Understanding your aging face

Chances are you’ve heard about Botox® and facial fillers, but knowing what you need to combat the aging process can often be overwhelming and intimidating.

Understanding this aging process is the most important step in deciding what treatment options to use.

What happens with time
Aging of the face can start as early as 20 years old 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:

• Soft tissues (muscles, fat, connective tissue) fall due to gravity
• Volume loss
• Skin changes and wrinkles
• Facial bone changes

Aging is unique to each individual. Genetics play an important role in the way your face ages. How your mother ages can provide a glimpse of how your face may change after time.

Other factors, like your exposure to the sun over time and your diet, can play a role in determining when and to what extreme aging begins.

The triangle of youth

“When you’re younger, facial features are defined and well contoured. We call this the triangle of youth,” says Janelle Klubertanz, a certified plastic surgery nurse with Plastic Surgery & Skin Specialists by BayCare Clinic. “As you get older, the triangle becomes inverted.”

Aging isn’t just about the lines and wrinkles on your face. It also occurs beneath the skin. Signs of aging exist at every layer of the facial structure, including skin, fat pads, muscles and bone.

• Aging skin: As you age, you experience a loss of facial glands, collagen and elastin. This can greatly reduce the moisture in your skin, which results in the development of laugh lines, frown lines and crow’s feet. It also causes increased discoloration and a rougher texture.
  
  
• Fat pads: These are located below the skin’s surface. As you age, they get thinner and descend. Hollows can form beneath the eyes. Drooping skin can cause deep lines around the nose and mouth. Fat can accumulate beneath the chin causing a double chin.

• Muscles: The muscles lie beneath the fat pads. As you age, loss of facial fat along with gravity and repeated activity lead to deep wrinkles in the face.
  
  
• Bones: The bones are the foundation for your facial muscles, fat pads and skin. As you age, you experience facial bone loss, which changes the dimensions and contour of your face.

Treating your face
Our aestheticians are specially trained in understanding the aging process and addressing the options for your concerns. Each face ages differently, so getting individualized treatment is key.

“We offer free consultations where we go over what we would recommend and why,” Klubertanz says. “Our aesthetic providers work closely with our board-certified plastic surgeons and dermatology providers to offer comprehensive solutions for treating aging.”

Some questions can be answered over the phone, but the best way to have your questions answered is to come in for a free consultation.

To request a free consultation at Plastic Surgery & Skin Specialists by BayCare Clinic, please use our online form. To have a phone consultation, please call 920-288-8240 extension 3.

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