Jowls, turkey neck, gobbler, bulldog cheeks; whatever you call the saggy skin under your chin or around your lower jaw, it isn’t flattering. Understandably, you would prefer not to have this problem as it makes you look much older than you are and it makes you feel unattractive.
So, how did your jawline get to this point? Can you reverse it or make it look better? Here’s a more thorough explanation regarding jowls and wrinkles in the lower part of your face and what you can do about it.
Gravity
Gravity is responsible for the pull of your flesh toward the ground. What keeps you from floating up into the atmosphere and into space is the same force that causes your body to change shape over time. While you have no control over what gravity does to you anymore than you can control the phases of the moon, you do have options for treating wrinkles and sagging skin.
Genetics
Gravity isn’t the only force that causes your jawline to droop. If your mother or father had saggy jowls by a certain age, there’ a very good chance you will develop the same saggy jowls at a similar age. This is especially true if you look a lot like the parent with the saggy jowls!
Since you can’t control genetics either, you will have to lean on medical science and procedures to change your face. It’s the only way you are going to reverse gravity and stop genetics from altering your appearance.
Weight Fluctuations
If you gained a lot of weight at one point and then lost most of it, this creates the perfect storm for jowls too. The skin is dramatically stretched during weight gain, but often doesn’t bounce back as easily or quickly after weight loss. This results in extra fat pockets under the chin and at the bases of your cheeks as well as furrowed wrinkles in your neck and around your mouth and nose.
While it’s commendable to have lost so much weight, you’re probably not feeling too keen about your appearance at this point. Surgically removing the excess skin is the only real solution, next to preventing additional weight gain and skin stretching. It should be noted as well that excess skin and gravity together create a bigger problem for skin elasticity and returning facial skin to its former shape.
Loose Facial Muscles
All of your facial flesh is connected to muscles that are connected to the bone structure of your face. Facial muscles, as well as the muscles all over your body, lose tone with age. As tone is lost, the muscles sag, and that is one of the reasons why your face is starting to droop. You could do a series of facial exercises, but the exercises have to be done consistently and the results are not as effective or as dramatic as surgery.
People with loose facial muscles notice a sort of “bulldog” look to their cheeks. The skin creates these weird little pockets on both sides of the face that make you look like a bulldog. If left alone, the cheeks will continue to droop deeper in these areas and make you look more like the dog breed every year.
Loss of Collagen and Elastin
Collagen and elastin are two elements in healthy younger skin that help the skin bounce back and stretch easily. As you age, these elements in your skin decrease, causing your skin to lose its elastic qualities. You can consume collage internally or apply it daily externally to help restore some of what your skin has lost, but it is more costly and less effective in the long run than plastic surgery.
Smoking, Sun Exposure, and Dehydration
Finally, three other causes of jowls and wrinkles can be prevented and controlled by you. Don’t smoke, as smoking destroys your skin’s natural ability to heal and maintain healthy cell production. Use sunscreen to prevent sun damage, which also prevents your skin’s ability to heal itself and create new cells. Lastly, not drinking enough water creates wrinkles because your skin isn’t getting what it needs to remain soft and supple. Drink plenty of water daily to reverse some of the wrinkles and loose skin you are experiencing.
Skin repair creams and hydrating facial lotions or serums might also help. Dermatologists as well as plastic surgeons can recommend certain products based on your skin’s condition, your age, and the exposure to damaging elements. However, you would need to apply these products twice daily and follow very strict rules for avoiding that which causes your facial skin appearance. If you stop applying products for even a few days, it will become readily apparent. The surgical approach is the only method that provides lasting results to correct the sagging and drooping of your facial muscles and skin.
The Surgical Approach for Prominent Jowls and Wrinkles
Prominent and visible jowls can be reversed with lower face plastic surgery. Your surgeon can tighten the muscles along the jawline by stitching them up higher in your face. He or she can also tighten the skin under the chin and remove the fat pockets there that give you that “wattle” you would rather not see.
Surgery also addresses the crepey skin older adults begin to see as they approach their fifties and sixties. The skin takes on a crepe paper look, despite being healthy and soft otherwise. Lifting and/or removing this crepey skin gives the underside of your chin a very well-defined look.
A lower facelift or a full facelift with a neck and chin procedure will restore a more youthful appearance to your face overall. Discuss with a licensed plastic surgeon which procedures are right for your face and skin. Using video technology, the surgeon can show you what your face could look like after selected procedures are completed. Then you can decide for yourself when you might want to have the procedures done.
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