Aging isn't what it used to be.
For one thing, we're living longer than ever.
Back in 1900, the average life expectancy in the United States was just 47 years.
Today, it's 78 years, with women living about five years longer than men.
We've eradicated many of the infectious diseases that took so many lives a century ago,
and heart disease is now treatable.
But with so many of us sticking around for longer,
we've just begun to understand why our bodies change.
as we age.
It turns out that the skin can tell us a lot about how well we're aging,
and we're not talking about wrinkles here.
Thanks to major advances in longevity research,
we now have a whole new toolbox for analyzing the skin.
And no matter what age we are, we can use that information to take better care of not just our skin,
but our overall health as we grow older.
Scientific American Custom Media recently sat down with Andrea Meyer,
a professor of Medicine and Director of the Academy for Healthy Longevity at the National University of Singapore and collaborator with L'Oreal,
the beauty company, to learn more about her work.
Andrea, we all know that skin changes as we grow older,
but what can it tell us about how well we're aging?