Solar exposure(s) and facial clinical signs of aging in Chinese women: impacts upon age perception

Abstract

A new reference clinical atlas of facial signs dedicated to photoaging was applied to 301 Chinese women of various ages through standardized photographs. Such approach aimed at better describing the facial changes induced by both real/chronological age and sun exposure and their respective impact on two subcohorts of different behavior with regard to sun exposure. A total of 28 various facial signs were individually graded according to their severity by a panel of experts, and a perceived apparent age of each subject was assessed. Results showed that the severity of major signs significantly increased rather linearly with age, with a higher rate in sun-exposed subjects as compared with subjects who regularly avoid sun exposure. The severity of facial signs, all impacted by sun exposure, better correlated with perceived apparent age than real/chronological age. The protocol used in the present work, similar to that previously applied to two cohorts of French women, assigned a greater impact of sun exposure in the facial aging signs of Asian women – all clinical signs are influenced by extrinsic factors – as compared with Caucasian women of comparable ages, likely related to much more intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Clinical impacts of sun exposures on the faces and hands of Japanese women of different ages

“…Whatsoever, the present study confirms previous studies and outlines once again the impact of sun exposures in the onset and progression of a global skin ageing process, where Fig. “speaks by itself”.…”

“…Global sagging did not differ statistically between the studied French women that was globally more pronounced (differences of about 0.3–0.7) than that found on Japanese women (0.2–0.4 score unit). Of note, in the present study and the two former ones , the respective climatic conditions of the three cities (Tokyo, Montpellier, Guangzhou), of different northern latitudes and different sun radiance, were not recorded. At first, these conditions, as average indicators, were not taken into consideration as highly variable along months, days and hours.…”

What Makes Indian Women Look Older—An Exploratory Study on Facial Skin Features

“…Compared to another investigation on a Russian population with a very similar methodology [14], correlation coefficients of all wrinkles/roughness measurements with age were higher in India, suggesting more severe deterioration of these parameters throughout the ageing process versus Russian skin. Similarly to previous studies involving chronological and perceived aged relationships with skin features, most of the correlation coefficients with perceived age were generally higher than those with chronological age [21,23,27], confirming again that age perception is a critical tool for the understanding of skin ageing.…”

“…Interestingly, images from Caucasian women were perceived younger by the same Chinese panel, mostly after artificial reduction of wrinkles/sagging [22], thus pointing out how age perception is driven by ethnic background. Lifestyle factors having an influence on the perceived age of Chinese have been studied as well, notably the detrimental effect of sun exposure [23], but also factors associated with a younger look, among them, greater years of education, a lower number of household members, frequency of visits to the doctor, product usage or physical activity [24].…”

Seasonally‐induced alterations of some facial signs in Caucasian women and their changes induced by a daily application of a photo‐protective product

“…In addition, sun exposures are governed by necessities (residential, occupational factors) and geographical or weather conditions such as latitude, altitude, season, working conditions (indoor vs. outdoor), fluctuations in the weather annual sunshine… Combined, these strongly modulate the flux of ultraviolet (UV) rays and largely extend the palette of individual cases and their consequent variable impact upon skin structure, functions and perceived age (i.e. older or younger than real/chronological age..) . Another work compared the facial signs of French ‘sun‐seekers’ to ‘sun‐phobic’ women living in a very sunny region of France, illustrating how these slight changes (pigmented spots or global skin darkening, wrinkles..) are additional to and how they likely speed up the skin changes that progressively appear along the natural, chronological ageing .…”