Most of us have looked in the mirror at one time or another and got a nasty little surprise as we notice something that wasn’t there last year. Fortunately there are treatments available to revitalise just about every type of problem.
Dermatologic treatments can combat the signs of ageing, restoring a more youthful appearance. Patient with ageing facial skin are evaluated for different factors such as how the face is ageing overall, what the damage looks like and how deep it goes. They can then identify the steps needed to help reverse the damage, either through a single treatment or a combination of several. There are five independent factors that act together to make us look older.
Intrinsic ageing
This is the natural ageing process that begins later in life and is normally characterised by a loss of substance to the skin and underlying fat. This can result in a gaunt, thin look, with hollowed cheeks and eye sockets. Treatment options are designed to replace the lost tissue. This can be achieved by solid implants, which are surgically placed under the skin, by transferring fat and tissue from other parts of the patient’s body to fill in deeper wrinkles and contour the face, or by the use of dermal fillers. Treatments that stimulate collagen regeneration can also help replace lost volume in the skin.
Sleep lines
Sleep lines are etched into the surface of the skin when the face is put into the same position on the pillow each night. The lines may seem to diminish once you are no longer lying in bed, however, if you sleep in the same position every night, the lines will return. Women tend to suffer from sleep lines on their chin and cheeks, while men notice them more on the forehead.
If you find it hard to change sleeping positions, Botox injections can be used to keep the skin smooth. A low dose of Botox is injected into the facial muscles, causing temporary relaxation. The procedure is non-invasive, requires little recovery time and safely and effectively reduces the appearance of facial lines, crow’s feet and wrinkles.
Expression lines
Every time you smile, laugh and frown, the face is affected as it reacts to emotion, with the underlying collagen fibres suffering most of all. Expression lines, which are also known as ‘laugh lines’, are most common around the large muscles of the eyes and mouth.
Once again, Botox injections are a popular treatment for softening or removing expression lines. Another option is soft-tissue augmentation – there are a variety of dermal fillers that produce immediate results to improve the appearance of lines.
Gravity
They say gravity always wins – but that doesn’t need to be the case with your face. When we stand up, gravity affects the face so that everything moves downwards – the eyelids fall, jowls are formed, the nose tip points downwards, the upper lip disappears and the lower lip pouts. Even the ears get longer. Gravity’s effects become more pronounced as we get older.
Facial exercises and genetic factors are no guarantee against the effects of gravity. Most procedures used to treat the everyday effects of gravity are surgical, such as blepharoplasty, which corrects ‘droopy’ eyelids. Light-based therapies which tighten the collagen beneath the skin can also help with this problem.
Photodamage
Photodamage, which results from overexposure to the elements, such as the sun and wind, accounts for 80 percent of the damage on a typical ageing face. People with fair skin, light eyes and a history of sun exposure are more susceptible to photodamage, which results in blotchy pigmentation, wrinkling and scaling.
There are a number of treatments available for photodamaged skin. One of these is laser resurfacing, which involves the use of heat or light pulses from a laser to rejuvenate the skin’s tone and texture. This can also minimise fine lines. Then there are Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatments, which use light to treat fine lines and wrinkles with little down time or after-effects.
An alternative to light therapy is a chemical peel. Peels remove layers of the skin to stimulate rejuvenation. The strength of peels ranges from very superficial to deep, depending on the skin’s requirements and how much down time you can spare after the treatment.
Ageing is a fact of life, but now there are now more options to treat the five different signs of damage and make your skin look more youthful.
