Aging can affect the appearance and functioning of your entire body. As you get older the skin on your face can start to sag and you lose volume around the temples, eyes, cheeks, mouth, jawline and chin. Many individuals attribute facial aging to gravity and the laxity of skin tissues, however, facial fat volume depletion has a strong impact on the appearance of your face.
How the Face Ages
Changes occur internally and externally that impact the outward appearance of our faces and bodies. As you get older you may have noticed your skin start to mature, your forehead expand as your hairline recedes, or the tip of your nose start to droop downwards as the connective tissue weakens. The loss of facial volume can change the natural contours of your face that you have grown to love. This can cause shadows to develop and highlights to diminish. Learning about how the face ages can help you understand the different options to help you address your individual needs.
When you are younger, the skin appears more firm, supple, and elastic. Our faces have two fat compartments, a superficial and deep fat compartment layers. Youthful skin has fat compartments evenly distributed balancing the cheeks, temples, forehead, eyes, mouth, jawline and chin areas. As we age, we lose fat in the deep fat compartments. This results in facial volume loss and a sliding shift downwards on your face.
Facial fat aging
The areas on your face that were once full of volume and contoured begins to shrink in our late 20’s and early 30’s making the face appear sunken in and the skin appear loose and saggy. The shrinking and sliding of facial fat results in a heavier lower half of the face and an inverted facial triangle. These changes contribute to the formation of deep nasolabial folds, marionette lines and jowls with a less defined peri-oral area and jawline respectively. The fat beneath the chin can increase, causing increased volume under the chin and neck to develop causing a double chin. This effect of the lower face gaining unwanted facial fullness is known as the pyramid of facial aging.
Pyramid of Facial Aging
Facial folds can get deeper due to decreased facial fat and sliding of facial fat. The deep facial fat loss decreases support for the surrounding tissue. This causes the nasolabial folds to deepen from the nose to the mouth. This can also affect the hollowing around the eyes, deep marionette lines and heavy jowls that gives us a tired looking appearance.
What Causes Facial Fat Aging?
Facial fat can change based on each individual. Genetics contribute to facial aging, and you can gain some insight into your aging patterns by looking at those of older family members.
Another factor that contributes to facial aging is sun exposure. Sun exposure can damage the skin, affecting the elasticity and natural collagen production. Skin aging can be accelerated by lack of sun protection, as well as smoking and stress, consequently gaining fine lines and wrinkles earlier than healthy skin.
Why Fat Loss in the Face Ages People
When people lose facial volume with age, they can look a lot older than before. Fat in the face gives the appearance of more facial volume causing the face to look more awake, less tired, full, and more youthful. When an individual loses facial fat and bony structure, their face is less voluminous, and they can appear older than they are. You may notice hollow cheeks, dark circles, marionette lines around the mouth, jowls and drooping skin. The results of fat loss in the face do not always appear how we wish they would. Facial deflation can be a difficult cosmetic concern to address on your own. At Cerulean Medical Institute we offer a variety of effective customizable treatments that can help you address facial aging and help you look less tired and more youthful.
Treatments for Facial Fat Loss
The primary goal of facial cosmetic treatment is to help you restore previous facial volume, support facial structural points, correct shadow patterns created by aging, and to help you achieve healthy youthful skin.
Recreating the appearance of facial fat can restore a more youthful look to the face. Many individuals opt for dermal fillers, skin tightening and Botox injections to reduce the effects of facial fat loss.
Dermal fillers
Dermal fillers in Kelowna can support cutaneous structure and restore volume to the face in areas where the fat volume has naturally decreased throughout the years. This can enhance facial contours, decreasing shadows and restore the naturally youthful balance in the face.
Botox Injections
Botox injections in Kelowna helps to soften wrinkles and create a smoother skin surface and structure. As you age, and your facial volume decreases, allowing wrinkles to appear more prominent than they did before. With Botox, the treated muscles relax, softening the lines that cause wrinkles, fine lines, and facial folds.
Aging affects not only the skin but also fat pads, muscles, and bones. Understanding the cause of your aging face can help you create the right treatment plan for your specific needs.
Schedule a Consultation
At Cerulean Medical Institute, we specialize in natural-looking results through a deep understanding of anatomy, evidence-based medicine and advanced techniques. If you are interested in looking less tired, restoring the natural volume in your face and achieving a more youthful appearance, call our Kelowna skincare centre at (778) 760-5050 to schedule your consultation today.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
