OVER THE RAINBOW

HOW parts of the body change colour as we age. This week: A woman’s skin loses colour

THERE are various reasons a woman’s skin becomes more washed out with age. One is that the capillaries supplying the skin become damaged and less efficient, starving it of nutrients and oxygen and robbing it of its rosy glow.

Furthermore, levels of the hormone oestrogen drop dramatically after the menopause. This hormone helps keep skin soft and supple by stimulating the growth of collagen, a protein that gives firmness to the skin.

But after the menopause, women’s skin becomes thinner by about 1 per cent a year. ‘This means white skin will look bluer and paler because you can see bluish de-oxygenated blood clearly underneath,’ says Dr Sarah Tonks, an aesthetic doctor from The Lovely Clinic in Chelsea.

The drop in oestrogen, which helps regulate skin function, also means a woman’s skin cells can become less efficient at making the brownish pigment melanin.

‘Pigment starts appearing in high concentrations in random areas,’ says Dr Tonks. It means skin can become paler and develop ‘random brown spots’, she adds.