How to Treat Neck Skin Wrinkles
Life isn’t about wearing a turtleneck to cover an aging neck.
There is so much that can be done to rejuvenate the lines, wrinkles, sun damage and overall skin aging on the face.
But what about the appearance of the neck?
Turns out neck skin rejuvenation is trending and there is a range of new skin care and other treatment options aimed specifically at reducing aging neck concerns, including wrinkles and lines.
Contents:
Neck Skin 101
Neck skin mirrors time and often changes at earlier ages.
The neck reveals years of exposure to the sun, environmental toxins, lifestyle choices and changes that come naturally with aging. All contribute to wrinkles and lines—some horizontal, some vertical—that take hold and seem to deepen with time.
Some are genetically or anatomically predisposed to neck skin wrinkles and lines. And some changes are universal. For example, fat under the skin redistributes and collagen that keeps our skin looking and feeling tighter and young diminishes.
You might not realize how your neck is in constant motion or tension, which causes lines and wrinkles. Neck skin can become compressed during sleep, further accentuating the appearance of neck skin wrinkles.
As a result of all of this and more, neck skin sags, becomes crepey and accumulates deep lines and wrinkles.
What’s Good for the Face Isn’t Always Good for the Neck
One way to help prevent neck skin wrinkles and overall skin aging is to use sunscreen on the neck, much like on the face and other areas of the body.
But that is where the similarities between skin care for the neck and face start to diminish.
Skin on the neck is fragile, thin and highly vulnerable to sun and other environmental damage. Neck skin tends to age differently because it has different physical properties than skin on the face and rest of the body.
Skin care ingredients, such as retinol, used in standard antiaging creams for the face to treat wrinkles and lines can be too irritating for neck skin.
As a result, many of the best-known skin care brands that dermatologists recommend have developed creams and other topicals specifically formulated for the neck.
Many contain ingredients proven to help neck, face and body skin stay young looking, including:
- Hyaluronic acid to help moisturize neck skin
- Antioxidants, including topical vitamin C, vitamin E and ferulic acid
- Peptides, growth factors and sometimes stem cells (but be sure to purchase these from doctors’ offices or reputable brands)
- Niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3, which has healing, restorative and hydrating abilities. Niacinamide also has anti-inflammatory properties.
Look for Neck Creams Based on Science
Skin care for the neck should be more than a moisturizer that traps moisture, leading to only very temporary effects.
Some of today’s skin care products are scientifically proven to have short- and long-term skin rejuvenating effects, including preventing wrinkles and lines and reducing the appearance of those that are there.
After three years of research, DefenAge unveiled an anti-aging neck cream in 2021 that has been shown to effectively treat challenging deep lines and folds on the neck in six weeks of use.
Called 6-Week Perfection Neck Cream, this product contains the retinol alternative Age-Repair Defensins, which have been shown in 12 studies to safely and effectively moisturize and rejuvenate neck skin. Results on the skin from DefenAge defensins’ containing creams and serums as good as those from retinol but without as much irritation.
Defensins are not stem cells. Rather, these molecules activate the body’s reserves of LGR6-positive stem cells. This helps to encourage skin healing and a new and more wrinkle-free outer skin layer.
This new neck wrinkle skin care remedy works so well because of the combination of ingredients, which help defensins to do their job to prevent and fight neck aging. These other ingredients include:
- Niacinamide
- Phospholipids for skin hydrating
- Sea whip, an anti-inflammatory ingredient that soothes skin
- A blend of innovative peptides and plant extracts shown to tighten sagging neck skin.
Impact on Skin Without Negatively Impacting Health or the Environment
The 6-week Perfection Neck Cream meets “clean beauty” standards and does not contain parabens, fragrance, silicones, polyethylene glycol and other ingredients that many of today’s skin care consumers want to avoid.
The entire DefenAge line, including the neck cream, is free from animal- and human-derived ingredients.
When Treating an Aging Neck Requires More Than Skin Care…
While skin care treatments can diminish lines and wrinkles and even, to some degree, tighten skin people with a lot of skin laxity or sun damage might need more.
Dermatologists, facial plastic surgeons and cosmetic physicians offer injectables, devices and surgery to address neck skin wrinkles, lines and other cosmetic neck concerns.
These include:
- Neuromodulators (like Botox) to relax muscles that are making wrinkles and lines worse.
- energy based devices to help rejuvenate skin on the neck, surgery (neck lift) to lift the tissue and lessen lines and wrinkles.