Longitudinal study of skin aging: from microrelief to wrinkles.

Aim: To study the changes in skin microrelief and periocular wrinkles during the aging process.
Methods: Replicas of the crow's feet area of volunteers were recorded in 1987 and 2008 and observed comparatively. Characteristic features were quantified by image analysis.
Results: Observation shows that some microrelief features disappear and even merge with wrinkles that become more marked. Some primary lines also tend to merge to form thin new wrinkles. Quantitative data support these observations: the size of small and medium objects of skin relief decreases with age while large objects are becoming larger.
Conclusion: Over 21 years, in the group studied, the total area of the detected objects remains quite constant. Only the distribution between small and large detected objects (microrelief features and wrinkles, respectively) is modified.
(© 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.)