It’s time to address the common myth that upper lip wrinkles are “smoker’s lines”. This is no longer true, yet this lie has perpetuated in our national lexicon for decades.
While it is true that cigarette smoke is toxic to collagen (along with almost every other part of the human body), what is not true is that it causes wrinkles around the mouth (also known as perioral wrinkles). Smoking may not help your skin tone and wrinkles, but other dangerous forces are at work.
Sun exposure, environmental factors, genetics, and the effects of age and time are enough to cause small wrinkles on the skin around the mouth (age wrinkles). Some of these issues can be reduced with a high level of daily care and sun protection, but you have your age and your genetics. They are invincible (at least not yet).
At Skincare Physicians, we see patients who have wrinkles but don’t smoke, and it got us thinking… Has the recent lack of smoking exposed the back wrinkles to other things, and smoking as a good but wrong scapegoat?
Over 90% of the female patients we see over the age of 60 have some form of wrinkles. They are everywhere! Interestingly, men tend not to develop these wrinkles, which may have something to do with the growth of hair follicles and the beneficial effects of repeated shaving (although the data on this is murky). With recent advances in sun protection and early skin care interventions such as Botox, fillers, microneedling, and topical serums and creams, future generations of women can escape the wrath of perioral wrinkles. Time will tell, but now is the time to change the conversation about perioral wrinkles. Smoke lines are a thing of the past!
Leave your thoughts on the updated moniker for the 21st century in the comments section below. Or vote for your favorite moniker of the 21st century:
- 1. Life Lines
- 2. Time Lines
- 3. Pucker lines
- 4. Mkh! Lines
- 5. Kissing Lines