Emotional Ageing

Emotional ageing relates to the lines, wrinkles and folds that form when we experience all emotions – whether negative or positive. When we feel emotions, we express them in our looks – frowning, smiling, laughing, or looking sad. 

Negative emotions including stress, fear, anxiety, and loneliness can cause the muscles in our face to form a concerned, worried, or sometimes even harsh, angry look (AKA: Resting B*tch Face). Positive emotions such as happiness and joy can create smile lines around the eyes and around the mouth.

While none of us are impervious to this phenomenon, we can help control it – if we wish (some may like the way the years have shaped their face and that’s great!) In many cases emotional ageing can be rewound, with a few subtle tweakments in clinic by a reputable and accredited cosmetic practitioner.

Emotional Ageing, Stress And Your Face Shape

“Stress can manifest in many ways, but a common one is a strong, thick jawline,” explains Associate Professor Gabrielle Caswell, President of The Australian College of Aesthetic Medicine (ACAM). “This happens when we grind our teeth a lot – a common symptom of stress.

“Grinding or clenching teeth can cause the masseter (the jaw muscle) to enlarge. This muscle is a powerful superficial muscle divided into two distinct sections, the ‘superficial’ and ‘deep’ portions,” explains AP Caswell. “The superficial portion originates from the zygomatic (cheek bone) arch.  The deeper portion is the smaller and more muscular, connecting to the mandible, the lower jaw.

“The main job of the masseter is to lift the lower jaw, assisting with chewing and making sounds.  When chewing, three other muscles help:  the temporalis, medial pterygoid, and lateral pterygoid. Together these four muscles work to pull the jaw down and back up again.  Continuous clenching, voluntary or involuntary can lead to teeth damage, aches and pains in the lower jaw, and in severe cases has been reported to migrate to the temple region.

“In females, enlargement of this muscle has been considered a masculine aesthetic; in men it may provide the vision of a well-defined masculine jaw.  And in fact, [for men] there are specific exercises that can be conducted to increase the size and strength of this muscle.”

What you can consider

“Speak to a reputable injector about using wrinkle relaxing injections to reduce masseter enlargement. It is a super effective way of controlling the grinding and refining your jawline,” explains AP Caswell. “You can also talk to your dentist about getting a mouthguard to wear at night to help with grinding.”

“The injections are strategically injected to help relax and reduce the size and strength of the muscle,” advises AP Caswell. “In some countries, such as South Korea, this is a very popular face re-shaping treatment.”

AP Caswell emphasises the importance of seeing a reputable practitioner for this procedure.

“If a layer is not injected sympathetically with the other it can ‘pouch out’ when the person clenches their jaw.”

She also advises that “often the change in muscular definition takes multiple treatments, over the course of a year.”

Stress + Frown Lines

Stress can also contribute to emotional ageing as it can cause frown lines on your face. It may also be attributed to a downturned mouth” (see aforementioned Resting B*tch Face).

“Many people frown when they are stressed, and/or concentrating,” continues AP Caswell. Again, wrinkle relaxing injections can help.

“We can cleverly inject them to disable the muscles responsible for pulling the mouth downwards, which then activates the muscles that turn the mouth upwards. This causes the mouth to look as though it is smiling even when it’s resting. We can also use these injections to minimise or eliminate furrows in the brow. If the condition has become very extreme, we may even reach for some filler to plump out a stress-induced divot.

Stress + Skin Condition And Texture

The skin reacts to stress quite poorly, from loss of luminosity and glow to oily secretions and overall poor skin health.  “Acne (sometimes in response to the release of stress hormones, like cortisoll) can also arise,” says AP Caswell. This can also be as a secondary result due to poor sleep and self-care.”

What you can consider

Incorporate both a glycolic product and a vitamin A product into your skin care. Practise self-care in the form of a nutritious diet, regular exercise and plenty of quality sleep.

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However, you do need to get to the root of the issue – the stress itself. What is causing it and how can you deal with it? Explore yoga and meditation, regular exercise and breathing techniques.

