When it comes to wrinkles and sagging skin, it's not just the skin, but what lies beneath that could be to blame.
Doctors at the University of Rochester Medical Center studied and compared the facial structures between young women, middle-aged women, and older women, and reported their finding in a study published in the medical journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
According to CNN, researchers observed the following changes:
--Eye sockets became wider and longer with age. This could result in sinking of the eyeball into the sockets, which alters how the soft tissue in your upper brows rolls over the bones.
--The bones in the middle of the face such as the brows, nose and upper jaw shrank too. These changes may lead to drooping brow bones and formation of creases near the eyes and crows feet.
--The size of the lower jaw shrank with age. This makes the chin projection appear smaller. The mandible provides the foundation of the lower face.
What [plastic surgeons] focus on is the aging of soft tissue - how skin and fat ages, Dr. Robert Shaw Jr., a plastic surgeon and one of the author of the study, told CNN. Those arent the only structures in your face. Bones provide scaffolding and your muscles, fats and skin drape over bones. If you tighten skin, but the scaffolding has deteriorated its not going to bring patients back to a youthful look.
However, Dr. Shaw also cautions that it's a combination of both aging facial bones and loss of elasticity in the skin that contribute to wrinkles, so it's important to keep up your skin health as well.
