ABSTRACT
The integumentary changes associated with aging are typically one of the first external indicators of the overall aging of the body in the otherwise healthy individual. Most of the clinical changes associated with aging, such as wrinkling, pigmentary changes, roughness, laxity, and telangiectasia, are due to photodamage. The skin as a powerful organ of communication represents various socially important attributes such as social status, wealth, and sexuality, in addition to age (1-4). Aging not only represents tangible change, it also necessitates adaption to change. Therefore, among most individuals, aging of the skin can result in an adjustment reaction as they adjust to the bodily changes associated with mid-and later life and affect, to varying degrees, their interpersonal interactions both socially and vocationally. Over the last several decades the social and cultural meanings of growing old have changed (5). The idea of old age has started to acquire
increasingly negative connotations (5), and old age is widely viewed as a specific medical and social problem that has to be addressed by professionals. The view that chronological age itself does not signal the beginning of old age (5) has also become increasingly prevalent, with a high value placed by society on the maintenance of a youthful appearance and the reversal of some of the aging-related bodily changes. These factors have culminated in a range of psychological reactions to aging of the skin.
