Like most of our body parts, our skin really starts to show signs of aging after the age of 50, mostly brought on by sun damage that occurred in our younger years. I just turned 52, and it’s like someone opened up the floodgates… Age spots, melasma, crepey skin, you name it, it’s all happening to my skin!
I’ve been working diligently over the past few years to turn back the clock, so to speak, so today I’m rounding up some of the best ways I’ve found to protect my skin from further sun damage and combat the signs of aging over 50.
Can sun damage be reversed?
According to Cleveland Clinic: “Once UV radiation changes your skin cells’ DNA, the DNA damage can’t be reversed. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t change the appearance of your skin. You can treat, reduce and/or repair the effects of sun-damaged skin.”
Treatments to Reduce and Repair The Effects of Sun Damage
There are so many treatments these days to remove spots, reduce wrinkles and fine lines, smooth out skin, and stimulate new skin and collagen production. Some are OTC creams and serums that you can incorporate into your daily routine, some are in-office procedures that vary in pricing and level of invasiveness, and some are at-home exfoliating devices and laser treatments. Let’s break it down!
- Retinoids & retinols are Vitamin A based topical products that help to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, age spots, rough texture, and the size of pores. They do this by stimulating collagen production and helping to slough off old, dead skin cells so new cells can come to the surface. You can buy OTC products with retinoids in them, or you can get a script from your dermatologist for Tretinoin, which is the strongest version of retinol. (I have a script, which I alternate with AlphaRet Overnight Cream, at the recommendation of my cosmetic dermatologist.
- Vitamin C works to slow skin damage and promotes healthy cell turnover, which helps to brighten dull complexions and prevent uneven skin texture & tone. I’ve been using the Timeless Skin Care 20% Vitamin C + E Ferulic Acid Serum for years, as it seems to be the “gold standard” from everything I’ve read and been told. I apply it in the morning after I wash my face, and then I top it off with the Timeless Skin Care Coenzyme Q10 Serum. I adopted this practice many years ago from Angie at Hot & Flashy, and I credit the consistent use of these products with my skin’s improved appearance over time.
- Alpha hydroxy acid is an exfoliant that promotes skin cell turnover. The AlphaRet Overnight Cream that I mentioned above is a retinoid combined with an alpha hydroxy acid, so that product kills two birds with one stone, so to speak! Another good option is the Alpha Skin Care Renewal Serum Concentrated with 14% Glycolic AHA.
- Lightening agents can help fade sun spots and melasma. Hydroquinone is considered to be the most effective, but glycolic acid, Vitamin C, niacinamide, and retinoids can also be helpful. You used to be able to purchase hydroquinone creams over the counter, but they are now only available by prescription.
- Chemical peels help improve your skin’s tone and texture, lighten brow spots, and treat fine lines and wrinkles by removing the outermost layer of your skin so new skin comes to the surface. These are probably the least invasive in-office procedure, and there is usually little to no down-time, or there can be some redness and light peeling afterwards, if it’s a stronger treatment. I get a glycolic peel every other month by my cosmetic dermatologist, and I feel like it my skin has improved dramatically since I started that practice several years ago. If you want to try an over-the-counter option, Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel comes highly recommended.
- Lasers are usually an in-office procedure, but there are some new at-home laser devices that are supposed to do a pretty good job. Lasers reduce the redness and rosacea that is caused by sun damage; and they can also treat uneven skin pigmentation, age spots, fine lines and wrinkles, and more. They do this buy removing the top layer of skin and increasing collagen production. There can be some downtime as the skin heals, and results take a few weeks or months to fully develop. I haven’t done any in-office laser treatments, but I’ve been using the NIRA Laser on my crows feet, eyelids, and the lines around my mouth for about a month. I’d love to hear from you, if you’ve done an in-office laser treatment. Which one, and how did it work for you?
- Photodynamic therapy uses a photosensitizing drug and particular kind of light to destroy precancerous cells. Treatment may cause a sunburn-like reaction that can take one to two weeks to heal.
- Dermabrasion improves the appearance of wrinkles, age spots, and more by “sanding” away the top layer of skin to unveil the smooth new skin underneath. You can have this done in a spa or dermatologist office, or you can purchase microdermabrasion devices to use at home. I’ve only done this at the spa, but the PMD Personal Microderm Pro Device is supposed to be really good for at-home use.
- Dermal fillers such as Botox, JUVÉDERM, Restylane are in-office procedures used to treat fine lines and wrinkles and to restore volume to loose skin. I occasionally get Botox in my forehead, and I like the results. I’ve tried JUVÉDERM twice, but both times I had a good bit of swelling, as well as an itchy allergic reaction, so I’ve decided fillers just aren’t worth it for me.
How To Prevent Further Sun Damage
While most of our sun damage occurred when we were much younger, it’s still wise to try to protect our skin from further damage while also treating the existing fallout from the folly of our youth! Here are a few ways to do that, while still enjoying the benefits the sun has to offer.
- Wear a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen every day, and reapply every two hours if you’re going to be out in the sun for very long. I apply the ISDIN Eryfotona Ageless Sunscreen Zinc Oxide and 100% Mineral Tinted Sunscreen SPF 50+ liberally to my face every morning, and I also put it on my décolletage, if I’m wearing a v-neck top. I also just started using the ISDIN Mineral Brush Powder, which makes it easy to reapply sun protection throughout the day over top of my makeup.
- Avoid the peak UV hours, usually between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.
- Wear sunglasses with UV protection. DIFF sunglasses are a good stylish option at a mid-range price point, and Maui Jim has the best polarized lenses I’ve ever tried.
- Wear a wide-brimmed hat when outside for extended periods of time. I love my Eric Javits Hampton Sun Hat for the beach and pool because it looks stylish and also has sun protection. (It blocks 95% of UVA and UVB rays.)
- Wear lightweight long-sleeved shirts and pants while outside, and if you’re going to be doing outdoor activities, invest in clothes with SPF.
- Instead of tanning in the sun, try a spray tan or spray-on tanning product. I’ve always been a fan of the Clarins Gel for a buildable tan, but lately I’ve been using Dolce Glow products, and I’m very happy with them. I also really like the Tan Luxe THE FACE Self Tan Drops for my face.
Other Ways to Reduce Signs of Aging
- Eat clean, healthy foods, and drink less alcohol, as it is dehydrating to your skin.
- Get adequate sleep, which gives your skin time to heal, and also helps combat dark circles and puffy eyes in the mornings.
- Exercise and get some fresh air every day.
- Use a gentle hand when cleansing your skin, as scrubbing your skin can increase redness and irritation.
- If you smoke, stop. Smoking is probably the worst thing you can do to increase premature aging, and it also causes wrinkles and a dull complexion.
- Wear body lotion and face moisturizer every day, to keep your skin soft and supple. I apply the CeraVe PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion under my sunscreen every morning, and I use the Replenix Age Restore Nighttime Therapy Face Cream at night, as recommended by my dermatologist. It’s one of the only night creams I’ve tried that is rich enough for my very dry skin. I also like the Replenix Retinol Smooth + Tighten Body Lotion, but it’s very pricey, so I sometimes use the Alpha Skin Care Revitalizing Body Lotion with 12% Glycolic AHA. For a regular body lotion (not specifically geared for anti-aging), I love the Kiehls Creme de Corps Body Moisturizer; I buy one every year during the #NSale.
I’m sure this is not everything you can do to treat sun damage and protect your skin after 50, but I hope it hits the highlights. I am certainly not an expert, so let us know if you have any other helpful tips, or if you can recommend treatments that have worked for you!
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42 Responses
This is a great informative blog post!
Happy belated birthday.! We were celebrating Canada Day yesterday and I missed it.. great tips for protecting our skin as we age! I’m very consistent about wearing a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. I also switched all my skin care to clean products and can’t believe the difference!
