How does our skin age?

What do you see each morning when you look in the mirror? Do you think your face reflects the number of years you are? Yes, your face does not look the same way it did three years ago, because it has aged. This article discusses the cause of aging especially on the face.

As we age, the face starts to change due to a natural process. With that said, how come there are people that look younger than their years while some look so much older? Everyone wants to look at their best for as long as they can. The secret to this is balance and symmetry to the face.

The three areas of the face

Your face can be divided into three areas namely the upper face, mid face and lower face. For you to maintain a fresh and natural look is to maintain facial harmony all the time. When you learn to balance the look on your upper, mid and lower face, people will be pleased at what they will see.

People and Skin age differently, while some of the mentioned areas will age differently as compared to other areas. Once in a while, you can decide to go for facial rejuvenation, and this should not be aimed at removing that wrinkle you are after, you also need to consider the support structures under the given area, so that you ensure the whole face is kept In harmony.

The layers of the face

The face consists of four layers: the bone, muscle, soft tissue and the skin. What is reflected on the outer skin is a sum of what is happening in these four layers. Let’s look at what happens at these individual layers.

Bone

When you lose bone especially around t eyes, you will lose support for the underlying soft tissue. This will lead to deep circles around your eyes and temples, giving your eyes a “hollow” look. When you lose bone in the lower jaw, you will lose the support to the lips and mouth, making them to descend lower.

Loss of bone along the lower jawline and neck, lead to loss of jaw definition which lead to jowls if combined with loss of volume and muscle elasticity.

Muscles

When you use your facial muscles through constant expressions, you will get the formation of lines such as crows-foot, frown lines and forehead lines. These will be reflected on your skin as wrinkles or around the mouth known as accordion lines. When you lose the elasticity of your muscles in the forehead, you will have a descending brow.

Decreased muscle elasticity will not hold the fat that sits under the eyes, leading to bulging.
Repeated muscle action around the mouth will make the corners of the mouth to turn downwards, and if the muscle action is in the chin, it will lead to dimpling.

Soft tissue / Volume

This is most commonly seen in the mid face, whereby as you age, you will lose volume. The cheekbones will become less defined, and this coupled with sagging cheek pads, will lead to volume redistribution leading to nasolabial folds which run from the nose to the edge of the mouth.

Loss of soft tissue in fat pads around the mouth and lips, added with expressions such as pursing the lips, causes permanent lines.
Facial areas get affected by environmental factors. Smoking can lead to staining and loss of tone and texture. Some naturally occurring complex sugars decrease the elasticity of the skin.

Everyone is different but all these areas can be treated with either muscle relaxants and or dermal fillers. Dermal fillers are gels made from naturally occurring complex sugars. These sugars are already present in the layers of the skin providing structure, support and skin elasticity.

Dermal fillers can be used to fill in discrete regions to reverse the look of the skin age such as static wrinkles that are visible around the deeper folds, lips and when the face is at rest.

Volumizing fillers enhance or restore structure, volume and youthful contours to the larger areas of the face like cheeks and the jaw line.

Everyone’s needs are different so it is important to talk to a clinician who can suggest options to improve skin quality, texture and tone, dark circles to freckles or rosacea or other skin issues such as skin pigmentation.

In conclusion, we should not concentrate on the outer skin to try and look younger, because the outer skin reflects what is happening underneath.