These days, a face can be an ageless mystery. Botox smoothes wrinkles and collagen gives sagging skin the lovely plump of youth.

But hands tell the truth even when the face lies. Blotchy brown age spots, bulbous veins and paper-thin, crinkly skin shatter the secret of one's years as surely as a tabloid gossip.

"People tend to neglect the hands," New York dermatologist Craig Austin says. "The hands will age just like your face."

Each year, millions of women receive youth-seeking injections. But Austin says few clients seem concerned about their hands.

They should be, according to dermatologist Eric Hanson of Portland, Ore. "Hands get a lifetime cumulative exposure to ultraviolet rays, more than other places on the body," he says. "But there are simple things people can do."

Here are Hanson's tips for those motivated by vanity, health or both.

Besides our face, hands are the part of our bodies that receive the most year-round sun exposure. Photoaging comes from UVA, which is always present during daytime even when it's cloudy (and is different from cancer-causing UVB). Hands are nearly always uncovered.

* Use sunscreen on your hands, often. Find what's called a broad-spectrum sunscreen made with titanium, zinc or mexoryl because they block UVA. Remember that sunscreen comes off each time you wash your hands.

* Moisturize, often. Hanson says nothing's worse for looking old than very dry hands. Youthful-looking hands need moisture.

* Don't smoke. It ages even hands significantly.

* Tap into your inner aristocrat and don some driving gloves. UVA rays penetrate windshields and fry our hands as they rest atop the steering wheel.

* Buy an over-the-counter retinol cream, or get a prescription retinoid. Retinoids are more potent and will lighten sunspots, help collagen regenerate and improve the skin's texture.

* Try alpha hydroxy acids or a glycolic acid.

* Get pulse-light or laser treatments to remove age spots and smooth skin. This usually requires two or three treatments.

* Spring for the same injections you're getting in your face. Fillers such as Radiesse or Restalyne will smooth wrinkles.