Crepey Skin

Do you remember using crepe paper at school? The thin, crinkly paper that is all wrinkled and creased. Well, there’s a reason we refer to the skin as we age as “crepey” and it is one of the main culprits of an ageing face and neck.

Crepey skin and wrinkles tend to go hand-in-hand, so I’ll cover them both in the same place here. The good news is, there’s a lot you can do to improve the appearance of crepey skin, especially if you are up for trying the latest and most effective skincare, supplements and treatments.

Treatments:

• Anti Wrinkle Injections

• Chemical Skin Peel

• LED Red Light Therapy

• Microneedling

• Radiofrequency

• Skin Boosters

FAQ - CREPEY SKIN

Why does my neck look so crepey?

The skin of the neck ages faster than the skin on the face for a few reasons –

Firstly, there are fewer oil glands in the neck than the face, so the neck skin has less of a protective, waterproof seal on it than the face does and can dry out more quickly. Then there’s the fact that there are precious few oil glands in neck skin to keep the skin supple. Drier skin wrinkles more quickly than better hydrated skin, and can become rough in texture. 

Secondly, the skin of the face gets moved around more than most of the skin on our faces does, just because of the way we twist and turn our heads,  particularly if we spend a lot of time looking down (for example, at phones, pads of paper and books, laptop screens etc) and compressing the neck. 

Thirdly, we often forget to use the same skincare and sun protection on our necks as we do on the rest of our faces because we simply don’t consider and prioritise them. This is understandable, but a crepey neck is quite noticeable so if we’re going to all the effort of protecting the skin on our faces, we may as well do it on our necks too.

Fourth and finally, the skin of the neck is slightly thinner than the skin of our faces, so can collapse into wrinkles a little more easily. It all gets much worse for women when we hit the menopause and, thanks to the reduction in oestrogen, the skin gets drier and loses elasticity.

What causes crepey skin?

In a word, photoaging.

This is the effect of ultraviolet light (particularly UVA, which is present in daylight all year round) on your skin which, among other things such as its effects on pigmentation, breaks down the collagen and elastin in your skin. Collagen and elastin are proteins that keep your skin strong and springy, so when they break down, it contributes to sagging and wrinkling. Your skin also gets drier as you age as your oil glands produce less sebum (which seals moisture into the skin) than they used to. Drier skin wrinkles more rapidly and becomes rougher in texture than better-hydrated skin.

What are the surgical options for crepey skin and wrinkles?

The surgical option is to have a face lift or for neck wrinkles is to have a neck lift, which will tighten the loose and crepey skin and reduce their appearance (and the appearance of wrinkles) as well as redefining the jawline. But if you fancy something less invasive, read on for treatments, skincare and home-use device suggestions for tackling a crepey and wrinkled appearance. 

How to tighten my skin without surgery?

There are many treatments that can help improve the appearance of crepey skin on the face and neck: 

• Injectable moisturising treatments also known as Skin Boosters such as Profhilo are one of the best things I’ve come across so far for dealing with a crepey skin. These work by placing a lightweight hyaluronic acid gel in the skin – hyaluronic acid is a molecule that can hold up to 1,000 times its own weight in water – which spreads to cover the whole of the treated area. The hyaluronic acid doesn’t instantly disperse, and remains in the skin for 30 days. After two treatments, a month apart, and waiting 8 weeks, you’ll start to see results – namely stronger, firmer and springier skin which is more resilient. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a certain degree of skin tightening too. All of these factors make the skin appear less crepey. 

  
  

• Radiofrequency (RF) treatments have the effect of ‘shrink-wrapping’ the skin, which makes it sag less. This happens because the radiofrequency generates sufficient heat in the skin for the skin to think it’s been damaged, which makes the collagen molecules contract. The ‘damaged’ skin also creates more, new collagen to try to repair the damage it thinks has occurred, which helps to support and strengthen the skin. 

  
  

• Microneedling is yet another treatment which inspires the skin to produce more collagen, thus strengthening it and making it firmer and less wrinkled and saggy, by creating thousands of tiny controlled wounds in the skin with very short and sterile needles. This induces a wound-healing response, flooding the skin with growth factors and new collagen, and the skin ends up stronger and younger-seeming. 

  
  

• Radiofrequency Microneedling treatments (such as Secret RF, Morpheus8, Profound RF, Potenza, Fractora and Intracel) combine the effects of radiofrequency with those of microneedling, as you might expect. The effects can be excellent on both the neck and the face, and you need very little downtime after a procedure. 

  
  

• Fractional Laser treatments are similar to microneedling in that they flood the skin with new collagen in response to many tiny columns of damage being made in the skin – but in the case of fractional lasers, this damage is done by producing tiny channels of heat-damage in the skin rather than piercing it with needles. 

  
  

• Botox involves injecting small quantities of Botox, or another wrinkle-relaxing toxin, into the muscles causing lines to appear. For around the neck and jaw, a specialised treatment reduces the ‘pull’ of these neck muscles, enabling the skin tissues to move back into a more flattering shape around the jaw. It’s worth noting that this procedure (aka the Nefertiti neck lift) is better at softening tight bands of muscle down the neck (that make the neck look stringy) than softening the horizontal ‘necklace lines’, and it doesn’t do that much for crepey skin.

