When we are young we have beautiful triangular shaped faces, with our plump cheeks at the 2 top points and chin at the bottom. But as we age various thing happen that turn those triangles upside down and the bottom corners become the jowls!
A common cry for help is often “what can I do about my jowls?” or “ I’m starting to look like my mother!
What happens during the aging process:
- We lose the volume in our cheeks.
- We lose the elasticity in the skin – by age 30 our collagen production seriously slows down and so the skin becomes less elastic and stretches with gravity.
- Our boney skeleton gets smaller.
The combination of these factors is akin to putting a bigger shirt onto a smaller body.
“All I need is a little tuck here” is another common cry. The problem, however, is that a face lift requires a general anaesthetic and surgical operation with all the recovery time. Also it is very hard to hide the fact that you have had surgery to friends and family and the costs are high. Equally there are more costs as a face lift does not address the volume loss in the cheeks that requires dermal fillers.
The ideal solution will address all 3 problems;
Dermal fillers plump up the cheeks, create the youthful triangle again and when used in the cheeks, jaw line and chin areas, create a ‘bigger skeleton’ on which the skin sits.
The ‘loss of elasticity’ due to reduced collagen production is addressed using rejuvenation treatments that should be started any time after 30. The types of rejuvenation treatments are varied and should be chosen bearing in mind other concerns that can be addressed at the same time. These other concerns may be pigmentation, large pores, red veins, poor skin texture and of course, time and budget. The gold standard treatment, as used by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Gwyneth Paltrow, is Thermage. Other effective treatments are Indiba, Chemical Peels, Dermaroller, Laser and OmniFace.
A complimentary consultation to work out what is best for you is the first step, along with Cosmeceutical grade skin products that contain adequate levels of Retinol. These products are not available over the counter due to their strength but the results they give in combination with the right treatments are excellent.