very hydrating ingredient. It helps to exfoliate away dry, rough skin texture. Now, it can make you a bit more sensitive to the sun. All the more reason to be protecting your hands from the sun wearing sunscreen because it will make them a bit more likely to burn. if you tend to burn, for example.

But the sunscreen, the topical retinoid, those are really evidence-based interventions for both preventing and reversing sun damage and the visible signs of skin aging on the hands. Then you want to throw in some of these other evidence-based targeted therapies for the thinning for the the sunspots. worth considering if you want to go all in.

Moisturize

But taking a step back, okay? Because we've we've we've touched on point number four a lot already, but we we're going to focus on it in its own point, and that is, and you're going to get annoyed. You're going to get annoyed. You're going to think, I'm skipping over this, skipping over this moisturizer. You need to be moisturizing your hands more consistently than arguably any other part of your body. And I'm queen moisturizer. Okay? Those of you guys who read the article and, you know, my outros and in the weekend articles where I mean, you're like, "Dang, this girl and the moisturizer, she just doesn't rest with it." The hands, like I said, they they're touching. They're exposed to hand soaps, detergents, household cleaning products, stuff that you touch. I mean, you go in the gas station, you shop around, you touch a bunch of things. Maybe you pick up a magazine, the inks transfer to your hands. A newspaper. I know nobody reads newspapers anymore, but some people end up coming in contact with them. The inks transferred to your hands. can be irritating, drying, just little things like that.

Okay, you're like me. You like your Mrs. Myers counter spray. I'm always spritzing that down. I mean, I don't know what it is. Something in my brain, I feel a sense of inner peace. I feel renewed, refreshed if I can just mist down a countertop and and wipe it off with a clean cloth. It's like cosplaying, cleaning, okay? Cuz really all I'm doing is perfuming the countertop temporarily. But I feel like I'm doing something. Well, yeah. I mean that all adds up to cumulative challenges on the delicate skin barrier that over time, you know, can contribute to irritation, dryness, and hand eczemas. Hand flare-ups of hand eczemas for sure.

So, in addition to being cognizant of moisturizing your hands, you also want to protect your hands with gloves whenever you're doing any kind of what is referred to as wet work. Basically, repeated exposures to water and or detergent. Gloves can really really help cut down on exposures. If you can't wear gloves for these things, then also consider just making sure that you moisturize aggressively with petroleum jelly. That is the best bet because it resists removal with water. If you do have to repeatedly expose your hands to water, petroleum jelly is like going to be the best skin protectant. It's annoying because it's really greasy, but that that's a great option there.

Speaking of petroleum jelly, even though it's really greasy and annoying, definitely lean into petroleum jelly, whether it be straight up Vaseline or the generic versions of Vaseline or something like Aquafor healing ointment and its generic less expensive versions. Caravee healing ointment and yeah, a prolotum ointment to the hands at night. Really good because at night the hands are going to lose even more water. It's just kind of the nature of how things go down in your skin. And it's a time where you should be unwinding and not doing as much so you can really have that greasy stuff on there and and not be so annoying.

But if you really want to kick it up a notch, and I talk about this in my hand eczema articles, it's great if you do a lot of wet work throughout the day. You develop hand eczema, put the petroleum jelly on and then cover it with white cotton gloves. They sell these in the drugstore. They sell them on Amazon, Walmart. The white cotton gloves over the petroleum jelly really helps to lock it all in. Ideally, you sleep that way, but this is kind of a sensory nightmare for many people. Try and just hang out that way at least an hour. It really can make a huge difference in the dryness of your hands and really reverse some of that irritation that makes the wrinkling look so much more obvious.

But throughout the day, like I said, petroleum jelly is kind of greasy. It's annoying. You can't just put it on and then, you know, we're always touching screens and things of that sort. So, having greasy ointment is not ideal. But there are a variety of really excellent fast absorbing non-greasy but olusive hand creams that usually contain like dimethylone skin protectant. For example, Lor Pizzay makes one, the sycoplast hand cream. Also, Neutrogena Norwegian formula hand cream. Amazing. They have a fragrance-free one. Highly recommend that. Gold Bond has a colloidal oatmeal hand cream that's very good as well, especially if you're inclined towards hand eczema, itch, those little water blisters. uh nice and hydrating but not greasy. Of course, lean into your sunscreens during the day cuz like I said at the start of the article, they are moisturizers as well.

Low-Level Laser Therapy

All right, and then last but not least is if you want to get fancy, you're committed to taking the anti-aging hand care routine up a notch, and that is to consider low-level laser therapy. So, low-level laser therapy combines red and near infrared wavelengths of light, which are evidence-based ways to improve collagen production. They improve circulation to the skin and they also help to calm down inflammation and they can be used on the hands to reverse some of the visible signs of skin aging and they also help to calm down inflammation and irritation. So they can end up being really helpful actually if you do have a flare up of a hand eczema.

Now disclosure I am affiliated with Omnilux. I am on their scientific advisory committee. This article is not sponsored but I am affiliated with them. So, they make a red and near infrared light device, the Omnilux contour glove. And this is an investment for sure, but um it's pretty easy to do. So, here's what it looks like. And you just velcro it in place.

And the red and near infrared wavelengths of of light in this hand mask, they penetrate to stimulate collagen production, can help to improve the visible signs of skin aging on the backs of the hands. It also to a certain extent may help with uh age spots as well. Not as evidence-based for that, but there has been some observation that people's like sunspots seem to lighten when they do that. That's for the highly motivated individual. And in order for that to really work, you have to use it consistently. You can't just use it intermittently when you want to relax and unwind. It won't work that way. Like anything with the skin, it takes time. It takes consistency. But with consistent use, you definitely can see results and improvement in the visible signs of skin aging on the backs of the hands as well as cutting down on dryness and irritation, which alone for me personally is a reason to keep using the hand device.

Conclusion

All right, so those are the five things that you can do starting today if you want to at home to really jumpstart your anti-aging hand routine. Now if you want to take it even further and go in office, yeah, there are a lot of procedures that can be done to reverse the visible signs of aging on the backs of the hands. For example, chemical peels in office can help to lighten age spots and depending on the depth can help reverse some skin thinning. You also have energy basedFwatch devices, lasers that can help to improve a lot of sun damage on the skin. And then for volume loss uh and and thinning, you can also pursue filler hyaluronic acid filler for example on the pore sculpture that can actually help to replace that loss volume and longterm help to strengthen the integrity of the backs of the hands.

But today's article is focused on things that you can do at home. And remember, anti-aging skin care doesn't have to be complicated, and it isn't just focused on the cosmetic benefit. These tips can not only help to ward off those signs of skin aging, but also can help potentially slow down the accumulation of damaging changes that would make your skin more vulnerable to tearing, to persistent bruising, to slow wound healing, and of course, depending on your skin type, to certain suninduced skin cancers.

I hope this article was helpful and informative for you guys. Now, on the inside, I'm going to put one of my recent articles all about anti-aging skincare ingredients that actually work. Evidence-based things so you don't waste time chasing trends, chasing after the latest fad, hot new ingredient. You go after what the science says actually work. So, read that one next if you missed it. But if you like this article, give it a thumbs up, share it with your friends, and as always, don't forget sunscreen and Pin. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Bye.