The horrors of years of tanning, and how to fix them

You may have read in the Daily Mail over the weekend how TV presenter Anna Ryder Richardson finally realised that her lifelong love of tanning had lead to more than she expected.

Says Ryder Richardson: "I knew that my love of tanning would encourage wrinkling but I was horrified when she [the surgeon] told me that it speeds up the destruction of collagen, which gives plumpness to your face"

She goes on to tell how in her 20s she had a sunbed at home and used coconut oil in the summer to get a quicker and better tan - no SPF50 for her! And let's not forget that stint in the I'm A Celebrity Jungle, which may have seemed like heaven for her tan, but would have played hell with her skin.

The problem, as the article states, is that:

Collagen loss, she [the surgeon] explained, happens to everyone, particularly after the age of 35. Collagen is an elastic tissue that helps build cartilage, ligaments and tendons.

It is also responsible for skin strength and elasticity and is the main component of the lower layer of skin - the dermis.

The production of collagen slows down in your early 30s due to the ageing process. This is when the face starts to lose volume and your cheeks can start to look gaunt by your early 40s.

But the loss of collagen is greater when your skin is exposed to sun and ultra-violet (UV) light.

The rate at which it diminishes varies from individual to individual, but exposing your face to sunlight continually over decades could speed up the rate of collagen depletion and the corresponding loss in facial volume by ten years or more.

So Ms Ryder Richardson turned to Sculptra, a non invasive cosmetic procedure that can fill out your face to restore the plumpness of youth and give you a kind of facelift that lasts between 18 months and two years.

And she appears to be thrilled with the results, saying "After six weeks, my skin was definitely looking better. My cheeks were fuller. Filled out by the extra volume, the jowls that were beginning to appear have vanished. At 12 weeks, and after having had the second treatment, my face is looking generally fuller and more lifted. Friends keep telling me I look 'really well'."

Dr Ravi Jain, of Riverbanks Clinic sits on the advisory board to the makers of Sculptra and has treated many patients worried about the effects of tanning on their skin. To find out more about the Sculptra 'facelift', visit the Riverbanks website now!