In sunny South Florida, the name of the game is healthy skin. After years of constant sun exposure, Miami dermatologist Dr. Deborah Longwill’s patients come seeking to counter the effects of aging and achieve a more youthful glow. “They’re looking for a more refreshed look right after going through the pandemic,” she explains. “We’re also wearing masks less often and examining our faces through Zoom more often. After nearly two years, people feel their faces appear older and they just want to look more youthful.”

No matter the age range, whether it be a 40-year-old or 80-year-old patient, she says these are the top trending treatments that are making the biggest impact in turning back the clock.

The Aging Process

In addition to skin laxity, Dr. Longwill says fat, muscle and bone loss contribute to the changes we see as we age. “You can see fat loss where you don’t have any more support of the skin and also bone loss,” she says. “Your eye socket recedes and your eyeball moves posterior. Your teeth and mouth change and become narrower so now all the support your face used to have starts to shrink. We lose the chin; we lose our jaw and we become narrower.”

Jawline Reshaping

The first place your eye goes as we start to age is down, notes Dr. Longwill. Using a cannula to create and sculpt the face, she uses dermal filler in combination with Botox Cosmetic to restore the lower neck and jawline. “I use Botox injections to help relax the pulling down of the neck, which helps to lift up the face.” Strategically placing the filler in the midface also helps to refine the area, says the doctor: “Believe it or not, when someone has fullness in the lower face, putting filler in the cheek area gives them a nice lift. It also can help camouflage under-eye circles as well.”

Neck Rejuvenation

Neck rejuvenation addresses two things, says Dr. Longwill, stopping the platysma muscle from pulling the face down, which is done with Botox Cosmetic, and treating horizontal neck bands. “For the bands, which are notoriously hard to treat, I’ll use a hyper-diluted Sculptra Aesthetic to help with the thinness of skin. I’ll combine it with a Fraxel laser treatment to help with skin resurfacing and building collagen.”

“The platysma muscle goes from your jaw all the way down to your collarbone,” notes Dr. Longwill.  “When you’re doing Pilates or other types of exercises that use your core, a lot of times you think you’re using your stomach muscles when you’re really using your neck. A lot of people don’t realize it until they get treated and notice they’ll have to use their core strength more when exercising.”

Reducing Under-Chin Fullness

To address the stubborn fat under the chin that will not go away, Dr. Longwill says she relies on Kybella injections which dissolve the fat. “I may sometimes do a combination of CoolSculpting and Kybella, it really depends on the patient,” she explains. “If I can pinch the fat underneath your chin, then I will typically opt for Kybella. I find it really works to improve the area. The only thing is you may swell for a couple of weeks, but once you remove the fat there, it’s never coming back.”

Correcting Thin Lips

Many patients attribute lip enhancement procedures with over-inflated, voluminous lips, but Dr. Longwill says a very small amount of filler can help restore thinning lips without giving an unnatural look. “I’ll start to inject just a little bit to pop up that upper lip. As we get older it starts to fold in, but for an older patient, just that small amount can bring your lips back to how they looked in your 20s.”