The signs of aging may be inevitable, but they’re also erasable. To restore youthfulness, you have to replace what the aging process takes away. You can’t stop the loss of facial fat, but you can minimize it by maintaining a healthy, steady body weight. Gaining too much weight could result in excess fat around your eyes, jaw and chin; losing it can speed up loss of facial fat.
Genetics, hormones, diet and sun exposure all play a role. But changes in the components that provide structure and volume are the real culprits.
Fat Loss
You end up with: under-eye hallows and bags, sunken cheeks and temples.
Losing fat can make your face look concave, skeletal and saggy. “The face is like a slowly deflating balloon, and that deflation is usually followed by skin descent,” says La Jolla, CA, plastic surgeon Robert Singer, MD.
Collagen Loss
You end up with: crow’s-feet, drooping brows, laugh lines, jowls and thin lips.
Losing collagen means less elasticity, which causes wrinkles, lines and loose skin. When it’s young and elastic, the skin has support and naturally wraps itself around the face.
Excess Facial Fat
You end up with: under-eye bags, a soft jawline, a double chin and turkey neck.
“An increase of fat in the neck is quite common with age,” says Centennial, CO facial plastic surgeon Brent. J. Smith, MD. Unfortunately, it often coincides with increased amounts of fat in the chin, too.
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