Understanding how the face ages

Where do you begin if you want to address an aging face? Often the best way to create a more youthful appearance is to first, have a good understanding how the face ages. Simply put, we age in three main ways. Once you understand this, you can better understand the recommendations that cosmetic physicians provide you. The three ways we age in the face are: skin damage, volume loss, and sagging tissues.

Skin Damage

As we age, out skin will eventually become thinner, lose elasticity, and begin to reveal the negative impact that environmental damage (sun exposure, smoke exposure, genetic tendencies to wrinkle, etc.) has wreaked. The sun plays the biggest role in aging the skin by creating wrinkles, sunspots, and even skin cancers. Genetics and the complexion of your skin play a large role in how your skin will damage as you age.

Skin color is a direct result of the amount of the pigment that we have in our skin. Melanin can protect the skin cells from the UV light damage of the sun. And as most of us know, sun exposure is the primary risk factor for developing skin cancer. Dark skin can still develop skin cancer, but the risk is lower than those with fairer skin. Hence, the darker your natural skin complexion is, the less the sun will damage your skin over the years. It is much more common to see significant sun damage in those with more pale skin. But regardless of our natural skin pigmentation, all people should protect themselves from the sun if they want to maintain youthful-looking skin.

Wrinkles are more likely to develop when the skin becomes damaged and thereby loses its elasticity. Excess sun exposure can also cause skin irregularities in the form of sunspots, liver spots, or localized pigment changes. Smoking cigarettes is another major culprit that can age the skin. In addition, ‘smoker’s lines’ near the mouth are the result of the damage smoking does to the skin, as well as the constant pursing of the lips.

The primary goal here is prevention: wear sun protection, avoid smoking, and eat a healthy diet that nourish your skin. But when people are past the point of prevention, there are many dermal fillers available that can rejuvenate the skin, adding lost volume and plumping out wrinkles, lines and creases.

Volume loss

As we age, the face loses volume, somewhat like a deflating balloon. Facial tissues sag, and we even lose bone volume of the skull and jawbone. Hollowed eyes, sunken cheeks, or depressions around the mouth are all the ‘skeletonizing’ signs of aging. For some patients, it appears that we can see the skull more clearly as our face loses volume. This volume loss can lead to an aged look all around the face – but it primarily starts in the cheek areas. Losing volume in the cheeks has a ‘domino’ effect on other parts of the face.

Sagging Tissues

As our faces fight constantly against gravity, it nonetheless continues to pull down on the tissues in the cheeks, neck, and jowls. In conjunction with the loss of fat volume mentioned above, gravity eventually ‘wins’ the battle with your face and will start pulling tissue downwards. This can rob you of your youthful looks.

Balanced Rejuvenation

Many cosmetic physicians will seek to address these three aging issues in a comprehensive approach, resulting in a more balanced and natural appearing outcome. Typically, the goal is to achieve a modest and not overly-dramatic improvement. On the ladder of looking more youthful, you usually cannot go from the bottom step to the top step and still look natural. You need to take moderate steps. The objective is to make natural-looking improvements in one or all of your problem areas. You don’t want to look too tight, too plumped up, or too perfectly polished, because the results can simply look false, rather than fresh-looking.

Proactive prevention

There are some steps that can be taken to help prevent premature signs of aging. To minimize sun damage, sun avoidance and wearing sunscreen are two of the best things you can do for your skin. Excessive sun exposure and excessive use of tanning booths are some of the fastest ways to age your skin.

Smoking cigarettes is another way to accelerate the aging process – best to avoid. Also, maintaining your ideal weight is the most effective way to prevent premature jowling or neck fullness. Maintaining a healthy diet and engaging in consistent exercise contributes to your overall wellbeing and physical appearance. Avoid over-eating and always seek out nutritious, whole foods – your skin will thank you for it.

Summing Up

There’s three main ways our skin ages – damage to skin, volume loss, and sagging tissues. Some of these can be mitigated and slowed down, with some important prevention steps. Eventually, however, our skin will start to show the signs of aging. Dermal fillers are a great option to help counteract these signs, in a natural-looking and effective manner. Licensed medical practitioners can buy dermal fillers at Health Supplies Plus.