Aged terribly in last 3 years - anyone else?

[LovelyJubbly12345]

I looked okay at 50. I'm now almost 54 and my eyelids are a bit droopy and I have a saggy neck! How can that happen in 3-4 years??!!

My friend said she stopped HRT in her late 50s and aged 10 years almost overnight!

I am on HRT and intend to stay on it, keeping you looking younger is a bonus of course but it's the other health benefits that will keep me on it.

The thing is with HRT, I can't give the doctor a single reason to prescribe it for me. I don't have any menopausal symptoms, apart from my periods tailing off. I think, looking back that I did have symptoms a while ago, but that I wrote them off to something else! I feel great in myself. Just feel very peed off when I look in the mirror! 😆

Not my mirror that still shows me with a few wrinkles but my passport photo shows me as my age whereas my mirror shows me as younger. DH said the mirror is more realistic.

@LovelyJubbly12345 Its really up to you but I am pretty sure my friend exaggerated her symptoms to get HRT. It is a personal choice of course but I think it should be available to women who want it for preventative reasons even without symptoms.

Please could you say more about how castor oil improved your age spots? Thanks

Ive always been overweight but had lovely skin, peachy, unlined etc

Around 4 years ago I think was when peri menopause kicked in much more and within a year/2 years I looked haggard, dull, sallow, drawn. Unbelievable how much changed

Fast forward to this year and Ive lost a lot of weight, over 6 stone. I have aged about 20 years!!!!

I need to wait until Im at my target weight but I think I will go for some sort of face/neck/jowl lift. Also have a completely flat face now, no chubby cheeks, flat as a pancake.

Yet I still look fat. Its incredible.

Im investigating HRT at the moment, just waiting for some blood tests to come back

Am actually considering Botox after all the speeches I gave in my 30s about ageing gracefully 🤷‍♀️

I turned 30 and looked great, then pregnancy at 31/32 so body changes but still felt pretty great but bam now just a few years later I woke up one day and middle age seemed to hit over night.

Ive definitely spread out got fat in places I never had fat before and diet/excersize is doing bloody nothing.

My face somehow looks older, can put my finger on why but I think its my lips and my neck is getting 'looser' (not turkey neck yet but its definitely starting to sag a bit).

I have sprouted 1 random but VERY stubborn beard hair right on the tip of my chin like a lonesome goaty.

And to top it all my hair wont bleach anymore (god only knows why) so I'm struggling to cover the greys (I would love grey hair if it was uniform but I just get these short, stuck up sporadic grey wires like odd antennas sprouting from my dark roots).

It feels like it all hit out of nowhere though. I'm now dieting, excersizing, primping, preening, plucking/waxing, dying, moisturizing when I never did before yet still look more haggard than ever.

@MissMarplesGoddaughter I read it on a blog and thought well I will give it a try at £4 or so for a small bottle off Amazon. Basically dab it onto a cotton bud and applied it to the brown mark (middle of my nose) it was quite a light brown but certainly noticeable, about size of a 1p piece- - did it every night for a week and could certainly tell a difference, much lighter , carried on for another 3 weeks and it's barely noticeable.

Oh yes! It's very easy to say you'll never have it when it wouldn't make a difference.

The major downside to having a facelift is that they can look awful and I just don’t want to risk looking worse than I looked before. People just look like they’ve had a facelift. I don’t think I’m convinced that they are a different (younger) age. We all look older as we get older and that’s just something we need to be comfortable with as there’s no avoiding it.

@MadAboutCarbs

oh god are you sure you want to know?!
brace yourself 😂

skincare
tretinoin 0.05% azelaic acid 4% every night. Biggest gamechange for skincare.
SPF 50 everyday
Korean bio-fermented serum and essence - Nubuzin No. 3 for both
Hado Labo Premium Gold HA serum

All of these all over face, neck and hands.

