If you are over the age of 35 and have noticed a change in your face shape, deepening lines around the nose and the mouth or shadowing near your chin/jaw, you are very likely experiencing facial volume loss. Facial volume loss occurs in the form of both fat and bone, and happens to all of us. Fortunately, advances in medical innovations mean that there are many options to replace lost volume in the face and help restore it to a more youthful look.
Be Assessed By Our Facial Volume Loss Experts
The team at 8 West Clinic in Vancouver, BC includes a facial plastic surgeon and highly experienced skin specialists. We offer the complete spectrum of surgical and non surgical treatments for dealing with the signs of aging. Facial volume loss causes all kinds of changes in the face and no two patients are alike. We specialize in assessing your specific situation and recommending treatments that take into consideration your tolerance for downtime and objectives.
What Does Facial Volume Loss Look Like?
The changes are subtle at first. We all start to loose volume in our faces as we approach age 40, and the effects are quite noticeable by age 50. Many women feel as though they don't look as "pretty" as they did before, finding it harder and harder to capture a nice photo of themselves. You may be experiencing facial volume loss if you notice:
- Change in overall face shape: Your face looks less "pretty" or if you are a man, "less handsome." That's because your "Ogee Curve" is off. The Ogee Curve is the double soft-S curves that are seen on youthful faces. Youthful faces show a convex fullness in the outside brow area that softly curves where the upper and lower eyelids meet, then softly curves outward on the upper cheek to again curve inward just above the mouth. As we age, the natural curve collapses and we look older and less pleasing.
- Facial folds: You are noticing lines that go from the corner of your nose to the corner of your mouth and they are getting deeper over time (we call them naso labial folds) or lines that go form the side of your nose to the edge of your jaw by your mouth (we call them marionette lines). These are called facial folds and we have a whole web page about them.
- Facial features are less pronounced: Your jaw line is less defined than before, as are your cheeks. Your face looks less sculpted.
- Flattening cheek area: The mid face in particular is subject to volume loss. Once the mid face starts to shrink, gravity takes its toll and the structures below start to sag.
- Boney areas become more noticeable: the boney area beneath your eyes is more noticeable - the plump cheek that was once there to camouflage it seems to have shrunk. Your cheek bones look very sharp but not in the super model kind of way.
- Hollowing: You look hollow in the temple area.
- Shadowing: You notice your chin area looks shadowed, as does the areas on either side of your nose above your mouth.
Why Do We Lose Volume In Our Faces?
Is there anything you can do to prevent facial volume less? Yes and no. To a great degree, we will all lose volume by the time we are 40 regardless of what we do. However, they are some lifestyle characteristics that do accelerate facial volume loss. Here is a complete list of the forces that affect our faces:
- Loss of collagen: This is a natural part of the aging process. Collagen keeps us looking plump and tight when we are young, and starts to deplete in our skin in our 30s.
- Losing lots of weight : Which is great for how your body looks but ages your face.
- Yo yo dieting - your face is continually contracting and expanding and eventually the skin can't contract as well as it did before thanks to a natural loss of collagen and skin elasticity as we age.
- Stress, illness and depression - There is not doubt about it, research shows that these can accelerate volume loss in the face.
Treating Facial Volume Loss
Of course a consultation with a specialist is key, however here are some of the ways that the process of facial volume loss can be slowed down and treated:
- Prevention: Broad Band Light has an amazing affect on the skin including helping it to become healthier and plumper. Forever Young BBL is a revolutionary treatment that, according to a Standford University study, has been shown to slow down and even reverse the aging process. As well, doing what you can to avoid stress and weight fluctuations can help.
- Dermal fillers: These injections of hyaluronic acid are safe and effective in treating facial volume loss. Dermal fillers can be placed subtly in many parts of the face to address volume loss and help make the face look more defined.
- Skin tightening: SkinTyte is a non surgical laser treatment that stimulates collagen growth, making the skin plumper, thicker and more youthful.
- Skin care: Medical grade skin care products have active ingredients that help to plump the skin and make it look more youthful.
Have Your Skin Assessed by Our Team of Face Specialists
There are a myriad of options available for uncovering a more youthful looking face, and we would like to help you navigate them. Book a consultation today, or call (604) 733-1669. Let's get you one step closer to loving your skin.
