Regardless of whether you are leafing through the latest magazines, turning on the television or surfing the Internet: anti-aging products literally follow the consumer. Hardly any other topic occupies the cosmetics industry as much as skin aging. While geneticists and researchers are on the hunt for the mysterious “age gene”, cosmetic studios and beauty brands advertise their latest products and treatments. But what achieves real effects and where do users fall for a good advertising strategy? And are the natural antiaging methods as effective as the cosmetic ones?
True beauty comes from within
There are two fundamentally different strategies for treating wrinkles and the signs of aging: treatment from the inside or treatment from the outside. True to the saying “true beauty comes from within”, the means of ingestion should be the most effective.
In fact, there are numerous offers on the market for this, which are mainly composed of special amino acids, vitamins and herbs. The capsules or tinctures to be consumed for drinking mostly consist of purely natural ingredients and thus fall into the category of "natural anti-aging agents". But what about the effect?
According to experts, healthy and young-looking skin needs a very special composition of important minerals and vitamins. These are primarily:
- cell protecting antioxidants
- Vitamins A, C and E.
- Provitamin beta-carotene
- Silica
- Coenzyme Q10
If you eat a balanced diet and eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, you don't need any additional capsules, tinctures or the like. But stress, extensive sunbathing, lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet often lead to deficiency symptoms. In fact, hyaluronic acid capsules & Co can then lead to visible success. Nevertheless: You cannot expect a miracle with the natural means.
The classic: anti-aging cream
In contrast to the anti-aging treatment “inside”, there are also the classics from the outside. At the forefront here is always the anti-wrinkle cream. What is interesting is that really good antiaging creams have similar ingredients to the oral products.
Here, too, you can choose between purely natural and chemical active ingredients. However, the effectiveness of antiaging creams is controversial. According to Ökotest, no manufacturer has yet been able to prove the effects of its anti-wrinkle cream in the laboratory. The hope is always on new developments and beauty hypes, such as the currently celebrated peptides.
These chains of amino acids are intended to work specifically in the affected skin region and achieve effects similar to botox. However, this has not yet been proven either.
Is botox the real deal?
If the manufacturers of creams already advertise that the effects should be botox-like, is Botox really the "non-plus-ultra" of the anti-aging industry?
In fact, so far, Botox is the most effective way to fight wrinkles without surgery. Nevertheless: Botox is often help and horror at the same time. Treatment with the syringe is usually not very cheap and in some cases not painless. There are also possible side effects. These include:
- partial facial paralysis
- Lowering of the upper eyelids
- disturbed eyelid closure
- difficulty eating or drinking at first
- Swelling in the treated areas
- temporarily changed pitch
Although many of these side effects are extremely rare, they nevertheless make clear to us the serious intervention in the facial skin and muscles.
There are alternatives!
There are numerous alternatives that you can find out about from a beautician or in a practice for aesthetic medicine. For example, the following practice on their website aesthetic-antiaging.de offers not only Botox but also injections with less aggressive ingredients for wrinkle injections and wrinkle treatment.
This is where the natural and cosmetic anti-aging treatments come together. For example, you can have specific wrinkles treated by injections with hyaluronic acid. This can be useful as a combination with the capsules. However, the treatment must be repeated at regular intervals.
Another permanent option are so-called gel implants, which are also placed under the skin using a small syringe. Either way: Cosmetic anti-aging treatments always deliver a quick and immediately visible anti-aging effect, but they also involve greater risks than their natural competitors.
Does an operation make sense?
An operation is probably the most radical, but also the most successful anti-aging treatment. Using an endoscope with a small camera, three to five small cuts are made behind the hairline, then the forehead and individual wrinkles can be raised and tightened.
An operation that, if carried out professionally, leaves good results. But unfortunately there is always the risk of complications that can result in permanent and clearly visible scars, asymmetries or “over tightening”. An operation is only really recommended if you suffer from an allergy to the injectables or large bags under the eyes. In the latter case, there is now a completely new method in which the bags under the eyes can be removed using a laser. And that without a single cut.
So what now: natural or cosmetic?
All in all, nowadays the natural methods can no longer be clearly distinguished from the cosmetic anti-aging methods. The beauty industry always tries to reconcile these two components.
In addition, there are modern alternative methods, such as autologous blood or hormone therapy. Because the key to young skin is as complex as the processes in our bodies themselves. Accordingly, there is no such thing as “right” or “wrong”.
Everyone has to find the best method for themselves and a combination of natural and cosmetic treatments can lead to good results without having to go under the knife. Otherwise we can only continue to wait for researchers to find the key to eternal youth.
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