Posted May 06, 2009 in Blog, Plastic Surgery in the News, Uncategorized
A study by Bahman Guyuron of the Cleveland Clinic published in the April 2009 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery examined various factors that cause women to look aged. A thin face is the lead culprit because being slender causes a loss of volume in the face, While the research does note that thinness makes the face appear older, this holds true only for women over 40. For women under 40, gaining weight obscures the facial definition that is inherent in a younger woman. This loss of volume creates jowls and makes wrinkles develop, the older we get, the more the face gets depleted. When you lose weight, this look is enhanced and aging is accelerated. In older women, having a little weight on board makes the face look a little younger. In the late 20s and early 30s, a woman’s facial shape is a heart or inverted triangle but with age, it becomes a square or an upright rectangle. To keep that younger looking shape, many women opt for a procedure to fill out the face with injections of Restylane, Juvederm, or a similar product. Being thin isn’t the only factor in whether your face looks aged or not, according to the study, which looked at nearly 200 pairs of identical twins over the course of two years. Since the twins’ genetic makeup was the same, researchers were able to attribute the differences in how old they looked not to their gene pool, but to external factors. And the researchers found that, in addition to thinness, smoking, heavy drinking, sun exposure, being divorced and being on antidepressants also are to blame. So, to look your best, quit smoking/drinking heavily, get a job working indoors, see the marriage counselor, don’t worry/be happy, and best of all have a hot chocolate soufflé every now and then, especially on those birthdays after #39. Don’t you love medical research? Be well.
