Alcoholic Face: How to Spot It + Reverse the Damage

Chronic inflammation can also break down collagen and elastin, the proteins that give skin its structure and firmness. This breakdown leads to sagging skin, deeper wrinkles, and a generally aged appearance. Think of it like constantly stressing a rubber band; it will eventually lose its elasticity and snap. Working with alcohol treatment specialists will ensure your recovery plan integrates both facial restoration and addiction management.

does alcohol age your face

Is There a Link Between Perfectionism and Alcoholism?

Excessive alcohol consumption systematically destroys facial support structures, permanently altering appearance through collagen loss and chronic inflammation. While those dark circles under your eyes, sometimes referred to as allergic shiners, can be caused by a lot of factors (including, obviously, allergies), your after-work wine isn’t helping. When alcohol dehydrates your body, it’s easier to see the blood vessels on that part of your face. Some effects of alcoholic face, like spider veins, can’t be reversed without cosmetic procedures like laser therapy.

Ocean State Recovery

Chronic dehydration can diminish skin elasticity, making fine lines and wrinkles more prominent. Think of it like a grape turning into a raisin – the lack of moisture causes it to shrivel and age prematurely. This can manifest as visible dehydration, as alcohol quickly dehydrates your skin (taking away plumpness and glow). This is thanks to the same enlarged blood vessels that cause facial redness.

does alcohol age your face

Inflammation: The Red Flag of Aging

Alcohol prevents your body from properly absorbing bone-strengthening nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D. Less nutrient absorption coupled with more calcium being flushed out through frequent urination deprives the bones of what they need to stay healthy. Heavy alcohol use can lead to more noticeable facial lines, make the eyes puffy and swollen, and make the blood vessels on the face more visible, causing skin redness. Wrinkles and sagging are a normal part of the aging process because the skin cell turnover rate slows down, and new cells take longer to be created. Too many alcoholic beverages certainly speed up the aging process. Broken bones from a stumble are a serious health issue for seniors.

They should speak with a doctor or dermatologist to find the most suitable treatment for them. Heavy drinking can increase a person’s risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD). Abstaining from alcohol or significantly reducing intake is the most crucial step.

  • Therefore, you’re at a greater risk of developing a wide range of health problems, including the neurodegenerative conditions that affect your cognition and memory.
  • The alcohol-induced impairment of intestinal barrier integrity and increased systemic inflammation mirrors inflammatory aging in older adults.

Alcohol causes the blood vessels to expand, which may lead to redness and flushed skin. Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can also cause spider veins or broken capillaries due to the effects of the alcohol on blood vessels. Alcoholism is a complex and serious condition that manifests in various ways, including physical signs on the face. Recognizing these signs can be a crucial step in helping someone get the help they need.

Dry and Wrinkled Skin

He has a nursing and business/technology degrees from The Johns Hopkins University. Another reason to limit your alcohol intake is that it’s one of the main culprits for those extra pounds you’ve mysteriously put on. Not only are boozy drinks often empty calories with little to no nutrients, but alcohol can cause people to eat more food. When the liver is working hard to detoxify the body from alcohol, it creates more free radicals than the body’s antioxidants can handle, which leads to something called oxidative stress. Studies have shown that oxidative stress is an important contributing factor in aging.

Tips for Reducing the Negative Effects of Alcohol on Your Face

It’s also antibacterial, which means it can work overtime to clear out your pores! If you are adventurous Sobriety enough to apply it, dilute it with a bit of water the day after drinking to get a clean, even, day-after-drinking glow. Just make sure to moisturize afterwards, since it will almost certainly work to dry out your skin.

Alcohol Causes Oxidative Stress

does alcohol age your face

If someone wishes to continue using alcohol frequently, basic treatments such as over-the-counter moisturizing creams may help relieve some of the symptoms of skin conditions, such as dry skin. To combat the short-term effects of alcohol on the skin, people can drink water to stay hydrated while consuming alcohol. If a person drinks alcohol regularly, the short-term effects, such as dry skin and flushing, are more likely to become a persistent problem. Frequent and excessive drinking can lead to several problems with the skin including flushing, reduced elasticity, and dryness. While any amount of alcohol has been found to be harmful for certain markers of aging, long-term, heavy alcohol use and binge drinking are more likely to age you faster than low-to-moderate doses.

  • While heavy drinkers are more likely to have cirrhosis (permanent damage to your liver), even moderate drinking can lead to problems like fatty liver disease.
  • Alcohol toxicity erodes the tiny hair cells of the vestibular balance system and cerebellar pathways that coordinate head and body orientation during movement.
  • With compassionate care, evidence-based therapies, and holistic approaches, our experienced team is here to guide you toward lasting sobriety and improved well-being.
  • Just like with too much sun exposure, too much alcohol intake also encourages wrinkles and fine lines which can make someone appear much older than he or she is.
  • The wrinkle score for the non-drinkers was 8.76 and for the drinkers 8.94, so very similar.

This graph shows the data since you have been logging your mood and sleep. It also calculates how much money you have saved during the time you have been alcohol-free. We need to learn from it, take lessons from it, know what’s good (and not good) for us, and adjust accordingly. After two decades of http://eizy.org/the-four-levels-of-being-drunk-and-how-they-impact/ hitting the bottle hard, your body takes a beating.

If you find quitting or reducing your alcohol intake challenging, this could suggest a physical dependency or even does alcohol age your face an addiction. At Harmony Place, conveniently located near Los Angeles, California, we offer a wide range of resources on our website to help you understand and address alcohol addiction. While having a glass of wine on occasion shouldn’t cause skin health issues, frequent and excessive alcohol consumption can. If you’re a frequent drinker, quitting alcohol can bring positive changes to your skin’s health. In fact, photos of people’s skin before and after quitting alcohol demonstrate that with time, you can reverse much of the damage caused by drinking.



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