Why Your Face Ages and How to Address It

As we age, our appearance changes along with our wisdom and experiences. These changes are most noticeable on our faces.

How the Face Ages

Over time, several changes occur:

• Foreheads: They expand as hairlines recede.

• Ears: They may get longer due to cartilage growth.

• Noses: The tips may droop because the connective tissue weakens.

Behind the scenes, fat in the face, which is evenly distributed when we’re young, starts to lose volume, clump up, and shift downward. This can cause formerly round features to sink and smooth skin to sag. Additionally, the lower part of the face may gain fat, leading to a baggy chin and jowly neck.

Wrinkles also appear, with deep ones on the forehead and between the eyebrows caused by facial muscles continually tugging on the skin. Other folds deepen as fat decreases and moves around, while finer wrinkles result from sun damage, smoking, and natural skin degeneration.

Addressing an Aging Face

While aging gracefully is beautiful, some may want to slow down these changes. Here are some options:

• Celebrate Aging: Embrace age-related changes as reflections of life’s joys and challenges.

• Facelifts: surgical procedures that remove excess tissue and lift sagging skin. Though effective, they are expensive and may require additional procedures.

• Nonsurgical Alternatives: These include rejuvenating treatments, which, while not cheap, can be effective.

Tips for a Youthful Appearance

• Sun Protection: Use sunscreen with at least SPF 30 and wear a wide-brimmed hat.

• Creams and lotions: moisturizers can temporarily reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Prescription creams containing retinoids can reduce wrinkles and liver spots by promoting collagen production and altering melanin.

These steps can help maintain a youthful appearance while embracing the natural process of aging.

Cosmetic Treatments for Aging Skin

Botulinum Toxin Injections: These injections, like Botox, help smooth out expression lines on the forehead and between the brows by partially immobilizing the muscles. Other brands include Myobloc and Dysport.

Dermal Fillers: Used to treat lines caused by lost collagen and fat, dermal fillers are popular for areas like the nasolabial folds (lines from the nose to the mouth) and marionette lines (lines from the mouth to the chin). Hyaluronic acid is the most common filler now, lasting up to six months, and is more durable than collagen.

Laser Treatments: Lasers target specific pigments to remove freckles, liver spots, and broken capillaries. They can also resurface the skin, removing wrinkles and acne scars. Non-ablative lasers work deeper in the skin to stimulate collagen formation, with a quicker healing time.

Recovery: Skin recovery after laser treatments can take a couple of weeks, depending on the treatment type and extent.

For more detailed skin-care practices, you can refer to the “Skin Care and Repair” report from Harvard Medical School.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki