A smile or a frown will produce facial wrinkles. The muscles of the face retract the skin, causing small folds and creases. When we are young, the skin snaps back into its normal, creaseless state. This is because the skin has ample amounts of collagen and other substances that keep the skin full, plump, and resilient.
As we age, we lose those youthful substances like collagen. The skin becomes thinner and looser. Smiling or frowning still creates wrinkles and creases, but now they are deeper. And those wrinkles and creases remain even after we stop smiling or frowning.
REVERSING SKIN AGING: TREATING WRINKLES
Facial plastic surgeons can treat wrinkles by reversing parts of aging the things that cause wrinkles in the first place.
- Botox, Dysport and Xeomin – By carefully injecting these substances into the skin, your facial plastic surgeon can relax the muscles that cause wrinkles.
- Dermal Fillers – Since collagen and other substances are depleted from aged skin, your facial plastic surgeon can inject these substances back into wrinkles and creases, essentially filling them in and restoring flat smooth skin.
- Chemical peels – In a manner of speaking, chemical peels remove the skin’s “memory” for wrinkles. Your facial plastic surgeon can use a chemical to remove the upper layer(s) of skin, where the wrinkles live. This process also stimulates the skin to produce more of its own collagen and other skin plumping substances.
- Laser skin rejuvenation – Laser and intense light therapy essentially smooths out the ridges of fine lines and wrinkles, thus reducing their appearance. Like chemical peels, laser skin rejuvenation therapy stimulates the skin to produce collagen and related substances.
- Facial plastic surgery – Your facial plastic surgeon can remove wrinkles through surficial procedures such as a facelift or a brow lift. Wrinkles and creases are essentially straightened out by removing excess skin and gently tightening the skin that remains. This is delicate business, so it should be performed by a board-certified facial plastic surgeon.
SUN DAMAGE AND WRINKLES
Even if you could avoid the sun altogether, the skin of the face would develop wrinkles and creases with age. However, ultraviolet radiation from the sun accelerates the skin aging process. While diet, tobacco use, pollution, and even gravity age facial skin and cause wrinkles, the harmful effects of the sun do more to cause wrinkles that all of these factors combined.
USING LIGHT TO FIGHT LIGHT DAMAGES
It may seem odd that a facial plastic surgeon would suggest using laser and intense light therapy to treat sun damaged skin. The reason that laser skin rejuvenation works is that it uses different wavelengths of light, and short, not ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet radiation destroys the DNA in skin stem cells and kills stem cells directly, which means the skin is less able to heal itself and restore itself to its youthful original look. Laser rejuvenation, on the other hand, promotes the growth of skin cells, stimulating them to produce collagen and other substances. In essence, your plastic surgeon can use light to fight light.
