We all know what wrinkles are, but who knows why we get wrinkles? We know that laugh lines are a sign of a well lived and happy life. But why do those laugh lines and crows feet stay? Why does skin get more and more wrinkly the older we get? Well, this is what I have found. Wrinkles and folds form in skin areas where there has been a decrease in elastin and a decrease in underlying fatty tissue.

The presence and production of essential enzymes decrease with age as a result of enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMP’s). MMP’s are produced by the body in increasingly greater numbers, and their role is to slow down collagen and elastin from functioning normally. Eventually, the body begins producing more MMP’s than the enzymes it needs to repair and restore the skin cells. Once there is an imbalance and there is more MMP’s, that is where the skin is thinner and capillaries are more visible, dry skin, dissipation of fatty tissue in the subcutaneous layer.  So over time, after it loses its elasticity the skin gives way to folds and wrinkles, creating the laugh lines and crows feet.