Much like the skin around your eyes, the skin on your neck is much thinner than it is elsewhere, which is why signs of aging start to show up there so quickly. Plus, according to research from SkinMedica, the wrinkles on your neck are five times deeper than facial wrinkles. While your usual collagen-stimulating ingredients, like retinol and peptides, can help firm up the area, Dr. Gohara suggests pairing them with this cream to really see effective results.
SkinMedica Neck Correct Cream, $135
Shop now: SkinMedica Neck Correct Cream, $135
In addition to being packed with peptides of its own, the formula is made with what Dr. Gohara refers to as “a really unique ingredient,” called paracress extract, which works to relax the platysmal bands in your neck. These bands are the vertical lines that appear when you grimace your face and tense your neck. “The collagen and elastin in your neck keep the area plump, but over time, as collagen and elastin regress, the platysmal banding becomes more obvious,” she says.
Think of your “young” neck like a sheet of cookie dough with a cookie cutter pressed into it. “When you peel away the extra stuff on the outside of the cookie cutter, you can see the outline of the shape you’re trying to create more prominently,” says Dr. Gohara. “The same thing happens when you peel away the extracellular matrix in your neck.” When you have less collagen and elastin surrounding your platysmal bands (which is inevitable as you get older and your body’s natural production of these things starts to slow), they become more prominent, which can make your neck look older.
“The paracress extract helps to relax the muscles so that they’re less obvious, and that’s the most novel thing about this product,” says Dr. Gohara. “The peptides and antioxidants in the formula are great, but it’s really its ability to relax those muscles that makes it so unique, because that’s really what makes your neck age.”
So while you should still be applying your usual anti-aging products (especially retinol and peptides) to the skin below your chin, according to Dr. Gohara, “using a product like this in tandem with them will help even more.”
To see which products Dr. Gohara uses in her own routine, check out the video below.
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