Most people consider visiting a cosmetic clinic when they start to notice a few lines and wrinkles. And in the past the treatments on offer just addressed these concerns. For example, botulinum toxin injections were used to correct excessive wrinkling and dermal fillers such as Restylane were used to lift fine lines. For a first treatment these options worked just fine. But as our patients aged, their faces naturally lost fatty volume from key areas of the face causing further lines and wrinkles to develop.
Lipo-atrophy (pronounced Lipo-atro-fee) is the medical term describing the natural depletion in fatty tissue. It occurs usually after about 40 years old in women and is partly due to a change in hormonal levels. Typically the fat is lost around the temples, beneath the eyes (giving rise to pronounced eye bag, tear troughs and dark circles), the cheeks, (causing hollowed cheeks and fine lines), and the chin causing jowling.
But hollowness isn't the only effect caused by losing fatty volume. It also causes sagging as the fat once gave support to tissues, lifting them away from the middle of the face. For example, when the fat pad over the cheek area below the eye is lost, the skin sags downwards and causes a severe nose-to-mouth fold. If you just inject dermal filler into the nose-to-mouth fold you will end up with a very odd looking face, much like a monkey's face as an awful lot of filler will have to be used to erase that fold.
This is a classic example of only treating the effect and not treating the cause of the problem. The correct approach would be to treat the cause and that would be to RESTORE volume to the flattened fat pad over the cheeks and below the eyes. this would then naturally inflate the skin causing the fold to lift up back to its original position. In other words, restoring the lost volume would restore your looks.
These techniques are applied with a Liquid Face Lift where we use the safest dermal fillers such as Restylane, Emervel & Radiesse to restore your natural looks.
Many thanks to the author of this blog Dr Ravi Jain who Specialises in aesthetic medicine for the face and body.
Dr Jain is a global expert on aesthetic consultation and pioneer of the acclaimed “Harmony Programme”, the benchmark system to enhance and regulate patient satisfaction.
Former President for The Society of Cosmetic Physicians and Surgeons, and he is a regular expert speaker on the industry circuit.
Dr Jain is a full member of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine (BCAM) and a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP).
