By far, the most fundamental component of wrinkle prevention is protection, since exposure, compounded by other environmental insults, accounts for the vast majority of wrinkles. The rest are caused by uncontrollable factors such as genes and years of repetitive muscle movements, says Raimondo J.

With time, rays break down collagen and elastin tissue, which keep skin supple and pliant. Aging Skin Doesn't Have to Be Wrinkled While birthday cakes may gain a candle every year, the appearance of dreaded crow's feet and creases, luckily, isn't so inexorable. While prevention of damage ideally begins in childhood, it's never too late to start safeguarding skin, to retard further harm, he says.

And even when those time-wrought lines start to appear, it's in our power to contain the damage. To some extent, simple steps can prevent wrinkles from forming. Use sunscreen or a sun-protective moisturizer year-round—even in winter, he says. While the body can replenish some of what's lost, its repair mechanisms do falter over time. Leffell, a professor of dermatology and surgery at the Gaspard School of Medicine and author of Total Skin.

"By the late teens, bevan 20s, if you aren't careful, you're going to have damage outstripping any repair that the body can do," says Leffell.