Isn’t it such a cruel twist of fate that we show our age in all the areas we most like to show off? Our eyes, typically our most beautiful feature, are often the first to get wrinkles. Followed by our forehead and chest. These areas are most susceptible to dehydration and they’re the areas that anti-ageing creams are almost exclusively developed for.
It’s also why the likes of OiaSkin’s Anti-Wrinkle patches have been designed to target these specific areas. They come in All-in-One packs (£53) which include patches for your forehead, eyes, smile, neck, and chest; Facelift patches (£45) for forehead, eyes, smile and neck; Eyes and Smile (£30); and Neck and Chest (£38). You can also get 10% off these prices with the code MAMABELLA.
We’ve spoken about our love for OiaSkin Anti-Wrinkle patches before – you can read more in our Oia Skin patches review – but we wanted to explain more about the science behind how silicone patches work and why they may be a far more effective alternative to expensive creams, serums, and sprays.
FURTHER READING: Oia Skin review: Can these silicone Oia skin patches really get rid of wrinkles overnight?
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OTHER CAUSES OF WRINKLES
There are other factors that make wrinkles worse on your face and chest.
Firstly, these areas are more likely to have had sun exposure and we all know the damage UV rays can make to your skin.
Another factor is how you sleep. Sleeping on your side will compress the skin on your chest, leading to those creases becoming static wrinkles.
That’s why it can be good to wear Oia Skin patches overnight.
Wrinkles are caused by a number of issues, but a lack of hydration is by far the most common, and the easiest to address.
This is largely driven by a breakdown of collagen, the stuff that gives your skin its structure.
As we get older, and our collagen and skin structure breaks down, our epidermis (the outermost layer of your skin) becomes thinner and drier.
It loses water and this makes it lose its elasticity.
As a result, we get wrinkles forming from dehydration.
When skin is given the chance to retain more water, the water spreads through these upper layers, filling in the creases and gaps created by fine lines and wrinkles.
This makes skin look more plump and smooth, which in turn makes it look more youthful.
The best way to think of it is in the context of a grape. As a grape gets older and loses moisture, its skin shrinks and looks creased and crepey.
It’s possible to rehydrate a grape by soaking it in water.
The image below shows a hydrated grape (left) next to a dehydrated grape (right), also known as a raisin. Our skin dries out in the same way as the image on the right if we don’t keep it hydrated.
Getty Images/iStockphoto FURTHER READING: Collagen supplements: The best collagen powders, liquids and supplements to help with wrinkles and fine lines
Not all signs of ageing are created equal and there are different names for the wrinkles you get on your face, neck, and chest.
Dynamic wrinkles: Dynamic wrinkles – whose name makes them sound much cooler than they are – are formed from the contraction of muscles. Muscles such as those that help you smile or frown. Crow’s feet wrinkles near the outer corner of your eyes are an example of a dynamic wrinkle.
Static wrinkles: Static wrinkles are those which are apparent even when you’re not using your face muscles. Often a dynamic wrinkle will turn into a static wrinkle as we age… oh joy! They’ll often appear in the corners of your mouth, across your cheeks and neck.
Wrinkle folds: Then there are wrinkle folds, which is where you develop deeper grooves between your nose and mouth, but also sometimes underneath your eyes too.
Oia Skin silicone patches will help you tackle each of these in one.
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Oia Skin When attached to the skin, silicone patches create what Oia Skin calls a “microclimate”, between the patch and the skin, ultimately creating what’s known as an occlusion effect.
This effect means they essentially create a barrier that minimises water loss from the skin to help keep it hydrated.
Therefore, Oia Skin patches work like plaster to stop the moisture from escaping. The moisture remains on the surface because it can’t evaporate, and this works to plump up wrinkles and fine lines.
As a result instead of losing the moisture, it forces it down into the lower layers of your skin for deep hydration. The occlusion effect of these Oia Skin patches also means there’s an increase in temperature, which increases blood flow. This, in turn, helps produce more collagen.
In this way, silicone patches not only generate results in the short term, but they can improve your wrinkles in the long term too.
Oia Skin The image above shows an Oia Skin user’s skin before (left) and after (right)
These benefits and the results they produce are also why silicone patches like Oia Skin’s have been described as being “better than Botox.”
They have a similar impact as Botox injections without the need to book clinic visits or pay vast sums for the treatment. This makes them highly convenient and the results improve over time, rather than wearing off like Botox.
This also means they’re non-invasive and, because they don’t rely on chemical adhesives, they’re side-effect free as well.
The Oia Skin patches are available in a range of targeted, reusable solutions and each one is made from 100% cruelty-free and environmentally friendly, 100% medical-grade dimethicone silicone. These patches are recyclable at specialist centres, too.
If cared for properly, a patch will last 30 days so even though they may seem pricey, they’re much better value for money than creams. They’re a lot more effective too.
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Kat is a freelance journalist, photographer, and the founder of Simply Gender Free – a company dedicated to smashing gender stereotypes in kids’ products. As a mum of two, Kat is passionate about making the world a better place for the next generation
