ABSTRACT
Someone once said about the paradoxical feelings many of us have about aging: "When we're young, we want to be older; but when we're old, we want to be younger!" Even if we were ever to achieve a truly classless society, where one's religious beliefs, skin color, personal wealth, or type of job doesn't matter, there would still be the issue of age. For no matter what else may change, and no matter how hard we may try, we all will continue to age until the day we die. Much of contemporary American society has an overwhelming interest in preventing or slowing the aging process and, consequently, there is no shortage in the number of opinions, beliefs, and treatments available to try and thwart the effects of Mother Nature. This chapter will review the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and diagnosis of the nonmalignant manifestations of photodamage.
