London - Forget crow’s feet, grey hair and middle-age spread. What women really worry about is the state of their hands.
Research has revealed that many fear it is their hands that betray their true age, with bulging veins, thinning skin and liver spots giving the game away.
One in eight women surveyed said they are now more concerned about the condition of their hands than their face – and 36 percent are equally worried about both.
It’s a problem that may be familiar to celebrities such as Madonna, 54, who is frequently photographed wearing gloves to hide her hands.
Experts say that while there are injections and operations to rejuvenate the face, until recently little could be done for the hands. As a result, they provide one of the best clues as to a person’s true age.
The survey, for Boots, found that liver spots top the list of worries about ageing hands, with many women attempting to hide the dark marks with make-up.
Dermatologists point out that our hands are constantly exposed to everything from sunshine to detergent, and many people simply neglect to take care of them until it is too late. Hands also lack the fat and oils that help protect the face against some of the ravages of time.
But Ash Mosahebi, of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said there are new techniques to help women disguise the signs of ageing on the hands.
Substances can be injected to rehydrate dry, thinning skin, while injections of fat can plump out the hands and make bulging veins less obvious. Such procedures are relatively common in the US and are “trickling across the Atlantic”, he added.
If that sounds too drastic, skin doctors advise wearing gloves when it is cold to prevent chapping and donning rubber gloves when doing household chores. Soap should be avoided and sunscreen worn outdoors.
And it seems there is little time to be lost. A separate survey found that a woman’s battle against ageing begins before she’s 30. After spending their teens trying to look older than they really are, women finally become happy with their appearance in their early 20s.
But at 29, they become more concerned about trying to look young again, the poll by Superdrug found. - Daily Mail