When you're younger, your skin is brighter, more elastic, and allows you to make all the weird faces you want without fearing deep-set lines. As you age, however, your skin loses this elasticity and inner glow, making you look older than you actually are -- and that's no good. Before you turn to caked-on makeup and hats that shadow your face in pictures, however, know that there are alternatives to get your skin looking young and fabulous once again. So if you're looking for a few techniques to reclaim your youthful skin, then here's what you need to know.

Moisturizer

Yes, you've used lotion since you were young, but that run-of-the-mill lotion isn't going to keep your skin looking like it did when you were 20; instead, you'll want to shop for moisturizers with a few key ingredients. Look for labels that boast ingredients such as collagen (which tightens your skin), elastin (which, as the name suggests, makes it more elastic), silicone, and hyaluronic acid (both of which fill in the depressions that aging makes in your skin). Remember, at this point in your life, your moisturizer should do more than just prevent flaking skin -- it should actively work for you.

Botox

It can get a bad rap, but the Botox of today isn't the stuff of the '80s or '90s; Botox nowadays is injected by trained professionals who calculate the amount of Botox you need in order to make your face look younger without going overboard. A touch to your crow's feet, the lines around your mouth, and a bit to the forehead is just enough to get you looking younger in one visit to your plastic surgeon. Combined with a technique called laser resurfacing, your skin can not only look younger but also can help prevent new lines from forming.

Vitamins

You should be taking a multivitamin already, in order to keep your health in tip-top shape, but there are a few more vitamins you should take if you want to make your skin look as clear and youthful as possible. The two most important are Vitamin C (which is luckily easy to get in fruits, vegetables, and other natural sources) and Coenzyme Q10 (usually referred to as simply CoQ10). Both of these are antioxidants, which means that they help protect your skin from further damage, ensuring that you don't undo all the hard work that your moisturizer and filler treatments have already done.

To learn more, contact a dermatologist near you.