Knowing what you need to combat the ageing process can often be overwhelming and intimidating. Understanding the ageing process is the most important step in deciding what treatment options to use. So, what actually happens to your face when you age?
How does the face age?
Ageing of the face can start as early as 20 and continues throughout your life. How fast your face ages and to what extent differs from person to person. These things typically happen as you age:
- Facial bone changes: The bones are the foundation for your facial muscles, fat pads and skin. As you age, there is facial bone loss, which changes the dimensions and contour of your face.
- Deep tissues loose elasticity As you age, you experience a loss of collagen in the deep tissues which results in the face sagging down and the development of nasolabial lines, marionette lines and jowls.
- Volume loss from fat pads: These are located deep in the face above the bones and also below the skin’s surface. As you age, they get thinner and descend. Hollows can form beneath the eyes. Drooping tissues can cause deep lines around the nose and mouth. There is heaviness in the lower face causing jowls and the neck giving the appearance of a double chin.
- Skin changes and wrinkles: As you age, you experience a loss of collagen and elastin which results in the development of laugh lines, frown lines and crow’s feet. There may be pores, reduction in hydration and a rougher texture.
Facial bone changes
As we age we all lose some bone which means that our cheeks flatten, our jaw bone shrinks and our eye sockets get larger. The structure of the face changes so the tissues above the bones will sit differently and so look different.
Collagen loss in the deep tissues
As we age, we all lose collagen in our deep tissues. As a result, the tissues begin to sag and droop. Many people notice that they have heavier brows and heaviness at the jawline and neck making them look sad and tired.
We can restore collagen in these deep tissues and so lift the face making you look and feel more refreshed. Treatments such as the Endolift treatment, Sofwave and Secret RF stimulate the deep tissues and helps to restore the lost collagen and quite literally lift the face.
Why fat is important
When we are young, fat in the face is evenly distributed in the fat pockets. The fat pockets at the temples, cheeks, and middle areas of the face are full and plump. Think how babies have the cutest, chubbiest little cheeks.
With age there is loss of fat and the fat packets shifts downward, so features that were formerly round may sink, and skin that was smooth and tight gets loose and sags. Meanwhile other parts of the face gain fat, particularly the lower half, so we tend to get jowly at the jawline and heavy at the neck.
Without volume, we lose that high-cheekbone appearance. When we’re young, we have an inverted triangle or heart shape appearance to our face. As we get older, the face becomes more square or bottom heavy, which gives an older, more tired appearance.
So, fat has a lot to do with the ageing process. But that doesn’t mean you should go devour an entire bar of Dairy Milk to look young!
Where are the fat pads located?
Fat pads are thought to be present to facilitate the gliding of muscles in movement, whilst also protecting the sensitive facial muscles from injury.
The fat pads can be divided into superficial and deep compartments:
- Superficial Facial Fat Pads: Found between the skin and the Superficial Muscular Aponeurotic System (SMAS)
- Deep Facial Fat Pads: Found below the SMAS and behind the muscles. They offer volume and shape to the face
What can I do about my facial fat loss?
Present trends in facial rejuvenation are moving away from conventional surgical ‘facelift’ procedures and toward the use of non-surgical alternatives for addressing the loss of facial fat in the ageing face.
Dermal fillers, used either alone or as an addition to other nonsurgical facial techniques, are an effective treatment choice for “lifting and filling” the facial soft tissues.
Dermal fillers are used to treat lines created by loss of fat. By restoring this lost fat, the treatment area is plumped to create a lift and rejuvenate areas that need more volume. This also improves the structure of the face and texture of the skin by also restoring hydration.
Dermal fillers come in many shapes and forms. At Health and Aesthetics, we use Revanesse and Teoxane fillers.
Dermal fillers are crosslinked hyaluronic acid which vary in thickness and texture to fill areas suffering from diminished volume and lines and wrinkles. We believe that providing our patients with a natural result; meaning to not dramatically changing your appearance but providing you with a refreshed and rejuvenated appearance.
How do I get the best possible natural looking results?
The best way to achieve natural looking results is to restore collagen in the deep tissues with treatments like Endolift treatment, Sofwave and Secret RF AND treat the fat loss with appropriately placed dermal fillers to restore volume and also to lift the face.
These treatments help people to look less tired, less angry, more awake and well rested. They can lift the face effectively and match the way you look outside to the way you feel inside.
Endolift® is an innovative, minimally-invasive alternative to a surgical face lift, which uses laser energy to tighten the skin and contour facial fat – with minimal downtime. The EndoLift offers a remarkable, non-surgical alternative to the traditional surgical facelift (or necklift), as well as options for body contouring. Specific single-use micro-optical fibers, a bit thinner than hair (FTF® Eufoton® Fiber-to-Fiber), are easily inserted under the skin into the superficial hypodermis.
Sofwave™ is a clinically proven, non-invasive approach to remodelling collagen, which improves facial lines and wrinkles and a lifting effect to the eyebrows, neck, and submental region. Using proprietary Synchronous Ultrasound Parallel Beam SUPERB™ technology, ultrasound energy precisely passes through the skin’s surface (the epidermis), heating the mid-dermal tissue at just the precise depth and temperature to rejuvenate collagen fibers and improve the overall appearance of the skin.
Secret RF is a novel fractional radiofrequency micro-needling treatment from Cutera. Designed to revitalise, refresh, tighten and lift the skin and address the common signs of ageing, the treatment uses micro-needles to allow the practitioner to deliver energy at various depths, so it can be tailored to each individual’s needs. By combining the two technologies – RF and micro-needling – Secret RF gives a double whammy when it comes boosting collagen and elastin.
Profhilo® Structura addresses common signs of ageing, such as facial hollows and sagging, by restoring superficial fat and repositioning facial tissues for a more youthful profile.
Even if you have great genes and look much younger than you are, age-related changes in our facial appearance are unavoidable. Our team at Health & Aesthetics are specially trained in understanding the ageing process and addressing the options for specific concerns. Each face ages differently, so getting individualised treatment is key.
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