Over a certain age, we know what sagging facial skin is because we see it every time we look in the mirror. Do you see a crease that starts from the corner of the mouth and extends down to the jaw line? This line is called an oral commissure groove, drool line, or marionette line. As we age we sometimes look like we are sad when we are not. Sometimes we get lines between our noses and the corner of our mouths that we lovingly call “laugh lines.” However, these lines are nothing to laugh about.
Unfortunately, sagging skin is an inevitable byproduct of aging and gravity. We can’t really prevent the aging process and we can’t change our genetic influences, so we’re left with a healthy diet and reducing sun exposure.
So, how can we treat these lines and sagging skin on our faces? One of the most effective treatments is surgical. Face-lifts and Mini Face-lifts can eliminate the wrinkles and sagging skin of the face.
However, there are very effective non-surgical treatments as well. The main one is facial fillers. Sagging facial skin can be treated with fillers such as Radiesse, Restylane/Perlane and Juvederm/Juvederm Ultraplus. These filler agents are much like pumping a balloon with air and filling up the deflated face, which provides the appearance of youth. The face also appears lifted. Today many people avoid or postpone surgical procedures by using fillers often, and the results are very good.
In general, we use fillers to replace volume, which then helps to restore a natural look. Unfortunately, we associate a sunken, skeletal look with age and disease, whereas we are all attracted to the youthful fullness of a face that has retained its curves and a supple appearance.
These fillers are often injected directly under the lines we wish to treat (for example, fillers can be injected under the smile lines between your nose and mouth, to smooth them out). However, there is a location to inject the filler that could help the lines we see in the bottom part of our face. The reason for the smile lines, marionette lines and the sagging skin along our jowls is because we’ve lost volume in our mid-face, namely, our cheeks. By putting filler in our cheeks we plump them up, potentially treating a hollow, skeletal look, and helping to pull up the loose skin in the bottom half of our face. If a patient wishes only to receive a few syringes of filler, the cheeks might be an optimal location to put them.
If you’re interested in learning more about facial fillers and how they’re used at the office of Dr. Dayan, then click HERE.
We also currently have a study for patients who are interested in receiving injectable fillers in their cheeks and lips. To learn more, click HERE or call our office at 312-335-2070.
