Can We Go Back to Baby Skin?
A question that came to me while touching my 100-day-old daughter's cheek
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A question that came to me while touching my 100-day-old daughter's cheek
My daughter has already turned 100 days old.
These days, the first thing I do when I get home from work is look at her face. I see it every day, yet somehow I never tire of it.
Especially her cheeks.
How can they be so squishy and soft? Press lightly with a fingertip and they give way like a cushion, then spring right back.
Her skin texture is wonderful too. Pores are barely visible, and it is plump without a single fine line.
So many people work hard to improve their skin, and this little one has skin like this just by lying there doing nothing.
It almost feels a little unfair.
There is one curious thing.
Even a light brush of a fingernail leaves a red line on her skin.
At first I was startled and looked closely to see whether she had been scratched. Fortunately it usually fades quickly, but her skin turns red easily even from small irritations that an adult would barely notice.
In fact, baby skin is not the perfect skin we imagine it to be.
A baby's epidermis and stratum corneum are thinner than an adult's, and the skin barrier is still developing.
The skin barrier keeps out external irritants and regulates water loss from the skin. In a baby, this function is still maturing.
That is why a baby's skin is easily irritated by small amounts of friction, and can quickly turn red when drool stays on it for a long time or when it gets dry.
Of course, the red line that appears after a fingernail brush is also related to the skin's vascular response. A temporary redness alone does not mean the skin barrier is damaged, nor can it be concluded to be dermatographism.
In short, it looks like top-quality skin on the outside, yet its defense against external irritation is still growing.
So what exactly do we mean when we say, "I want skin like a baby's"?
When you think about it, we don't want everything about baby skin.
No one wants a thin, sensitive skin barrier or skin that reddens easily.
What we envy is something else.
In a baby's face, these elements come together quite naturally.
A baby's skin grows and changes quickly. The epidermis and dermis develop, and many components, including collagen and elastin, change as the baby grows.
Add the round facial contour created by subcutaneous fat, and you get the firm, soft impression we usually think of.
But as time passes, things change.
The skin is continually exposed to UV rays and the external environment, and the structure of collagen and elastin gradually changes. Elasticity declines, fine lines appear, and the texture becomes rougher.
Facial fat and supporting structures change as well, and cheeks that were once full may hollow or sag.
Seen this way, aging is not simply a process of wrinkles appearing one by one. It is a process in which the many structures that make up the skin and face change together.
The first thing to do is surprisingly simple.
Don't damage your skin.
Protect it from UV rays, avoid excessive cleansing and exfoliation, and moisturize properly so the skin barrier stays healthy.
It may not sound special, but these basics play an important role in slowing skin aging.
Sometimes using a few products that suit your skin consistently is better than applying ten products that are said to be good.
Of course, this alone cannot reverse every change that has already taken place.
Modern aesthetic medicine approaches the different elements of skin aging in different ways.
For example, Ultherapy and radiofrequency (RF) lifting are treatments that aim to improve loss of firmness in the skin and supporting tissue. They deliver heat to the tissue using ultrasound or RF energy and encourage collagen remodeling.
Microneedle RF treatments such as Potenza or Virtue deliver fine stimulation and RF energy into the dermis, and are used to improve skin texture, fine lines, some scars, and firmness.
If hydration or fine lines are the concern, skin condition may be improved with treatments such as hyaluronic acid–based injections.
And where facial volume has decreased, fillers and similar options can supplement the areas that are lacking.
In the end, these different treatments share a common direction.
They try to restore, within what is possible, the firmness, texture, hydration, and volume that have changed over time.
In a way, these closely resemble the features we envied when looking at a baby's skin.
That does not mean treatments will turn your skin back into a baby's.
Adult skin has its own adult structure and function, and it starts from a different place than a baby's skin.
What matters more is knowing what state your skin is in now — what it lacks and what it already has enough of.
Not everyone needs the same care, and doing many strong treatments does not necessarily produce a better result.
Sometimes not doing something may be a better choice than doing more.
Perhaps what we really want is not to go back to baby skin, but to keep the features we envied in baby skin for as long as possible, even now as adults.
Thinking about all this reminds me of the skin care I give my daughter these days.
Washing her, applying lotion, wiping away drool, and checking why her skin has turned red when it does — that is all.
Even when applying a single moisturizer, I find myself wondering whether I've put on too much, or whether her clothes are rubbing.
It seems that as adults we become more interested in adding things to our skin, while with a baby we pay more attention to protecting the skin from things.
Perhaps the starting point of skin care doesn't change much with age.
My daughter is now slowly holding up her head, making eye contact, and smiling.
Hundreds of nearly identical photos are piling up in the photo album. To anyone else they may all look the same.
But to my eyes, every one is subtly different.
Her cheeks seem a little chubbier than yesterday, and her smile seems a little cuter today.
As she grows, her skin and face will change a great deal.
These squishy cheeks will change someday, and her skin will gradually mature.
When she reaches the age of worrying about skin care, I'll probably want to tell her this and that.
Of course, whether she'll listen to me by then, I can't say.
She's only 100 days old, so it's a bit early to worry about that.
For now, simply looking at this little face every day is enough.
But there is one thing I need to be careful about.
No matter how cute her cheeks are, no more brushing them with my fingernails.
Because my daughter's skin matters more than her dad's curiosity.
Indications, results, and duration of treatments vary from person to person. Please decide on any treatment only after consulting a physician in person.
