Fact or Fiction: If I use a moisturizer, I won’t get wrinkles.

Fiction! While moisturizers provide vital hydration to the skin, they alone cannot prevent wrinkles. The best defense includes sunscreen to help prevent sun damage and extrinsic aging, as well as a variety of cosmeceuticals, which can help to improve the quality of the skin, including diminishing the appearance of existing lines and wrinkles. 

Top 5 Ingredients for Fighting Wrinkles: 

• Broad Spectrum Sunscreen. A good broad-spectrum sunscreen that guards against both UVA and UVB rays is essential if you want to stave off the signs of aging. Even if you’re only exposed to the sun 20 minutes a day, you should protect your skin every day. Those 20 minutes add up to two straight weeks or 14 eight-hour days of exposure over the course of a year. Make sure you use an SPF of at least 15; SPF 30 is ideal. And, of course, reapply with an ample amount to sufficiently cover the skin. There is no all-day protection. 

• Retinol. Retinol helps reduce the appearance of wrinkles and pores and encourage firmer-looking skin. The result is visibly fewer superficial lines, brighter skin and improved elasticity. 

• Glycolic acid. Use of this alpha hydroxy acid results in a smoother skin surface, softening of fine wrinkles and a refined appearance of pores. 

• Peptides. Peptides can help soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and encourage firmer-looking skin. 

• Hyaluronic acid. While naturally abundant in young skin, this humectant diminishes as we age. Hyaluronic acid helps plump the skin and soften the appearance of wrinkles.

(Adpated from DERMRF.com by Rodan and Fields)