Remember this scene from Seinfeld—

JERRY: She had man hands.

ELAINE: Man, Hands?

JERRY: The hands of a man. It’s like a creature out of Greek Mythology, I mean, she was like part woman, part horrible beast.

ELAINE: Look, would you, prefer it, if she had, no hands at all?

JERRY: Would she have hooks?

ELAINE: Do uh, do hooks make it more attractive, Jerry?

JERRY: Kinda cool lookin’ . . .

Pay attention if you don’t want to end up with man hands.

The hands are one area of the body that will really give away your age. While the face has a tendency to get pudgy and slack with age, the hands tend to lose the little fat they have. Sun spots develop and veins bulge. Left to its own devices your hands will call your face a liar.

Of course there are chemical treatments. Restylane and Juvéderm are used to fill the spaces where there used to be fat. If you prefer to go a more natural route, there are several things you can do at home for not much money.

Age spots are usually due to a lack of protective sun block. The sun also weakens the collagen in the skin. You can help remedy this by moisturizing the hands and using sun protection just as you would on your face.

If there is sun damage, you can exfoliate by using a skin peel or scrub, but make sure to moisturize and protect the newly revealed skin. There are numerous excellent herbal salt scrubs that will do this. The salt will scrub off dead surface skin, and the oil moisturizers the newly revealed skin. If you’re suffering from dry skin, aestheticians recommend paraffin treatments once a week. Luckily, there are good at-home treatments.

Once you have exfoliated the skin on your hands, use a fade cream to start fading the age spots. A good choice is kojic acid which is a natural ingredient and a by-product of manufacturing Saki, the Japanese wine. Kojic acid is very effective in inhibiting melanin production. Unfortunately, kojic acid, like hydroquinone, turns brown in color and loses its potency upon exposure to air and sunlight so use it at night as part of your nighttime routine.

Another good choice is Alpha Hydroxy Acid, or AHA as it is commonly known. AHAs can be combined with other treatments such as kojic acid and azelaic acid for improving sun-damaged skin. AHAs help the other ingredients penetrate the skin deeply. AHA acid peels are very useful in improving skin discolorations.

There is a surgical face lift for hands that will pull and tighten skin, but hopefully a little preventive maintenance will keep you from going under the knife.