‘Travel Face’ Is Real: Why Flying Can Leave You Looking Five Years Older

Puffy eyes, parched skin and suddenly much deeper-looking wrinkles. If you've ever looked in an airport mirror after a long-haul flight and wondered what happened to your face, you're not alone

There are few mirrors quite as brutal as the one in an airport toilet after an eight-hour flight.

A passenger can leave home looking reasonably fresh, with their hair done, make-up applied and perhaps even an optimistic pre-flight selfie taken alongside a celebratory glass of fizz.

Then they land.

Their face is puffy. Their skin resembles a piece of Ryvita. The lines around their eyes appear to have deepened somewhere over the Atlantic, while the dark circles suggest they've spent the flight doing something considerably more exciting than watching three films and failing to sleep.

Welcome to “travel face”.

The good news, according to By Dr Riaz Agha, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, Harley Clinic Group is that passengers probably haven't actually aged five years between Heathrow and JFK

But there are genuine reasons why flying can temporarily leave people looking considerably less fresh than when they boarded.

Why does flying make us look so rough?

First, there's the air.

People spend hundreds of pounds on moisturisers promising plumper, more hydrated skin and then sit for hours in one of the driest environments they're likely to encounter.

“Aircraft cabins typically have very low humidity levels, often around 10–20%, which is significantly lower than most environments we experience on the ground,” explains Dr Agha.

“This dry environment can increase transepidermal water loss, meaning the skin loses moisture more readily.”

That's when the familiar post-flight tightness can kick in.

“The result can be skin that feels tight, dry and dull, while fine lines may temporarily appear more pronounced,” he adds.

So those wrinkles haven't necessarily materialised somewhere above Greenland. Dehydration may simply be making existing lines considerably more noticeable.

“One flight isn't going to dramatically age your skin,” says Dr Agha. “But for people who fly very frequently, repeatedly exposing the skin to dry conditions without looking after the skin barrier may affect how healthy and hydrated the skin looks.”

Then there's the airport lifestyle

Of course, not everything can be blamed on the aircraft.

The typical holiday routine isn't exactly conducive to glowing skin.

There's the ridiculously early alarm, coffee at the airport, perhaps a celebratory glass of wine because normal drinking rules seemingly cease to apply once passengers have passed security, salty food, hours spent sitting down and often nowhere near enough water.

Throw in a long-haul flight and a significant time difference and it's hardly surprising that the face starts protesting.

“Travel can be physically demanding, even when we're travelling somewhere wonderful,” says Dr Agha.

“Poor sleep, dehydration, stress and repeatedly changing time zones can all affect how our skin looks.”

The result can be “puffiness, dark circles, dryness and a generally tired or dull appearance”.

Essentially, travel face.

Is beauty sleep actually real?

It appears mothers may have been right about beauty sleep after all.

The skin has its own circadian rhythm, and sleep plays an important role in its normal recovery processes.

“Our skin follows a circadian rhythm, just like the rest of the body,” says Dr Agha. “Sleep is important for many of the processes involved in skin recovery and maintaining a healthy skin barrier.”

Which isn't ideal when the body believes it's 3am, the clock says 10am and someone is attempting to function after two hours of broken economy-class sleep.

“Jet lag disrupts our normal sleep-wake cycle, and frequent poor-quality sleep can also increase levels of cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone,” Dr Agha explains.

For the average holidaymaker, a couple of disrupted nights aren't something to panic about.

But for cabin crew, pilots, business travellers and people constantly crossing time zones, the effects of poor sleep and stress can become a regular feature of life.

“Over time, repeated sleep disruption and chronic stress may affect skin repair and collagen homeostasis, potentially contributing to visible signs of ageing such as reduced elasticity, dullness and slower recovery,” says Dr Agha.

The surprising problem with the best seat on the plane

There may also be a downside to one of the most coveted spots on an aircraft: the window seat.

Even for seasoned travellers, there's something special about watching a city disappear below the clouds or catching the first glimpse of a destination from the air.

