I want my BABY FAT back!!!!!

A case of the sinking face.

I gaze into my bathroom mirror slightly disappointed by the gaunt reflection of the face I saw just 10 short years ago.  What happened here?  I was going to look young forever I professed!!! But my constant declaration didn’t seem to be stopping father time.   I have slowed him down a bit though, with my regular Botox injections and ritual face creams.  But is there anything else I can do? What about my baby fat?  I want it back!

As we age our face tends to thin.  Our cheeks hollow out, and even if our bottoms spread our face somehow seems to sink.  Don’t you wish you could take some of your butt fat and put it into your face?  Well…you can.

Transferring your own fat from one place to the other has become one of the most popular ways to replace fat loss in your face due to the aging process.   But make sure you put it in the right place. Or you may end up looking like you are from the Planet of the Apes.   

How to fill your face back up and look younger with injectable fillers.  Where to put them and where “NOT” to put them!

Here’s a brief explanation of the areas of the face in question…

Temples– As we age, we lose volume over the temples. This happens especially in thin people. This loss of volume causes an older, slightly unhealthy appearance.

Lower Eyelids– As we age, the upper part of the lower eyelids has too much volume (the “bag”) while the lower part has too little (the groove). This also causes the lower eyelid to lengthen, making us look older and less attractive.

Cheeks– As we age, the tissue in the cheeks fall. This changes the face from an oval shape to more of a square shape (oval= young and attractive, square= old and unattractive).

Nasolabial Folds (often referred to as the “smile lines” around the mouth)- As we age, the falling cheek tissue builds up along these folds, causing the creases to become deeper. The problem here is not a lack of volume in the crease, but the fact that there is too much volume pushing up against the fold (this is where we have injected most of our filler over the years and what do you know, it’s really not where we want it).  Ya know…the Planet of the Apes look!

Lower Face– As we age, the falling cheek tissue adds too much volume to the lower part of the face, making the overall contour of the face bottom heavy, causes jowls to appear, makes the jaw-line indistinct, and blends the face and the neck into one structure (ughhhh). Once again, this is not where we want to be injecting our filler (and where we have injected gallons of the stuff over the years).

Lips– As we age, the lips start to thin (making them almost disappear when we smile), the edges of the lips flatten and lose definition (we lose the “pucker”), and the philtrum (the 2 pillars going from the nose to the middle of the upper lip) disappears (making the area between the nose and lip look long, flat, and you guessed it- old). Also, the loss of volume underneath the corners of the mouth causes the corners to fall, creating a somewhat sad appearance.

Neck– As we age, our neck seems to take on more fat, extra skin and wrinkles. Oh, and by the way, volume in our neck does not make us look young or attractive.

And there you have it.  We need to add back volume. We need to add the volume to the places that make young people look attractive. Finally, we need to add the volume back to those places we have lost it as we have aged.  Put all of this together and we really can use fillers to make those of us that are aging (meaning anyone over the age of 30) look younger and more attractive. And (ready for it) here is how we do it. Before we spell it out, remember that these are just guidelines. Every person is unique. If there is something that really, really bothers you that doesn’t follow the rules I am about to lay out, you can break these rules if that is what it will take to make you happy. As a general rule though, if we inject outside of these recommendations, it should be a small injection that is done in addition to injections that are following the rules.

Let me spell it out… This is how we should be thinking about the use of fillers.

• Don’t fill wrinkles (young, attractive people have wrinkles).
• Don’t fill the nasolabial folds, commonly referred to as the smile lines around the mouth (it’s a cheek problem).
• Don’t fill the bottom part of the face (you guessed it- it’s a cheek problem).
• Fill the cheeks. It will make the nasolabial folds and the bottom part of the face look better. If you are on a limited budget, the cheeks are likely where you will get the biggest bang for your buck.
• Don’t forget about the lower eyelids. Filling the groove connects the “bag” to the cheek, making the cheek look higher, and therefore making the lower eyelid look shorter.

• A small amount of filler in the lips makes a big difference (not talking about big, overblown, sausage-like, Goldie Hawn in The First Wives Club lips, but well defined, appropriately full lips with the corners of the mouth no longer turned down).

• In really thin faces (in case you’re wondering I am primarily talking to my really fit women runners) filling the temples makes a really big difference.

• A very small amount of filler just beneath the eyebrows opens the eyes and makes them “pop”.

So there you have it.   Because injectable fillers are still fairly new, we are still in the experimental stage.  But It’s nice to know you have options… if you consider yourself brave enough to try them.   Just make sure the doctor who performs them is certified and has a good reputation.

*Click the link below to find out more about dermal fillers

http://www.plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures/dermal-fillers.html

For a temporary lift to the face without injections or surgery, check out www.TheFaceliftBand.com