Elastin is the #1 life span limiter. It limits human lifespan to 115 - 120 years regardless of any other intervention.
Do naked mole rats produce elastin? They have an excellent ecm due to continuous production of hyaluronic acid but I haven’t read anything about elastin yet. And at the age of 120, telomere length slowly starts to play a role in limiting lifespan.
This is why I only read the philosophical discussions on “longevity” for entertainment.
It’s only a matter of time until more potent medications come into existence that down- or upregulate the production of elastin and various other substances that severely limit our lifespan.
When you do a bit more reading on how elastin is made, when that process stops and why it stops, you will better understand that “up-regulating” elastin production is a non-starter. Why? because the system that makes elastin stops functioning in your early teens and never produces new elastin for the rest of your life.
The body typically stops producing elastin after puberty. Elastin is a protein that gives skin and other tissues elasticity and recoil. It’s also a key component of many organs that need elasticity, like blood vessels.
Here are some other facts about elastin:
Production
Most elastin is formed before birth, and production stops during puberty.
Half-life
Elastin has a long half-life of about 70 years, so it should last a lifetime in most healthy people.
Degradation
Elastin degrades slowly in healthy tissues, but it can be damaged by age and environmental factors.
Calcification
As it ages, elastin calcifies or hardens, which makes it harder for skin to stretch and return to its original shape.
Genetic diseases
Mutations in the genes that encode elastin can cause inherited elastic-fiber pathologies. Marfan syndrome is a common genetic disease associated with mutations in the fibrillin genes.
It’s quite a generalization! I don’t have saggy skin anywhere yet. And I’m almost 70. A friend of mine who just turned 65 also doesn’t have saggy skin yet. Where did you get that information that everybody is supposed to have saggy skin after 60?
Am I correct in assuming that meso therapy like the Cytocare is beneficial for superficial skin rejuvenation and for a deeper rejuvenation / maintaining face volume over time, Sculptra is a good product? Or to you recommend something else?
CytoCare is only for superficial skin rejuvenation and hydration. It’s for very fine superficial lines. It doesn’t change volume or shape. Sculptra is a very thick filler that promotes collagen. It’s for serious volume or changing shape, like jaw line. I don’t have personal experience with Sculptra. I know that it should be done by a professional because if you make a mistake and apply too much it’s impossible to correct it. It’s easier to work with Juvederm line fillers. I tried almost all of them and they work great. You just need to know which to choose depending on what you want to do. Let’s say Voluma works great for volume.
Are you taking Rapamycin? If so, at 60 you are supposed to feel like at 50 and it’s too early imo to have sagging skin at 50 unless there are serious health issues. All aging clocks I use show that I’m around 46-50. That’s why I don’t have sagging skin. It’s too early for me.
Look up Joan Matheson 67y/o (in the top 50) and Stephen Matheson 69y/o (in the top 200) out of over 3700 participants.
Been doing these tests for 4 years, 5 tests.
Yes we both do Rapa - 6mg with GFJ every 2 weeks
My most recent blood work is super duper best it’s been in 15 years.
BUT that doesn’t negate the fact that elastin has a 70 year half-life and that all humans stop making it just after puberty. This means the half-life number kicks in at about 80 years old.
My point is that you may not have to, the pace of research is crazy
I couldn’t even imagine that one could reactive tooth growth few years ago
Something stops the elastin production… but it doesn’t mean that the stop cannot be reversed.
It’s all encoded in DNA, just have to copy to mRNA and transcribe it.
Do humans definitively stop producing it at puberty or does it just slow to a crawl? I’m admittedly no expert but I seem to have run across conflicting information.
When you really think about it, within the past 30 years we managed to regrow hair and teeth, something humanity has been yearning for since its beginning.
Smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts and endothelial cells probably keep producing it at a slow rate.
In a stable state, the basal levels of elastin expression and breakdown remain low in adult tissues and cells isolated from adult tissues. In vivo , elastogenic cells including smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells can produce and secrete tropoelastin, moreover, we found that the co-expression of cardiac troponin T and elastin were detected in rat cardiomyocytes and rat myocardial tissues. Thus we speculate that the rat cardiomyocytes can secrete elastin and it may be involved in the potential energy of myocardial cells and the construction of intercellular elastic fibers.
I would and I did it myself many times, but don’t advise that you or anybody else does it without proper training. There are veins under the lines that are easy to puncture or, even worse, inject filler into the veins. You need to know anatomy well to do that part of the face. Are you trying to do it yourself?
Background: Previous studies have shown that calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHa) injected intradermally resulted in new collagen production at 6 months after injection, and a possible increase in elastin formation. In addition, a recent study showed the formation of new collagen, elastin, and angiogenesis after injection at 4 and 9 months.
Objective: To evaluate any changes in the presence of elastic fibers, proteoglycans, and elastin in photodamaged skin after injections with CaHa.
Methods and materials: Fifteen subjects underwent a punch biopsy of the right infra-auricular areas before and after injection of CaHa on day 180. Specimens were stained for elastic fibers, elastin, and proteoglycan presence.
Results: Quantitative analysis demonstrated a percent change in elastic fibers varying between 29% and 179% at 6 months in comparison with baseline. Subjects showed an increase in elastin between 12% and 66%. Subjects had positive mean percentage change in proteoglycans of 76.27% (t-test of 0.198).
Conclusion: This is the first study to show that CaHa can increase proteoglycans and echoed previous studies showing it can also have an effect on elastin, which indicates it can induce remodeling of all aspects of the extracellular matrix. Much larger and longer studies are required to confirm its unique impact on collagen, elastin, and proteoglycans.
and it’s too early imo to have sagging skin at 50 unless there are serious health issues. All aging clocks I use show that I’m around 46-50. That’s why I don’t have sagging skin. It’s too early for me.
best it’s been in 15 years.