Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Recently while performing an Ultherapy treatment to lift and tighten the chin and neck of a 54 year old woman, her 20 year old daughter, sitting with her neck bent downwards at her phone for an hour, looked up and said “Can I have the procedure done also?” I could not see her neck clearly so I was a bit confused and shocked as to her query. Later, when I examined her neck, I realized she did indeed have signs of aging caused from several years of bending her neck while spending hours on her smartphone.
Bending your neck for prolonged periods of time on a smartphone, tablet or laptop will not only cause neck pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, arthritis and headaches, but it can also affect the appearance of your neck and accelerate the aging process.
The skin of the neck is very thin and is often not well protected against damage from the sun that causes it to get even thinner. Over time, chronic bending of this area results in the signs of aging below:
Horizontal bands/lines around the neck:
Horizontal bands/lines around the neck commonly occur among “millennials” such as the young woman described above. Even my niece who is only 6 years old uses her mother’s ipad. Most people (of all ages) spend an average of more than two hours/day looking downward at their smart devices; and this does not include time spent on their laptops at work or otherwise.
PREVENTION TIP #1
Try to keep all our tech devices at eye level. For your handheld smartphones and tablets, I suggest that you raise them to eye level especially when used for prolonged periods of time. A tablet holder is also helpful. For your laptops adjust your chair/desk, or place something underneath such as a couple of books to bring the middle of the screen to eye level. Try not to lie down and use your laptops, which will force you to bend your neck in this position.
Sagging neck and droopy jawline/jowls:
This condition results from chronic bending of your neck and prolonged use of tech devices, accelerating the natural loss of elasticity and the effects of gravity in these areas.
As above, keep your smart devices at eye level.
Additional signs of aging that can be result from chronic use of our laptops or computers are frown lines and crow’s feet. If you strain your eyes from staring at the screen for prolonged periods, not only will you affect you vision, you will naturally squint your eyes resulting in Crow’s feet around your eyes. You may also strain the “thinking” muscles between your eyebrows resulting in frown lines.
PREVENTION TIP #2
I highly recommend “tech breaks”. For one, don’t sit in front of your laptop or desktop for more than 30 minutes. Get up, stretch your body, get a glass of water and hydrate yourself. While you’re at it look up and appreciate the environment around you.
What can you do if you already have signs of Tech Neck or Tech overload?
Horizontal Lines
Dermal fillers can be used to immediately soften the appearance of these horizontal folds and last 9-12 months.
Revision Nectifirm cream can also help to soften these lines, and prevent further lines from forming.
Sagging Skin/Jowls
Ultherapy is a non-invasive FDA approved treatment that stimulates collagen production in these area to help tighten and lift the skin with no downtime.
Crow’s Feet and Frown Lines
A safe and effective 5 minute injection with Botox can get rid of these lines.
As great as technology is, it has begun to wreak havoc on our health and skin.
I am not asking you to toss your tech devices, but I strongly encourage you to take “tech breaks’ and stay conscious of the position of your neck when using these devices. Aside from preventing the aging process, we have so much to gain by engaging with people instead of devices, and so much beauty to appreciate around us by just looking up instead of down!
The post Tech Neck…Tech Aging…Tech Overload? appeared first on Anand Medical Spa.