Elastic fiber and microvascular abnormalities in aging skin.

In summary, the aging process in skin has at least two major manifestations: elastic fiber abnormalities involving degradation and assembly, and microvascular wall alterations of widening and atrophy depending upon the functional state of the veil cell. The abnormalities of the elastic fiber network most likely correlate with the increasing cutaneous laxity associated with aging. The microvascular abnormalities are not easily related to any specific clinical feature of aging skin. The finding of identical abnormalities in the skin of juvenile diabetics strengthens this hypothesis, as well as suggesting that these alterations are accelerated in diabetic patients. Diabetic skin might be another model system for studying cutaneous aging.