As the New Year rolls around again, many people are committing to losing weight again. Most of the time this fails. In fact, you may have a few failed resolutions under your belt in the past. But what happens if you stick to your resolutions and actually lose that weight?
Most of the changes will be positive. You’ll likely experience improved energy, better health, and, overall, you’ll be happier with your appearance. However, it’s possible that you might not be as happy with the appearance change in one area: your face. Carrying a little extra weight in the face can help you look younger longer, partly because it conceals the loss of other volume in the face. Once the fat is gone, the volume loss shows up as loose, hanging skin in the neck, sunken lips, and deep facial folds.
Fortunately, you don’t have to live with these signs of facial aging. A nonsurgical facelift can restore your body’s youthful proportions after weight loss so you don’t just look healthier, you look younger, too.
Facial Volume and Aging
Typically, there are three factors that contribute to facial aging: volume changes in the face, changes in the skin, and the impact of gravity.
Volume changes in the face occur often because people’s teeth can wear down or be lost. At the same time, the body might remove volume from the bones in the skull and jaw. These changes might not become immediately apparent if you have some weight gain that balances out the lost volume.
What you might notice, though, is that your face seems to be getting rounder. That’s because the chin might actually be moving up because of the shrinking teeth. As the chin rises up, the structures of the mouth become crowded against the cheek fat pads, leading to nasolabial folds and jowls. This can make you think you have more facial fat than you do, because the problem is at least as much volume loss as volume gain.
Skin changes occur naturally as the body is exposed to environmental stressors and the body’s rate of skin cell renewal slows down. As the skin loses plasticity, it might lose some of its youthful glow and its elasticity. That means it’s less likely to bounce back from stretching and folding, which can lead to stretched skin and more fine lines and wrinkles.
Finally, gravity is a constant pull on the tissues of the face. As the skin and other tissues become less elastic, they can get stretched out, which causes structures like the cheek fat pads to descend. This can contribute to nasolabial folds and jowls. How much folds and jowling is due to gravity and how much to shrunken teeth and bones? That varies from person to person, but we can evaluate it during a consultation.
Restore Your Youthful Appearance
People who are happy with their weight loss, but not with changes to their facial appearance often think the answer is facial fillers, like Juvéderm. Although these fillers have their place, they might not be the best choice in this situation because you are trying to replace volume lost from hard tissue (bones and teeth) with a soft tissue filler.
Other people think a facelift is the solution. Again, sometimes this can work, but it’s not restoring what was lost. Instead, a facelift works by pulling your skin tight over the reduced facial structure, which can make your face look different. And that’s in addition to the complications and other risks that keep people from getting surgical facelifts.
If you really want to replace the volume your face has lost due to worn teeth and bone resorption, you want to build your teeth back up with a nonsurgical facelift. This can give you back your youthful proportions, countering one of the three factors in facial aging. Thanks to Fountain of Youth Dentures™, we can achieve this effect, even if you’ve lost all your teeth. And not only will your face have restored proportions, you can enjoy the most beautiful smile of your life.
To learn more about the rejuvenating benefits of restoring your teeth, please call (912) 234-8282 today for an appointment with a cosmetic dentist at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry in Savannah, GA.
