The V SHAPE OF A YOUTHFUL FACE
The V Shape of a Youthful Face
Most people make an ASSESSMENT on someone's age bracket in the first five seconds of meeting them in person. The reason for this is evolutionary – so WE can identify a “youthful” person to mate with.
Lines and wrinkles are signs of aging, but aging also occurs beneath the skin. Signs of aging exist at every layer of the facial structure, in collagen, in bone, in fat, and in skin. Interestingly, people sub-consciously make an assessment on your perceived age largely influenced by the shape of your face.
The Triangle of Youth
The triangle of youth (V shape) is what a youthful face is shaped like. It is light and a bit pointy on the bottom, naso-labial folds are moderate and the top part of the face – the eyes and the temples are full – there is no under-eye hollowness and no temple hollowness. The facial features are well defined and well contoured, and the face is top-heavy and bottom light. Gravity and aging haven’t begun taking their toll. This is commonly described as the triangle of youth. As we age, the triangle of youth becomes inverted. Take a look at this picture of a mother and daughter below. The big difference isn’t their skin, it’s the shape of their faces.
The Triangle of Aging
As we age, facial bone changes, soft tissues (like muscles) fall due to gravity, and skin sags and droops downward. Facial fat-pads shift down. The fat-pads beneath the chin increase in prominence, causing fullness between the neck and chin, also known as a “double chin.”
Most people aren’t born with a double chin, they acquire one with aging. Thankfully, there are non-surgical treatments available to treat a double chin.
The effect of the lower face getting fuller can be described as the pyramid of age. The pyramid of age is inevitable. Aging is also unique to each person. Genetics play an important role in aging. How your parents age can provide a glimpse into how your face may change over time. If you look more like your father and he’s aging better than your mom, then "maybe" you might age slower too!
Other factors like sun exposure, lack of sleep, stress, smoking, alcohol, drugs, diet, and exercise can play a role in determining when aging begins—and how fast it progresses. Skin care plays a role, but skincare cannot reverse fat pad or bone loss than happens with aging, as it only works topically.
Aging Skin
Youthful skin is soft, supple, smooth, well hydrated, and rich with cells that renew relatively rapidly.
As we age, we experience a loss of facial glands, which results in less oil produced, contributing to less moisture in the skin. We lose collagen and elastin, which can lead to the formation of dynamic wrinkles, like laugh lines, frown lines, and crow’s feet. Sleeping on one side of the face repeatedly also contributes to this.
Due to repeated facial movement, dynamic wrinkles eventually become static lines that become etched into the skin over time. In addition, sagging can occur because skin is no longer able to bounce back as it did in our youth.
There are some good skin care products that can really help to slow down the process of aging skin, but beware there are plenty that promise the world and do next to nothing other than make a dent in your pocket.
Many factors impact the way our skin ages, including lifestyle choices and genetics.
- Lifestyle choices, like sun exposure, smoking, alcohol use, diet, and stress, can cause brown spots, rough skin, and wrinkles, as well as the premature onset and progression of aging.
- Genetics affect all layers of the skin and contribute to thinning, dryness, and loss of elasticity of the skin during the aging process.
Fat-Pads & Aging
The fat-pads in our face are located below the skin’s surface and help to provide volume, contours, and fullness.
When we grow older, our fat-pads get thinner and start to fall. As a result, our face starts to not look as round and firm as it did in our youth. Hollows will form beneath the eyes, drooping skin can cause deeper lines around the nose and mouth, loose skin can result in a sagging jawline, and fat can accumulate beneath the chin, resulting in a “double chin.” The loss and downward movement of fat-pads can also make the face appear deflated and sunken in the cheek area.
Muscles & Aging
Our facial muscles lie beneath our facial fat-pads. They are in repeated motion as we eat, laugh, smile, and frown.
As we age, gravity affects us. Our face loses it’s fat, and our repeated muscle activity can lead to the deep wrinkles you start to see. As a result, lines start appearing. Crow’s feet form at the outer corners of our eyes, and creases form between our brows.
Your facial muscles also get weaker over time. Loss of muscle tone and thinning skin can give the face a loose, sagging appearance. Your jawline starts to lose its contour, and your profile becomes less defined.
Bones & Aging
The bones in our face provide the foundation for our muscle, fat-pads, and skin. This bone structure gives us our unique facial shape and contour. A youthful bone structure has full and high cheeks—as shown in the triangle of youth—and defined brow bones and less sunken eye areas.
With age, we start to experience facial bone loss. This type of loss changes the shape, size, and contour of our face. This will cause areas around our eyes to get larger, a decrease in the angle of our brow bone, and a less sculpted jawline.
Concluding Remarks
The aging process has an impact beyond the facial wrinkles and lines that form on the skin’s surface. Aging affects multiple layers, including the bone, muscles, fat-pads, and skin. This is important to understand.
I am a big proponent of investing in your overall physical and mental health, skin, fitness, diet and making good lifestyle choices when you are young to retain your youthful looks. It is much easier to retain the appearance of youth than to regain it. The earlier you can start investing in your health and make good lifestyle choices, the more youthful beauty you will get back in return as you continue to get older without looking older.
If you have not invested in your health and appearance while you were younger and suddenly find yourself with plenty of signs of aging that are affecting your confidence and how you feel about yourself, then consult your health care provider to decide on a treatment plan that is just right for you.
Great article!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Karl. Glad you enjoyed the article.
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