Enjoy your day in the shore!
Happy birthday! May the year ahead bring you much joy and may you know the love of Jesus in a deeper way!
Ahh skin care- my jam! I feel I’ve landed on a pretty solid routine-finally! I get a deep facial every 6 weeks. She really goes to town with topical things. She also does a dermaplane treatment each time. I feel those are very valuable and an inexpensive way to shed the dead skin and remove the fuzz. Product penetrates better. I tried the tinkle razors once. Never again. I use retin A, and I use Vintners Daughter. It’s 2 products that do it all. I’m SO pleased with the results! I also use Skin Better eye cream. My esthetician tells me my skin has never looked better and I agree! She does not sell this line so she has nothing to gain from saying that. I get dysport from my dermatologist as needed in 11s, outer eye and forehead. Usually 3 times a year. I will say- I originally went for just my eyes and 11s but I believe the forehead is the biggest game changer! I’ve never tried fillers, I’m too chicken to! In the fall I get 2 BBL treatments 6 weeks apart at my dermatologist office. I’m already scheduled for early October. This has been a game changer!! I’ve never felt the need to do anything more invasive or costly as far as lasers. I always treat my chest and back of my hands with my skin care. Sun screen ALWAYS, a hat and a UPF shirt in the pool. I’m part Native American so I tan up quickly and have pretty hardy skin but I keep it extremely hydrated because I want to be soft and touchable.
Thanks, Shelly. I’ve heard great things about Vitners Daughter. In fact, I think I did buy some once, and I liked it but didn’t keep up with it. I also get derma-planing, I forgot to mention that!
I did microneedling and laser combo last week so hard to say what I think just yet. I am 61 and wanted to improve skin tone, pore size and hopefully firm. I was told for best results you need to do the procedure a few times but it was expensive. Thanks for the information and hope to see you on Tuesday at Nordstrom KOP.
Oh, yes, I will be there!!! 🙂
Which shade do you use in the Tan Luxe The Face self tanning drops – light to medium or medium to dark?
I like the medium to dark, since I tan my body and not my face. I like it to match, and the light doesn’t do much.
I get a Halo facial laser treatment once per year and love it!! It does require some down time as a small top layer of skin sloughs off and your skin becomes red. It also takes 3-6 weeks to see the benefit, but I love the final result!!!
Good to know! I do want to look into some laser treatments. I am just a big baby with pain, and I dread the downtime. With my job, it’s hard to plan around stuff like that.
Do you have a hat recommendation for walking/exercising outside? I’ve been looking for something other than the baseball hat I’ve always been wearing. I Would like more face coverage during the summer months. Thanks!!
I just wear a baseball cap.
THIS is my wheelhouse—thank you for promoting healthy sun exposure habits. As for laser treatments (along with all the other fantastic advice on covering your skin, wearing appropriate sunscreens, and continuing good sun exposure habits), I treat myself to Fraxel laser treatment (in late fall). In my area, Fraxel costs appx. $1000. This procedure is done in my dermatologist’s office by a nurse practitioner. In twenty minutes time, she’ll pass over my face in a grid pattern three times. Each time, using a different laser frequency, which targets different depths of my skin, treating the deep depths to rebuild collagen to the surface skin to smooth fine lines and reduce brown spots. To prepare, I use a numbing lotion on my skin an hour before the procedure. During the laser treatment another nurse blows cold air on my face in the same pattern as the laser (it feels so nice). I usually stay out of sight for about 3 days because the swelling is intense. It’s like a horrible sunburn, but as the swelling goes down, the top layer of my skin starts to flake off, like a sand consistency. For 6 months after the procedure, the collagen in my skin continues to rebuild and improve. I’ve seen HUGE difference with Fraxel. I still wear SPF, sun hats, and long sleeve shirts, and I limit my sun exposure when I can. For me, one of the best parts of Fraxel is that I do it with 2 of my friends. We have appointments, one after another, then drive to our lake cabin to convalesce. We make it a girls’ weekend. Last year, we didn’t drink any alcohol to see if it would help with our healing time, and it did! We spend the weekend wearing frozen face masks (Amazon), cooking, and watching movies. It’s quite a sight, and I love it! Side note: I’ve never tried fillers or Botox. I use Tretinoin once a week during the winter months. It’s very drying to my skin, and I already live in a high desert climate that adds to the dryness.
