Six Sex-Based Reasons Why Aging Women Get More Mouth Wrinkles Than Aging Men

Day 199 - Mirror Me
Creative Commons License photo credit: nataliej

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Aging men are the fairest in comparison to aging women! Have a look at the aging skin around the mouth. A sure tell-tale, mainly reserved for women, that aging is taking its toll on skin beauty is the appearance of wrinkles in the mouth area. Medical doctors have recently shed some light on this gender inequity. A significant study in the 2009 November/December issue of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal discovered the following six sex-based (or gender-based) reasons why aging women get deeper and more wrinkles around their mouths as they age than aging men do.

  1. Fewer sweat glands
    Since aging women have fewer sweat (or sebaceous) glands around the mouth than aging men, they produce less oil (sebum) which acts as a skin moisturizer that protects and keeps the skin smoother and feeling soft. However, less oil causes dryness and itchiness of the aging female skin.
  2. Fewer blood vessels in women than men
    So, there is less blood flow to the mouth area in aging women than aging men. The result is wrinkled female skin around the mouth.
  3. Mouth Muscles closer to the skin
    Muscles around the mouth are closer to the skin in aging women than aging men, which may pull the skin in tighter, causing wrinkles.
  4. Fewer sweat glands per hair follicle
    This contributes to more stressed skin throughout aging for women, even though the number of hair follicles are about the same in both women and men.
  5. Less female hormone estrogen in postmenopause
    Less estrogen reduces blood flow, again contributing to lines and furrows in postmenopausal women. And they experience a decrease in the oil (sebum) secreted by sweat glands. Since estrogen promotes faster wound healing, postmenopausal women would tend to heal from wounds slower than men.
  6. Slow shrinking of the jaw bone
    This occurs with aging, especially in women after menopause. The result is sagging skin.

What can women do about these wrinkles? For the answers, we invite you to check out our article: Top 10 Anti-Aging Remedies For Women With Wrinkles Around the Mouth

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