Each time you catch a reflection of yourself these days, you find it hard to reconcile that aging outside with your still youthful spirit inside. Does this scenario sound familiar?
The aging process is tough on our bodies — from achy body parts to visible shifts in our appearances, no one is immune to the passage of time. But that doesn’t mean we can’t respond and hang on to youthfulness for as long as we can.
For our part here at McHugh Plastic Surgery, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas McHugh has been helping patients to better align their aging outsides with their youthful spirits for decades.
To explain what we do, we’re going to look at the forces of aging on your face and how we can address them.
Let’s first look at one of the most common complaints — the loss of elasticity and tone in your skin that gives way to wrinkled and sagging skin.
As you age, you slowly lose collagen, which is the protein in your body that gives your skin structure. For women, especially, this loss is significant — women lose about 30% of the collagen in their skin during the first five years of menopause.
Second, exposure to the sun over the years can take its toll on your skin, breaking down collagen fibers and skin cells. Called photoaging, this process caused by sun exposure can be responsible for up to 80% of visible skin aging.
In addition to the wrinkles and loss of tone, exposure can also lead to sun spots that can mottle your skin.
Going beneath the surface, there are other forces at work. As you age, you lose bone density, and this can affect the bones in your face, too. In addition to bone loss, compartments of fat can shift or diminish.
When you combine the loss of bone and fat, it can lead to a face that has far less volume and appears more sunken.
The good news is that we offer a wide range of solutions for the aging face that meet every goal and budget.
To start, you might try cosmetic injectables that can relax wrinkles and add volume. For example, we can use Botox® and Dysport® to smooth out wrinkles in the upper half of your face and then turn to Juvéderm® and Restylane® dermal fillers to add volume to the lower half of your face.
With these fillers, we can fill in deep folds, plump up lips, and reduce sagging skin around your jowls.
We also offer cutting-edge laser treatments that tighten and rejuvenate aging skin, and these technologies can also get rid of surface blemishes.
For really dramatic results, we offer facial surgeries, such as a face lift, brow lift, neck lift, and eyelid surgery, all of which can really hit the reset button in your aging face.
Whichever route you choose, it’s best not to delay because the aging process stops for no one. To figure out what works best for your face, we invite you to schedule a consultation with Dr. McHugh. To get that ball rolling, please contact our office in The Woodlands, Texas.