Interesting! I love the idea of recovering with friends. I’ve seen other influencers talk about fraxel and show their progress, it looks intimidating to me but I am sure I would benefit.
Happy Bday, Jo-Lynne! What a great topic! I’m enjoying reading what everyone else is doing to care for their skin.
Thank you!
You always have a beautiful tan. Is it from self tanning only?
I tan in the summer, but I get spray tans and use Dolce Glow in the off season.
Do you not think the tanning all summer damages and ages your skin? I know all the tips helps especially on our faces but melanoma and other skin damage can appear on any area of our skin.
I’m sure it does but I get checked regularly and use sunscreen so I don’t burn. I get it that not all women make the same choice, but I love a summer glow so I make some compromises. I also believe that some sun is good for you. I mean, we all do lots of things on a daily basis that aren’t optimal for our health, but we weigh the pros and cons and then make our choices and live with the consequences. 😊
Great post – sounds like we have similar morning routines from following Angie at Hot and Flashy. I also use a tool she recommends – the Omnilux red light mask. It has helped with redness around my nose and other discoloration. She has a discount code for it at her site
I’ve wondered if I want to invest in a mask. She recommends the NIRA too, and my mom also recommended it to me.
Very good tips. I found a few new products to try so I’m excited about that. I would love to see a summertime makeup post if you use different or lighter makeup during the summer since you always have great suggestions.
I’m also looking forward to your Nordstrom Sale coverage. I’d like to say thank you in advance!
I can definitely update my summer makeup routine! I have changed a few things.
Our morning routines are similar – I also follow Angie at Hot & Flashy! I use a tool she recommended – the Omnilux red light mask. I feel like it has helped slow down the wrinkles around my eyes and has definitely gotten rid of the redness around my nose and lightened some of the other discoloration from skin damage. Angie has a discount code at her site that I think is continuously valid. Oh, and Happy Birthday! I just turned 52 last month so welcome to the club 🙂
I have wanted to try that, I just don’t know if I could be consistent. I am trying really hard to be consistent with the NIRA. One thing at a time! 🙂
I am so sorry I missed your birthday. Happy Birthday JoLynne! Hope you have had a great one. I’m 6 years older than you and this aging thing is real! Good post today about skin care. The advantage of all the knowledge we have now is that the younger generation is not baking themselves in the sun with baby oil these days. I’m sure your daughters take better care of their skin. I literally grew up at the beach (the quintessential CA girl) and we never used sunscreen that I can remember. When I was in college, my sorority sisters and I all had memberships to tanning salons which we frequented often to keep our tans dark. Then when I got married and had kids the sun exposure continued as we spent every summer in Hawaii and lots of days year round spent out on our boat. I should’ve known that my English and Irish DNA would catch up with me and it did. When I turned 45 I had melanoma; a very dark spot on my upper thigh. The surgeons also removed 4 lymph nodes to test and thankfully it had not spread but the whole process was scary. My dermatologist said those tanning beds were “cancer beds.” I began to seek out shade whenever possible and wear sunscreen religiously. I get full body skin checks 2x a year and I have learned to embrace my “pale” skin. However, after turning 55, I started noticing crepey skin appearing and also age spots. It’s not fun! Fortunately I always kept my face covered because I loved hats (even back in the 80s when no one was wearing them) and I always wore make-up which I think helped protect my face. My derm says there’s nothing that will erase crepey sun damaged skin, but we can keep it moisturized on the outside and keep hydrated from within. I eat clean and healthy and drink lots of water which I think helps. It’s interesting to read about what others do to keep their skin young. I haven’t tried any of the lasers or red light, and I don’t use retinoids but I’d like to try one. Getting older is an investment $$$, isn’t it?! 🙂
Sure is! Melanoma is scary stuff, I have it on both sides of my family, so I figure I’m a ticking time bomb. The one thing I did right was avoid tanning beds. I tried it for a few times, in high school, but a dermatologist scared me away from them and I never went back. I have burned too many times over the years (not trying, just by accident in strong sun) so I get yearly skin checks.
