Facial Aging – How Does it Happen?

Facial aging is one of the most common reasons that patients come to see me.  What I offer to patients is anti-Aging  solutions.  It is entirely possible that this can be gracefully and naturally achieved.  Aging process occurs at various rates and to various extents depending on many factors that I have outlined in previous blogs.

Patients will often point out to me that someone they know who is the same age looks a lot younger.  This is often a factor of genetics more than anything else.  Why not do something about this now ? What are you waiting for?

As a plastic surgeon, it is NOT true that we ONLY recommend surgery for everyone that walks in to the office.  There are so many non-surgical options to consider today that surgery is NOT always the answer.  During the consultation, I first try to explain the aging process, before I recommend any treatment.  In my opinion, if patients understand facial aging, it is easier to understand the treatments that we offer.

So lets review facial aging.  I have tried to condense years of reseach into essentially three basic processes: lipoatrophy, loss of ligamentous support, and skin surface damage .  It is a bit simplistic approach and explanation of what really is a very complex process involving many factors, but keeping things simple is often the best approach in life.  These processes are NOT mutually exclusive, isolated, step-wise events.  They can occur at varying rates, intensity, and duration throughout the lifespan of the patient.  This conept is extremely important as I design a treatment solution.