Anybody with any interest in the aging face, has heard a lot about thinning skin and reduction in the amount of collagen, and all the different treatments, such as retinoids, that may slow these processes down. New research suggests that fat may be a more important key to a younger looking face. Further, that this finding may provide new ways to make faces look younger.
The recent research describes how the face has underlying fat compartments. These compartments are distinct and are separated from each other by fibrous connective tissue. They are independent compartments that are found in all areas of the face, around the mouth, cheeks, eyes and forehead.
How To Look Younger
These independent compartments age at different rates. As we age different compartments will change in shape, and decrease or increase in size.
In the young face, the boundaries between the facial compartments are not obvious and so the face has a generally smooth outline. As we age the transitions become more obvious. The different rates of changes of the different parts of the face explain why the face does not age evenly.
As the aging is different for different compartments, the shape changes can lead to hollows and sagging.
This research suggests that gravity is not the major cause of sagging skin and features such as folds, but it is the changes in the fat pockets! Further, that the loose skin that occurs as we age may be as much a function of the loss of volume of the underlying area of the face, as it is of thinning and stretching.
One of the key fat compartments that the researchers found was deep in the cheeks. They found that the size of this compartment decreases as we age and this leads to excess skin and in particular the formation of the folds that form round the nose and mouth (nasolabial folds).
If fat is restored to this deep fat compartment in the cheeks, the result is a reduction in the nasolabial folds, more volume under the eyes improving the "V-deformity" of the lower lid, and changes the shape of the lips. This results in a more youthful shape to the face, and a reduction in hollowing and sagging.
This research (and further investigation of the fat pockets of the face) is going to change some of the methods used to rejuvenate the aging the face. The new information suggests that fillers in very specific areas of the face may make a face look significantly younger.
The fact that the deep fat pocket in the cheek has such a major impact on the shape of the face and the lessening folds and sagging is sure to soon result in the development of a range of techniques for increasing the volume of this compartment.
In conclusion, the description of fat compartments and in particular the deep fat pocket of the cheek indicates that changes in the aging face is more of a function of different rates of changes in these compartments than collagen and thinning skin. These findings will likely alter how and where fillers are used in facial rejuvenation. Perhaps targeted filling will replace facelifts for rejuvenation.
The research is authored by Drs Rohrich and Pessa, published in Plast. Reconstr. Surgery (2008) 121: pages 1804-9, and with Dr Ristow in the same journal volume, pages 2107-2112.
Aging Face - Fat Makes You Look Younger!
Judith has a website http://www.agemoreslowly.com The blog, http://www.agemoreslowly.com/blog/ is about new research and ideas that impact on health in general, and aging both directly and indirectly. Check it out.
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