Skin plays an important role not only for prevention of damage from the environment, but also for individual appearance. Skin aging, the major characteristic impacting skin appearance, is caused by intrinsic (chronological) and/or extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are an accumulative process involved with the decrease in the skin’s ability to repair and regenerate, which can be accelerated by extrinsic factors such as ultraviolet radiation, pollution, smoking and stress. These factors lead to the destruction and damage of collagen and elastic tissue as well as inadequacy in the portion of skin components, resulting in fine wrinkles, loss of skin strength, and skin dryness. Furthermore, morphological and characteristic changes of melanocyte cause spot pigmentation. At present, there are several medications approved and some are undergoing clinical study for prevention and treatment of skin aging. This review includes molecular pharmacology of these medications which would bring better understanding and benefit in clinical outcome.

Key words: antiaging, photoaging, skin damage