Can You Tighten Loose Skin Over the Knees?

You can be forgiven for thinking that the skin on knees has no beauty treatments, but you can employ techniques to tighten the loose skin over your knees. The skin on your knees can sag for several reasons, but generally age is the culprit, with the skin losing its elasticity as you get older. When you lose a lot of weight, your skin can become loose, including the skin over your knees, and this is usually a more difficult problem to attack, with surgery generally being the only remedy.

Develop the muscles above your knee cap through resistance exercises. This will help to rebuild the elastic fibers in your knee. Leg extensions are an efficient exercise in this case. Strap ankle weights on, sit on a stable chair, raise your legs, and lower them back to the ground. Start off with three to five reps on each leg at first, and move up to 10 reps on each leg. To target the loose skin on the outer knee, point your toes up and inward; for the outer knew, point them up and outward.

Take a yoga or Pilates class. These types of exercises will help to keep the knee muscles and skin strong. Yoga and Pilates help to strengthen the leg muscles surrounding the knee, which contributes to keeping the skin on the knee taut. Yoga tends to focus on stretching, which strengthens the skin, reducing sagging. Pilates, by contrast, concentrates on building strength in the legs, which helps strengthen the leg muscles, and this in turn keeps the skin around the knee tight.

Ask your doctor if surgery is right for you. This is usually only recommended if you have lost 30 percent or more of your body fat, and have excess skin hanging down, including over your knees. Surgery tends to not be recommended as a first option, as knee surgery can leave a prominent scar.

Tip

You can prevent the skin on your knees from sagging by exfoliating your knees regularly. Do it in the shower by scrubbing your knees with a body scrubber, body brush or loofah. Afterward, rub a generous amount of petroleum jelly -- or if you prefer a natural product, shea butter or emu oil -- onto your knees to keep the skin supple.

Moisturize your knees often. According to Truth in Aging, the best moisturizers are made of compounds that include urea or ammonium lactate, which moisturizes right through the skin. Moisturized skin is less likely to sag.

Warning

Beware of quick fixes like body wraps and tightening creams, which claim to tighten skin. According to Ace Fitness, they do not work and the best way to keep the skin on your knees tight is through prevention or exercise.