To make an appointment call (604) 392-6974
To make an appointment call (604) 392-6974
Call (604) 392-6974
Your face is an intricate structure of multiple layers that shape your appearance and operate your movements.
The deepest layer is your skull and jawbone, followed by muscles and fat. You may not know, and you probably haven’t noticed before, but your bones continue to change very slowly over time.
Next, you will find the muscles and deep layer fat pads, which allow you to chew and form facial expressions to communicate.
After that, you have a thin layer of fat pads that sit just under the surface of your skin called the subcutaneous fat layer. This layer acts as a cushioning cover under your skin’s surface, keeping you moisturized and smooth, as well as providing an insulating blanket for the deeper layers.
Finally, although the skin that represents the outer layer of your face provides texture and colour, the skin itself provides very little structure. And while it is what you see when you look in the mirror, the actual shape and appearance of your face is a result of the layers beneath it.
When looking in the mirror, you may see parts of your face that have changed over the years as you’ve aged. Although you might be surprised by an uneven neckline or jowls, these are not flaws but rather signs of what’s happening beneath the surface. Your bones and fat pads change over time, which is usually what causes those lines and wrinkles (or double chin or eye bags) that you may not like seeing. Unfortunately, this is just a part of the ageing process.
There are generally two main reasons for lines and wrinkles;
Firstly, as the muscles below the skin contract over and over, sometimes as we age, they don’t relax the way they did when we were young. Think about crumpling a sheet of paper; it is hard to make it completely flat or to look new again after a while. When muscles can’t relax, it can translate to lines and wrinkles on the face.
Secondly, as we lose volume in the face, or facial structures shift locations because of other changes (i.e. bone changes, etc.), the skin sitting on top of those shrinking or changing structures starts to look different. The skin will start to get pulled into the smaller structure beneath it, which makes it start to “wrinkle.” It can be similar to when you leave fruit on the counter and it starts to dehydrate after a while. The “skin” of the fruit starts to look wrinkled because the loss of moisture inside the fruit has made the inside shrink (while the “skin” hasn’t changed at all).
Another way to think about it is to place a sheet of paper over an inflated balloon and draw a face on it. The balloon full of air represents your face when you are younger, and as we age, the balloon loses air and starts to shrink. So while the sheet outside of the balloon may not change shape, the face begins to sag and wrinkle as the balloon below gets smaller.
Skin also begins to lose its natural moisture levels over the years, so makeup isn’t as effective at hiding these changes like it used to be. While you may have a strict skincare routine and do your best to keep your skin as soft and supple as possible, most of the time, the deeper levels of the skin are the real issue, which is often outside of our control. So when you start to see these more profound signs of ageing, you will likely need some help from a medical professional.
These changes may make you look tired or angry when that is not how you feel on the inside. Or, you may think that the sagging face of the person looking back at you isn’t you. While these changes may not be noticeable to others, that doesn’t make them any less relevant to you.
What’s important to understand is that your face will continue to change throughout your entire life. Of course, the amount it changes can vary by person, but it will keep changing. Nothing demonstrates this better than looking at old photos of your parents or grandparents when they were in their 20’s, versus how they look now.
Is all hope lost? Fortunately, no… There are options to help address these ongoing changes. While neuromodulators can help with early-stage wrinkles and lines, once the volume loss in the face hits a certain point, you can look at a couple of different options. You could consider a surgical facelift, which can make your face look tighter but may not always address the loss of volume and may only last 8-10 years (since the underlying structure of your face is constantly changing). Or, you could look at replacing some of that volume with dermal fillers.
Dermal fillers are an effective solution to tackling volume loss. With dermal fillers, you can achieve amazing-looking natural results without the need for surgery. There are many ways dermal fillers can be used, including replacing lost volume and improving the contours of your face.
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a natural component of our skin that attracts moisture and helps to keep it healthy and looking young. Unfortunately, while our skin continues to produce new HA throughout our life, it also produces the Hyaluronidase enzyme that breaks down HA throughout our life. In fact, HA the skin produces may only last a few days before it is broken down; this means that your body needs to create new HA continuously. However, as we grow older, the production rate of new HA falls behind the breakdown rate, and we become depleted in HA, which can contribute to the wrinkles and lines we see on our face (or hands, neck, etc…)
Instead of being a single Hyaluronic acid molecule, the HA found in fillers like Juvederm is cross-linked, meaning that thousands of HA molecules are connected together creating a long chain. By connecting these HA molecules together, it makes it harder for the Hyaluronidase enzyme to break down the HA found in Juvederm, allowing it to last longer (years, in fact!). Juvederm Vycross dermal fillers outlast all other dermal fillers on the market because they have a unique cross-linked structure that keeps them from being broken down as quickly as other dermal fillers.
Dermal fillers help to offset or replace lost volume and can help reshape the face. For example, when a subcutaneous fat pad shrinks, the skin above it might wrinkle. Therefore, adding some dermal filler to the fat pad can restore its volume, enlarging it, causing the skin on top of it to be smoothed back out. Suddenly, the wrinkles begin to fade.
Additionally, placing the filler on top of the bone may lift all of the structures above it (muscle, fat, skin) and help reshape the face. For example, if you have lost volume in your cheeks, which has led to the appearance of jowls, dermal filler can be placed in specific areas against the bone, helping to lift the muscles, fat pads, and skin above it. Doing this can pull the cheek up and make the jowls disappear.
The most important thing to remember about any medical aesthetic treatment is that it must be safe for you and recommended by an experienced professional who can answer all your questions.
Receiving a dermal filler treatment for aesthetic purposes is still a medical procedure. Healthcare professionals require specific training to provide safe results with natural-looking outcomes. A trained professional will understand that each layer in your face will significantly impact the layers above and below it. There is a ‘domino’ effect on the surrounding areas when injecting dermal fillers in one spot.
The location and volume of dermal filler used in your treatment can materially impact the results you see in the mirror. For example, placing one millilitre (1mL) of dermal filler in the wrong spot can look terrible. In contrast, thirty millilitres (30mL) of dermal filler can look incredible and completely natural when placed in the appropriate locations.
Choose a healthcare provider with extensive knowledge of facial anatomy, a well-developed aesthetic eye, and a demonstrated ability to provide incredible patient results. Ask to see some post-procedure photos of other patients they have treated.
Everyone’s outward appearance is unique, and so is the structure beneath. What may be of concern to you may not be noticeable to others. And conversely, what someone else may notice may not be of concern to you. By booking a consultation with a trained professional, the consultant can better understand your concerns and desires, enabling them to help you and the healthcare provider to create a treatment plan that is customized just for you!
We provide extraordinary medical aesthetic outcomes at Human Medical Aesthetics, using the most effective methods. We understand that everyone’s situation is special and unique, so we always start with a consultation to better know you.
Join our mailing list to receive information about our latest news and events.
Kipp Medical Clinic, 45756 Kipp Ave, Chilliwack, BC, V2P 1Y4
Serving the Lower Mainland in British Columbia.
Disclaimer: Treatment results may vary from person to person. © 2023 Human Medical Aesthetics. All Rights Reserved.
