Why is Belly Fat so Risky and Stubborn?
Worried about that belly fat accumulating around your midsection? You may not be worried enough. Find out why you need to take action to reduce it soon!
Why Is the Skin on My Face Sagging?
You can ballpark someone’s age just by looking at their face — tight, plump skin equals youth, and loose, saggy skin means the person is getting on in years. But why?
Here, Frederick H. Watkins, MD, our board-certified plastic surgeon and expert in facial anatomy, explains what happens to your skin as you age and what you can do to restore its youthful texture and appearance.
Common causes of skin laxity
If you have loose skin around your eyes, mouth, and jawline, you’re seeing the signs of aging. Over time, your facial skin loosens and droops to the lower half, causing you to have a tired look that gives away your age. Here’s why it happens.
Fat loss
When children go through puberty, they lose some of the baby fat that makes their faces look round and childlike. Teenagers and young adults acquire more angles and sharper features that make them look older.
Fat loss continues as you age, eventually creating sunken temples and cheeks. Some fat shifts rather than disappears, forming under-eye bags.
Gravitational pull
Gravity never sleeps; it keeps tugging your skin downward. When you have lots of fat under your skin’s surface, gravity seemingly has no effect. But without that padding, your skin succumbs to the gravitational pull and sags downward.
Less collagen
Fat isn’t the only thing you lose with age — you also lose collagen at the rate of about 1% annually starting in your 20s. Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body and is the main factor in your skin’s youthful appearance. Over time, the loss adds up, and your skin loses its structural integrity, leaving you with saggy skin.
Less elastin
Elastin is another essential protein in your skin that wanes as you age. Elastin is the element that gives your skin its stretchability and enables it to snap back after you tug on it. Without elastin, your skin can’t recover from gravity’s force and everyday facial expressions.
Lost muscle tone
As you age, the muscles all over your body lose mass and weaken, even those in your face. Decreasing collagen in your connective tissues plus flabby muscles equals sagging facial features.
What to do about saggy facial skin
You can’t stop time from marching on, but you can delay its effects on your face by:
- Eating a healthy diet
- Staying well hydrated
- Using a broad-spectrum sunscreen at all times
- Minimizing sun exposure
Using high-quality skin care products is also critical to keeping your skin soft, supple, and young-looking for as long as possible.
If your skin is beyond the powers of skin care products, Dr. Watkins can restore your youthful facial contours and tighten your saggy skin with strategic face surgery procedures.
Facelift
An overall facelift removes excess skin and tightens muscle tissue in your face and neck to give you a fresher, younger look.
Eyelid surgery
Eyelid surgery, also called blepharoplasty, addresses hooded, droopy eyelids that sag over your eyes and make you look perpetually tired or indifferent.
Eyebrow lift
As your forehead sags, your brows migrate downward, forming creases and a grumpy expression. A brow lift repositions your sagging skin and restores your neutral face.
Dr. Watkins also specializes in other facial surgeries, such as rhinoplasty (nose job) and otoplasty (ear surgery), to enhance and refine your look even further.
Contact us in Rockville, Maryland, or McLean, Virginia, to learn more about surgical procedures that correct sagging skin. Call our office most convenient to you or use our online consultation request tool to schedule your visit today.
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