  
  

• LED Red Light Therapy is great for crepey skin. The wavelength of red light used by these clinical devices improves skin hydration, plumping it up and reducing wrinkling, and also improves skin firmness.

  
  

• Chemical Skin Peels will help to refresh the skin on your face and neck by removing the outermost layer of skin with gentle acids and encouraging fresh skin to grow in its place. A superficial peel can help to address wrinkles and fine lines on the surface of your skin, while a deeper peel can help to firm the skin up as well by stimulating collagen production.

  
  

• HIFU or high-intensity focussed ultrasound, is a procedure which aims pulses of ultrasound deep into the skin tissue to stimulate deep growth of new collagen, which helps to support the skin and structure it more. Ultherapy is a type of HIFU. 

Can I use fillers to fix crepey skin?

Well, they won’t 'fix' crepey skin but fillers can help to improve the look a little. The difficulty is that, unless the wrinkles are deep horizontal lines, filling them in can make them look overfilled, which looks unnatural and doesn’t provide a great result. Using a very soft type of injectable filler in a small area can help a bit but you'd be better off using an injectable Skin Booster for an overall smoother look.

What is the best treatment for crepey skin?

The best treatment for crepey skin on your face and neck is in the form of an injectable skin booster treatment called Profhilo, which places a lightweight hyaluronic acid gel into the skin. The gel spreads to cover the treated area and because it is lightly ‘crosslinked’ it remains in the skin for 30 days. During this time the gel hydrates the skin by holding water inside the skin tissues and stimulates the growth of new collagen and elastin. You need two treatments, 30 days apart, in order to see results, which kick in about 8 weeks after the first treatment. The results you aim to see include stronger, firmer skin which is more resilient and springs back into place more swiftly when you pinch it. And if you are lucky you will see a certain amount of skin tightening, too. All these elements help reduce the crepey appearance of ageing skin.

What are the best home treatments for crepey skin?

I’d suggest you get going with a decent skincare regime that includes active skincare products that are able to make an improvement in the skin (See the next section for skincare I recommend). You could also consider trying home-use beauty devices to improve the quality of the skin.

• LED light therapy masks or devices – used on the red light setting will have the same benefits for your skin as clinical red light therapy treatment – although you may have to do more sessions to get the same results due to lower strength of the at-home devices. 

• RF Radiofrequency devices – RF devices use heat energy to boost collagen production in the skin, firming it up and reducing wrinkling and fine lines. The perceived damage in the skin means that your skin produces more collagen as a result, firming and tightening the skin.

How can I treat crepey skin with skincare?

Here are the key ingredients that will help:

• Chemical exfoliant – I’d use an hydroxy acid cleanser or toner to remove the outermost skin cells. Not only does this make the skin appear fresher, but it allows subsequently-applied treatment products to sink more deeply and evenly into the skin now that they’re not fighting their way past extra layers of dead skin cells.

  
  

• Hydrating serum – use one of these to boost your skin’s hydration so that it can stay firmer and sag less, as well as reducing the rate at which the skin becomes even more crepey. Plumping the skin up also makes it look firmer and fresher. Great for crepey skin on the face, the neck and the decolletage.

  
  

• Antioxidant serum – I’d strongly recommend using some type of antioxidant serum, like a vitamin C serum, to freshen the skin, protect it against environmental damage that could age it further, and boost collagen production in the skin to firm it up that bit further. 

  
  

• Peptide serum – using one of these can boost collagen production (matrixyl 3000 is a good peptide for this) and firm the skin up. Look up what the specific peptides you’re considering investing in do before buying – peptides are very wide-ranging in what they can accomplish and are focussed on. 

  
  

• Retinoids – whether retinol or another, newer type, these are a great idea for helping to combat crepey skin. They can help to regenerate the skin by producing more collagen fibres and improving skin elasticity. Retinol also inhibits the action of enzymes called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which break down collagen fibres, and increases production of TIMPs – the enzymes that inhibit MMPs. Retinoids can also increase deposition of glycosaminoglycans (hydrating molecules like hyaluronic acid) in the skin, so they can be hydrating – although don’t overdo them, or they’ll conversely dry the skin out through the irritation they cause and the huge reduction in oil production that they bring about. Also, go more slowly with retinoids on your neck than on your face. They are helpful but neck skin has less natural hydration than your facial skin, so gently does it. 

  
  

• Moisturiser – a moisturiser will seal hydration into the skin and also seal the serums that you’ve just used into the skin. It’s so important to keep the skin well hydrated if you want it to be firmer and less crepey. 

  
  

• Sunscreen – it’s so important, if you’re trying to treat crepey skin, to make sure that you protect it against further ultraviolet damage with sunscreen. You don’t want to undo all your hard work that’s gone into hydrating and firming and smoothing the skin by just leaving it exposed to more damage. 

How can I treat crepey skin with supplements?

It is well worth including a collagen supplement that has decent data to show that it can improve the firmness and elasticity of the skin from the inside out.