Anger + Ageing

In the modern day of social media, nobody wants to see an angry face.

“Some people have the misfortune of looking cranky even when they are not,” explains AP Caswell. “It usually presents as a down turned or firmly set mouth, pursing, and thinning of the lips and closing up of the eyes. Frowns and permanent “11’s” between the brows help to consolidate the look.”

AP Caswell also comments that “some individuals clench the jaw when angry. Subtly, there is a bunching, a slight uplifting and pull to the centre of the face of the mid-cheek.  The contours of the face subtly change, and light is reflected just enough to notice the changed positions of the muscles.”

What you can consider

“We can easily treat each piece of the puzzle with wrinkle relaxing injections,” says AP Caswell. “Frown lines can be abolished with the standard treatment, and a little injected to the outer edge of the eyebrow will elevate the brow and open the eye.

“Mouths can be subtly relaxed again with wrinkle relaxing injections and fine lines caused by pursing the lips can be softened, while at the same time weakening the movement of pursing.  Thinning lips occur with age, and a good practitioner can use a dermal filler to provide some volume to re-calibrate the relative proportions, creating not only a more youthful face but also a less tense one.”

Sadness + Emotional Ageing

Sadness is conveyed by downward dragging tissues, explains AP Caswell. “The hound dog look of emotional ageing begins with the frown furrows. Our eyes then connect with tear trough folds which aesthetically flow into the naso-labial folds. Then it moves to the marionette lines (between the corners of the mouth to the chin) completing the drawn down expression.

“These three areas are associated with the facial retaining ligaments. As we age, our facial skeleton thins and widens, and the tissues lose their relative position to the skeleton as well as to each other.  The supporting scaffolding of your skeleton is no longer able to hold the tissues, and project them as they would in our youth.  As a result, light does not get reflected out of the folds.”

“The naso-labial and tear trough folds are contributed to the tissues of the lateral or side of the face. These are no longer held up and out by your skeleton, so they slide down, creating a gutter-like effect. And sometimes individuals with a heavy mid check have an artificial fold development, creating more shadows.”

What you can consider

Again, it is important to address every component of the whole, says AP Caswell.

“Well placed dermal fillers can provide some projection, reflecting light from a more youthful perspective. Frowns are easily treated with wrinkle relaxing injections, which we can also use to lift the corners of the mouth. Fillers can resculpt the marionette lines and provide the vision of a straight rather than jowly jaw.  Clever use of wrinkle relaxing injections placed directly into the jowl can help provide a straight looking mandible.”

AP Caswell stresses that for best results, “it’s important to have a plan and move through it in a step wise manner.  Cheek augmentation, particularly on the arch can be tempting, however this is a procedure I would leave till last. Why? Once the other areas have been corrected and settled, then an estimation of how much cheek filler is needed can be [correctly] made.  As little as half a ml may be all that is needed.  Too much cheek filler makes the eyes look smaller – it can be pushed up with the act of smiling. In extreme cases, If a patient smiles with too much filler in this region, sunglasses can be repositioned!”

Joy + Happiness

Joy and happiness are uniformly conveyed with calm expression and broad smiles. All the aforementioned tweakments can create a look of joy and happiness on the face. “Treating all those things that cause stressful looking, or cranky face will produce a calm visage,” says AP Caswell.  “Happiness comes from the heart, so people should try to surround themselves with others who care for them and makes them a better version of oneself.”

Of course, everyone can pick the joy and happiness of the first flush of love, the skin is glowing the eyes are sparkling and people often have an open welcome expression.  To achieve this cosmetically it comes back to the basics, good diet, good sleep, good skin care and some subtle tweaks to remove those items we consider negative signalling (downward turn mouth, closed eyes, frown lines).

What you can consider

However, happiness can also cause fine lines to form around the eyes and mouth from smiling and laughing. Most people enjoy these lines as a sign of a life well lived. If they are of concern to you, though, they are easily treated with wrinkle relaxing injections or dermal fillers.