Heather, I’m gad you have remained cancer free! It definitely is a frightening experience! I made the mistake of thinking that being Italian with olive skin, I didn’t really need to worry about skin cancer/melanoma. I grew up going to the beach and getting a very dark tan thanks to baby oil and Hawaiian tropic. However, I never went to tanning salons. In my 40s I became much more concerned with wrinkles than I was about skin cancer and started protecting both my face and my chest after noticing so many middle aged women with sun damage. Then, three years ago in my early 50s, a spot on my cheek turned out to be melanoma (in-situ/stage 0 thankfully). I had a deep quarter sized portion of my cheek removed – the one blessing about mandatory covid masks is that I could go out in public during recovery and no one could see. Thankfully, all is good and a wonderfully plastic surgeon made the scar mostly unnoticeable. People have told me they didn’t even see it until I point it out. My tanning days are long over but I still love the beach and go every weekend. An umbrella, sunscreen and keeping covered, esp when sun is most damaging, allow me to still enjoy the beach. Regular skin checks as well. My dermatologist had melanoma when she was in college. I have four kids so I am constantly on them about sunscreen!
So glad you caught your melanoma early. My kids are really good about wearing sunscreen too. I share your love of the beach; something so calming and relaxing about being near the ocean!
Has anyone had success with fading or removing sun spots? I’ve tried a couple of products but no success.
My SIL was just telling me she has been doing a laser treatment on one on her face that she feels like helps. I don’t know that creams and such do much for them. I’ll be curious if anyone else has a recommendation.
I tried creams but there was no improvement. Have them on my hands and wish I could erase them. Perhaps, I should try laser. I didn’t know it erased sunspots.
Cream sunspot products never worked for me, but I recently underwent Broadband Light (BBL – not the one you’re thinking of, lol!) therapy. There’s a bit of downtime depending upon how strong of a pulsed light is used. But wow! It does nothing for wrinkles, unfortunately, but the spots are literally gone. I went once a month for three months and was told that I may need touch-ups every two years or so. But I’m trying to be much more careful with my facial skin – years of sailing, skiing, etc. have definitely taken their toll.
Thank you Jill! I’ll look into that procedure to treat my hands.
I’m so glad I found you! Really love reading your posts, and today was really great info. I’m 9 years older than you and should have started doing more for my skin earlier. But oh well, can’t turn back the clock. If I’m reading correctly, your morning routine is wash your face, Vit C, Coenzyme Q10, Cerave PM lotion, and then your sunscreen. Do you wait til each layer dries? and what face wash do you use? Thanks for all for all of your inspiration. 🙂
Yep, I got that routine from Angie at Hot & Flashy. I don’t wait for anything to dry. I just layer it on. I’m always in a rush, lol. I do try to let the sunscreen set 5 min before applying makeup while I lotion my body or lay out my clothes for the day, but sometimes I don’t even bother with that.
Thanks for doing the research for this informative post.
Happy belated birthday!
Great post. Do you edit your photos on the blog? Your skin always looks flawless. If not then all you are doing sure is working great.
Alison does some light retouching on all of her professional photos, and I often touch up the mirror selfies, depending on the lighting. I don’t do much to my face, but they all have a filter applied. My skin is not flawless, but I do think it looks good for my age. I’ve always taken care of it, my mom got me on a good skincare regimen when I was in high school.
Regarding sun spots, I have found hydroquinone cream to be very effective. However, it is only available by prescription from a dermatologist and should be used short-term as it is toxic.