“It’s not only about treating concerns now but also for the future.” Dr Terry
Have you noticed some women look like they never age?
Or they look just as youthful as they did 20 years ago?
What’s their secret? How did they pause their ageing button?
I recently attended the annual conference of the British Association of Cosmetic Medicine (BCAM) and sat in an interesting lecture by Mr Rajiv Grover, a well-known plastic surgeon and also the President of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons.
He talked about his findings comparing women of Caucasian and Asian/ Oriental descent when they had facelifts and also looked at how non-surgical cosmetic treatments could affect the long term quality of the tissues.
In a nutshell, what I took from his lecture was:
- Asian/ Oriental women had more fibrous tissues compared to Caucasian women who had less fibrous and more loose tissue. He wondered whether it could be a genetic component to this or could be their lifestyle of religious skincare and skin routine.
- Women with more fibrous tissue tend to have better results and probably less invasive facelift.
- Women with more fibrous tissue tend to age better i.e. the tissue acts as biological velcro which help keep the facial structures in their youthful position longer.
- Interestingly, Caucasian women who had non-surgical cosmetic procedures many years prior to their facelifts actually had better quality or more fibrous tissue similar to that of Asian/Oriental women. The treatments he referred to were dermal fillers.
So with that conclusion, he as a plastic surgeon felt it is a good plan to incorporate non-surgical treatments as part of an Anti-Gravity Plan to pause the Facial Ageing Button so one may continue to look their youthful self even after 20 years and delay or even omit the need for a facelift in the future.
In this blog, I wanted to expand on ways one can pause the Facial Ageing Button.
If we look at what happens to the face as the years go by.
We have
- Muscular Pull (either from making us look older, more tired or more angry)
- Volume loss (in our temples, our mid face and our lower face) not just from fat loss but also bone loss with hormonal changes of menopause.
- Gravitational descent leading to loose skin, jowls, double chin or undefined jawline.
Volume loss typically occurs about 7 years before gravitational descent. Volume in the face is important to maintain its youthful form, shape and contour. Volume in the right places also help to keep the biological velcro in position and working appropriately so your beautiful features remain in it’s youthful position for longer.
Volume in the face is made of bone, fibrous tissue, fat, connective tissue and muscles. Volume loss typically occurs between age 28 – 35 years old, earlier if there is illness, extreme exercise, sudden weight loss or yo-yo dieting. We often don’t notice anything until much later when you started seeing a line, wrinkle or fold that you’ve never noticed before and your expensive creams no longer work.
In order to maintain or replace the volume that is/will be lost, it’s good to consider options such as:
- Hyaluronic acid dermal filler
- Collagen stimulation with Ellanse
- Biostimulation with PRP (platelet rich plasma)
- Threads both for lifting and stimulating the skin
By maintaining youthful volumes in your upper face (mainly temples and eyebrows), this will avoid or minimise the sunken look on your temples which is very ageing, dropping of your eyebrows or deepening of your frown and forehead lines.
By maintaining youthful volumes in your mid face (cheeks and cheekbones), this will avoid or minimise flattening of your cheeks, deepening of laugh lines, lips lines and the sunken look.
By maintaining youthful volumes in your lower face (jawline, mouth and neck), this will avoid or minimise shortening of your jawline, formation or worsening of jowls, lip lines, thin lips, double chin or loose neck skin.
The best treatment option would depend on your age, lifestyle, budget, goals and the extent of volume loss in the first place. It’s best to start considering an Anti-Gravitational plan as early as possible between 28- 30 years old. Even if you started later, with treatment advancement today, it is still possible to help you keep your youthful looks even 20 years on. It’s imperative to work with a cosmetic practitioner that is artistic, yet skilled so they can achieve the most natural results for you as possible. Meet a few to see who you best click with and would serve you well.
The treatment will change as time goes on which is important as your face changes and treatments if you do decide to go for it should be dynamic and serving your current and future needs. A good guide is little, but often. It’s all about maintenance and little tweaks along the way.
Apart from volume maintenance and replacement, another way to pause the Facial Ageing Button is to relax muscular pull using botulinum toxin (Botox).
In Mr Rajiv Grover’s lecture, women who had a chemical brow lift with muscle relaxation/Botulinum Toxin maintained their beautiful arched eyebrows for longer, and often did not require an eyebrow lift compared to women who did not and their eyelids became heavier with age. This was probably due to the muscle pull of the upper muscles which often creates crows feet or frown lines.
By relaxing the muscles, it creates a non-surgical brow lift, opening up the eyes and looking fresher.
Another big muscle that may over-work and cause more ageing are the neck muscles. Neck muscles if over stimulated or active, can pull the neck down, pulling the jawline lower and stressing the skin further. By relaxing the muscles through a Nefertiti lift, we are able to achieve platysma band relaxation (no more turkey neck), more defined jawline and tighter skin.
As a summary, there are many things we can do to pause the Facial Ageing Button.
- Adopt a healthy lifestyle, reduce stress and balance your hormones to pause the button internally.
- Maintain a good anti-ageing skin care routine including proper sun protection against UV damage.
- Targeted Medical facials and facial exercises to compliment your home routine.
- Consider non-surgical cosmetic treatments as a long term plan to reduce muscular pull, restore volume loss and prevent gravitational descent.
I hope you found this blog useful for further information, visit our Treatments Page. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment section below.
If you would like to book a consultation to discuss how my team and I can help you pause your facial ageing button, please contact us.
