Psychological and social implications of aging skin: Normal aging and the effects of cutaneous disease

Aging, by definition, is a progressive deterioration of body structure and function [1, 2]. All organs, including the skin, age. The skin wrinkles, sags, and thins, becoming drier, rougher, and less elastic [1]. Successful aging transcends the inevitable physical decline and is characterized by adaptive psychosocial functioning that facilitates the maintenance of good mental health and satisfaction in daily life [3]. Although much of gerontological research in dermatology has focused on an aesthetic abeyance of the signs of aging, little real medical attention has been paid to the psychosocial effects of an aging integument [4]. The skin is the envelope of self and, therefore, the visible manifestation of personal identity [4]. It displays emotion, blanching, blushing, and sweating in response to internal feelings [5]. The social skin and its gerontological issues, then, must be contrasted to the merely biological skin [5].