The Non-Surgical Facelift, Part 1
Submitted by drgailhumble on September 2, 2014
In my last post I discussed how our faces age. In this series of posts, I will be discussing The Non-Surgical Facelift. But before I do, I need to elaborate more on the aging face and how it effects the decisions we make regarding the Non-Surgical Facelift.
In general, certain dimensions within the structure of a face contribute to our perception of beauty and in fact, artists have used these dimensions since before the Renaissance. This is best represented by the “triangle of youth”. In our early twenties, the boney support of our face actually begins to shrink. By the time we’re forty we’re losing one teaspoon or volume (or 5ccs) from our face, per year. This is due to a combination of factors:
- Loss of the deep fat layer which supports the muscles of the face.
- Elongation and lengthening of the facial muscles in such a way that they then thin and become flat or even concave rather than maintaining their convex shape.
- The superficial fat that supports the skin thins and our skin itself losses its elasticity.
- Some areas lose fat. Examples are the forehead and cheeks.
- Other areas gain fat. Examples are the mouth and jaw.
- Modification of the fat pads leads to contour deficiencies.
- Greater visibility of bony landmarks, lines and wrinkles
- Forehead lines become more prominent.
- Smile lines/laugh lines become more prominent
- Hollowing of the mid-face (loose skin)
- Changes in the area around the mouth (vertical wrinkles, thinning and flattening)
- Development of pre-jowl depression (marionette lines).
- The lower face widens as the jowls form
- The lower face shortens as bone is remodeled around the mouth and jaw.
- The young face shows 1/3:2/3 ratio of upper lip to nose and lower lip to chin. With age, this ratio approaches 1:1
- Each of the facial sections show different changes with age and are unique to each patient, sex and race.
Gail Humble, M.D. | Sitemap | Copyright © 2017 All Rights Reserved.



