Is It Wrinkles That Age You?

While the whole world expects it’s wrinkles that age you, it’s actually your face shape that’s making you look older.’ advises Dr Claire Oliver(BDS), Medical Director of multi-award winning Air Aesthetics Clinic. She explains why: “The first thing that our mind assesses when it come to judging the age of a person is the shape of their face. Our faces change with time from a triangle (high cheek bones and defined jaw line) to a square with a heavy jaw line and double chin. The shape of the face is much more important than the lines and folds. In fact, according to recent research we universally recognise as younger, a person who is wrinkly but has a youthful face shape.” The good news is that apart from a lower face lift, for those of us who want to avoid going under the knife there are other treatments out there we can do.”

Indeed, Dr Oliver shares with us the non-surgical lift she recommends to her clients “I continue to be impressed with the results experienced with Ultherapy. A innovative skin-lifting treatment which works at the skin’s foundational layer; the area where plastic surgeons work to perform a face lift. But rather than surgery, it uses high-tech ultrasound energy to stimulate and remodel collagen and tissue to lift and tighten. Ultherapy is the only non-surgical, skin lifting treatment in the world cleared by the FDA so I believe you can be confident you will achieve a firmer look.”

The Facts:
Elastin is the support fibre in the body that allows skin to “bounce” back into place. Think of elastin as the springs in a mattress and the stuffing between the springs as collagen, along with other elements of the body, such as fat, cartilage, muscle, and so on. When elastin is damaged, the skin begins to sag, just like a mattress begins to sag as its springs get old and damaged. This sagging combined with sun damage can cause crepe paper-like skin.

*Older skin makes almost no elastin.

*Building more collagen helps support skin so that sagging is less apparent. Skin-care products that contain potent anti-oxidants and skin repairing ingredients such as Vitamin A, also called retinol help repair collagen.

*There are no firming or tightening products whose results are remotely similar to those achieved from medical procedures such as dermal fillers, lasers, Ultherapy or cosmetic surgery.