facial aging

Facial Aging, When , Why and How

Facial Aging: Our face ages more rapidly than the rest of our body.  This is because our face is totally exposed to our environment.  Unfortunately,  any changes or alterations on the face are more noticeable, because as a general rule we do not cover up our face with clothing like the rest of our body,

How The Face And It’s Skin Ages

As we transition from infancy to old age a lot of facial aging  changes take place.  One of the most dramatic changes is the shape of the cranium.  The greatest changes occur from infancy to puberty as the face and head mature into an adult form.

The eyes, nose, and mouth expand to fill a relatively greater area of the surface of the cranium; the relative area occupied by the forehead shrinks as the eyes move up into this area; the eyes become proportionately smaller and the forehead slopes back more;  with facial aging the face becomes smaller in respect to the rest of the body; and the chin tends to become larger and more protrusive.

Some of these changes may continue, but less dramatically into adulthood, but other changes begin to occur to mark facial aging and correspond to the decline of the face past the generative years into old age.

Skin and Facial Aging

The majority of visible skin aging occurs in the face, because it is regularly exposed to the sun.  If a person were able to avoid sun exposure their whole life, their face would have few wrinkles and discolorations, even in old age.

Facial aging  in old age – the skin becomes darker, less flexible, rougher, and even more leathery: lines, wrinkles, folds, pouches, and blemishes or discolorations gradually appear and/or becomes more pronounced; muscles and connective tissues change their elasticity; lips lose muscle tone and become thinner and narrower; fatty deposits and bone may be lost produce pouches in the cheeks, bags under the eyes, sagging under the chin or a double chin, opening pores, and other changes in the way of soft tissues conform to the underlying bony structure.

Aging And The Environment

For information on aging and sun exposure click here.