How to Make Your Hands Look Younger
Hand care is often an afterthought, but now more people are prioritizing a routine for aging hands. Here, experts break down what products and ingredients you need to keep hands smooth, soft, and healthy.
Reported by Vogue.
Your skincare shelf probably has serums stacked three deep, a rotation of SPFs, and at least one retinol you swear by. Your hands, meanwhile, get a quick pump of lotion if they're lucky. That disconnect is finally getting called out — and dermatologists say it's long overdue.
"Patients who have invested seriously in their facial skin are starting to recognize the disconnect," said Dr. Antony Nakhla, double board-certified dermatologist and founder of Eighth Day, according to Vogue. The logic tracks: your hands are visible constantly, up close, mid-conversation. And they actually age faster than your face — more cumulative sun exposure, less skincare attention, and structurally less fat to cushion the loss of volume. Bones, tendons, and vasculature have nowhere to hide. Dr. Nicholas Brownstone, cosmetic dermatologist at Mount Sinai, adds that UV exposure, pollution, alcohol, and smoking accelerate the timeline further.
What a real hand-care routine looks like
The non-negotiables mirror your face routine almost exactly. SPF first, every morning, reapplied every two hours if your hands are in the sun — Dr. Nakhla calls it "the most neglected step." From there, the same active ingredients doing work on your face will do the same on your hands: retinoids for texture, tone, and collagen stimulation; peptides and growth factors for renewal. Because hands get washed repeatedly throughout the day — far more than your face — the skin barrier takes a beating. Reach for ceramides and hyaluronic acid to rebuild it. What to skip: hand creams loaded with fragrance or alcohol, which Dr. Nakhla warns can trigger contact dermatitis and chronic irritation over time, and heavy occlusive formulas that only fake the fix short-term. Even your washing habits matter — harsh soaps and hot water strip the barrier faster than most people realize. Gentle soap, lukewarm water, every time.
For anyone willing to go further, in-office treatments are fair game. Filler can restore volume where tendons are visibly prominent. IPL and laser resurfacing (Dr. Brownstone uses Miria specifically for hand rejuvenation) address pigmentation, texture, and mild laxity. Radiofrequency microneedling stimulates collagen and smooths uneven skin. "The hands respond well to treatment and the results can be significant," Dr. Nakhla says. "They just tend to be an afterthought relative to the face."
Your hands have been doing the most for years — it's time your skincare routine caught up.
Read the original at Vogue.
