Spotting wrinkles is easy. However, having the ability to identify volume loss in your face can be a bit more difficult. These changes to your face can be subtle, and noticing things like your cheeks seeming a bit flatter or your eyes set deeper can be due to a loss of skin volume.
Identifying the issue is the first step in correcting volume loss.
What Causes Your Skin to Lose Volume?
The hands of time aren’t the only reason you may be seeing a loss of volume in your skin. The lifestyle choices you make and the environment that is around you can also affect the plumpness of your skin. Experiencing volume loss can be caused by both genetic tendencies, as well as extrinsic factors such as ultraviolet radiation, poor diet, a habit of smoking and air pollution. Generally speaking, volume loss begins in your forties and progresses further as you age.
Why Volume Loss Matters
Over time, your face changes in many ways. These changes are part of the normal aging process, but genetics and environmental factors also play a role. You may view a little volume loss as a normal process of getting older, but a little plumpness is a good thing and can go a long way. Fat naturally adds the volume and support to the face that keeps wrinkles at bay and our skin looking youthful. When volume loss happens, we begin to see less definition around the face, including:
- Sunken temples
- Forehead and brow wrinkles
- The corners of the mouth turned down
- Hollowing around the eyes
- Flatter cheeks
- Loose skin around the jaw
Are You Experiencing Facial Volume Loss?
If your face is starting to look older in ways that you can’t seem to figure out, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Do my cheeks look flatter?
- Does the area around my eye sockets appear hallowed out?
- Are my temples sunken-in?
- Is the skin around my jaw becoming loose?
- Do the corners of my mouth turn down?
- Does my skin feel thinner?
- Does my skin feel more dry than usual?
Watching For The Warning Signs
Static Nasolabial Folds
Those parentheses shaped lines that remain when your face is at rest. Aging causes you to lose collagen and hyaluronic acid, two significant pieces of your skin support system that give structure to your skin. When your skin loses its elasticity and moisture, it allows these lines to develop.
Saggy Skin Around Your Lower Jawline and Chin
Mildly loose jowls around your jawline, chin, or sagging skin under the corners of your mouth. Saggy skin from a loss of volume can add years to your appearance.
Thinning Lips
Lips are not immune to losing volume as we age. Thinning lips can make you look older, unemotional, and even unhealthy.
Hollow, Sagging Cheeks
Cheeks that have flattened and are beginning to sag are a result of a loss of facial volume. A hollow-cheeked appearance is known to add years or fatigue to your face.
Bags Under Your Eyes
As your face loses volume, it becomes most noticeable under your eyes in what is called the tear trough. Volume loss here results in skin laxity that deepens the skin around your eye from the inner corner to the outer edge. The darkening and loss of volume give you the “bags” look that makes you look fatigued.
Fed Up With Loose Skin?
Schedule a free consultation appointment with Laser Aesthetic Center today to learn whether skin tightening treatments are right for you.