2 x week. Lactic acid 10% peel

devices
nu face microcurrent. Helps lift jowls/marionette lines
LED red light 5 mins daily. Massively plumps and lifts face
dermawand - only on “fat” pad jowl areas as radio frequency so can make us more gaunt if use on wrong area.
microneedling once a week 0.5mm roller. All over face/neck and mid rift.
Cold rollers for under eyes every morning - also use with collagen eye masks.

Salon
Had Lumi eyes mesotherapy this Summer and has really reduced my eye bags.

Other
Collagen powder every day
low carb keto
no sugar
try not to drink alcohol as I can look dreadful after a few nights - fallen off wagon this weekend due to a friend’s birthday - paying for it now as looking more puffy and dehydrated. Will claw it back from tomorrow with water, good diet and Pilates. I also love a good magnesium salt bath to reduce face puffiness.

that’s enough for now!!

Thank you!! That is a serious routine - I'm going to research all of this and see what I can incorporate.

Ugh, I have my mother’s jowls. My husband keeps calling me grumpy 😂 I could just smile continuously but I am sure that would look equally as bad !! I have also considered plastic surgery .

Thank you 🙏🏻

@MissMarplesGoddaughter hope it works for you too- I was becoming very self conscious of it especially on photos- wouldn't mind if it was my arm or leg etc!!

I think most of us can be sanctimonious about ageing gracefully etc., until we get to the point where we don't look like ourselves anymore.

I'm sure it's quite disconcerting to look in the mirror and not recognise the face looking back, and no matter what people say, our faces form part of our identities. It's a big blow to our sense of self when they start to change.

I remember hearing a plastic surgeon say that the vast majority of his facelift patients just wanted to look like themselves as they felt on the inside. I know we're used to seeing ridiculous celebrity plastic surgery, but that's not the norm.

Just looked up Lumi eyes treatment

"Lumi Eyes is a high-quality injection product based on polynucleotides (obtained from purified salmon milk DNA)"

Yuck! How do they come up with these things?

Yes, same here, the aging process between 50 and 53 was a shocker. Particularly the very easy weight gain. I’m considering getting a gastric band if finances permit though the I recognise that gastric band/sleeve procedures are radical and bring about own challenges. I’m tired of myself and failed diets. I look older than my 71 yr old friend though she’s rather exceptionally good looking (though has had some cosmetic procedures-against me getting band though).

Yep me as well. I really don't know what happened once I reached 51. Menopause must be the reason. My neck looks dreadful 😫 and I've also put on a couple of stone. I've never felt and looked so awful although I am on the HRT patch which I am convinced has helped with tiredness and brain fog.

A good daily skin routine morning and night, suncream spray used in the day if you're wearing makeup, notmal duncream if not, facial yoga (YouTube) and prescription Tretnoin Link below, I swear by. Ensuring makeup is taken off at night also. Also, I have a bit of good luck with genetics.

I am always told I look a min of 10-15 years younger than I am. I'm 62 this month. I'm averaged at 49. A good, serious skin routine is imperative with Tretnoin.

I don't use expensive products. The CeraVe range by Boots is fab and very reasonable. If you go for prescription based Tretnoin, you will need a gentle skin routine you must stick to.

You get a discount, and so do I with the link below so you're aware. I use it for anti ageing. Many use it for other facial issues like acne. It's prescription based. I've been using it for 3 years. Must use suncream with it every day, though

www.skinandme.com/?promocode=CAROLT5VTM

Looking 10-15 years younger is good. Though a friend of mine stopped facial yoga after her nasolabial folds became more pronounced.

The rot set in early for me in my face, in my late 30s. Now mid 40s.

At least no one is going to be with me just for my looks I guess.

Smoke, drink, monthly fast food & chronic insomnia.

Not sure what I’m doing wrong tbh but mistaken for my 24yr old son’s sister today.

Plain soap, flannel, vaseline if anyone’s asking.

Neck and lower face lift. It's taken 20 years off my visual age and it looks amazing and completely natural. Money well spent 👌
Plus HRT including testosterone for the usual benefits