But frequent daytime flyers might want to add one thing to their pre-flight routine: SPF.

“UV exposure is something frequent flyers, particularly those who regularly sit beside the window on daytime flights, should be aware of,” says Dr Agha.

“Aircraft windows provide protection against UVB, but UVA can penetrate some aircraft windows.”

UVA exposure is associated with photoageing, including pigmentation changes, collagen breakdown and wrinkles.

That doesn't mean one sunny flight to Ibiza is suddenly going to give someone a face full of wrinkles.

“The important point isn't that taking an occasional flight is going to age your face,” stresses Dr Agha. “It's cumulative exposure.”

Someone who spends a significant part of their working life sitting beside an aircraft window may therefore want to consider sunscreen a more useful addition to their hand luggage than another miniature perfume.

Do we really need an elaborate plane skincare routine?

Open TikTok or Instagram before a long-haul flight and it can appear that passengers need to turn their tray table into a miniature beauty salon.

Eye patches. Sheet masks. Face mists. Serums. Rollers. Lip masks.

Some in-flight skincare routines seem complicated enough to require their own cabin bag.

Dr Agha says travellers can save themselves much of the trouble.

“You don't need an expensive in-flight skincare routine,” he says.

Instead, keep things simple.

Before flying, Dr Agha recommends using a good moisturiser that supports the skin barrier, looking for ingredients such as ceramides and humectants such as hyaluronic acid.

“If you're travelling during daylight hours, particularly if you're sitting beside a window, I'd also recommend a broad-spectrum sunscreen,” he says.

During the flight, the advice is similarly straightforward: stay hydrated, don't overdo the alcohol and reapply moisturiser if the skin feels particularly dry.

That's it.

No £80 serum required at 35,000 feet.

So is frequent flying actually ageing us?

This is where it's important to separate the social-media headline from reality.

Looking dreadful when stepping off a plane isn't the same as permanently ageing the face.

“Most of us will recognise ‘travel face’: that slightly puffy, dehydrated and exhausted-looking reflection that greets us after a long-haul flight,” says Dr Agha.

“The reassuring thing is that much of this is temporary. Once you've rehydrated, slept properly and returned to your usual routine, your skin will generally begin to look like itself again.”

Permanent skin ageing is far more complicated and develops gradually, influenced by multiple factors including genetics, age, cumulative UV exposure, smoking and lifestyle.

Dr Agha is keen that people don't start worrying about every flight they take.

“I wouldn't want people worrying that every long-haul flight is permanently ageing them,” he says.

“It's much more useful to think about the habits surrounding frequent travel and what you can do to protect your skin.”

Why everyone suddenly wants to look ‘less tired’

Interestingly, increasingly hectic lifestyles are also changing what people ask cosmetic doctors for.

Rather than arriving at clinics clutching photographs of celebrities and asking to look completely different, Dr Agha says many patients now have a much simpler request.

They want to look less exhausted.

“People aren't necessarily coming in wanting dramatic changes to their face,” he says.

“Increasingly, they tell us they want to look healthy, refreshed and well-rested without anybody being able to tell they've had anything done.”

It's particularly relevant to frequent travellers and busy professionals, with the emphasis increasingly moving towards skin quality and subtle treatments rather than obvious changes.

“For busy professionals and frequent travellers, that can mean focusing on skin quality and treatments designed to support collagen production, improve texture or, where clinically appropriate, restore subtle amounts of lost facial volume,” says Dr Agha.

“The emphasis has moved away from changing somebody's appearance towards maintaining it. The best result is often one nobody else notices.”

Perhaps that's why “travel face” bothers people so much.

It isn't necessarily that someone suddenly looks completely different after a flight.

They simply look like themselves after a very, very bad night's sleep.

And before booking an emergency appointment at a cosmetic clinic after landing, Dr Agha's prescription is considerably simpler.

Water, moisturiser, SPF and a good night's sleep.

Then reassess.