Q: Can you tell me what causes jowls and how do I get rid of them?

A: Sagging jowls are one of, if not the most, embarrassing signs of aging. While wrinkles to some degree on the face can be expected on all of us, not everyone develops jowls that sag (or if they do, it’s not until their 80’s and 90’s). For example, each side of my family is a perfect example of this. My 81 year old grandmother on one side has an amazing face and she’s never even contemplated plastic surgery – she’s just a simple Midwestern woman. Meanwhile on the other side of my family, my grandfather has developed them starting in his sixties. But what causes sagging jowls? Let’s find out why some people develop them but others do not…

So what causes jowls?
Well first up on the list would be your genes. Regardless of what some skin care products would like you to believe, the bottom line is some of us are luckier than others when it comes to the aging process. So a large part of it you can’t control. Plus, no matter how good your genes are, no one is immune from the effects of gravity.

However, there are a number of contributors which you can directly control. For example, weight fluctuations are never good – they expand and contract the skin and tissue, leaving us with excess sagging areas. Things like poor nutrition, not staying hydrated, smoking, and other behaviors can all accelerate the aging process.

But going back to talking about skin care products… the bottom like is once you have sagging jowls, it’s unlikely that a topic product will improve them that much. However if you want to help prevent them (or prevent them from worsening) it is imperative that you use a top rated anti aging cream. Why? Because they help moisturize the skin in the area and incorporate proven anti aging ingredients.

What can be done to get rid of jowls?
So now that you know what causes jowls, it’s time to talk about ways you can get rid of them. In a nutshell, the only way is probably through surgery. However that’s not as bad as it sounds; today you can get a non invasive face lift that is a quick and easy process – the surgeon will pull up the jowls back to their natural position. So whether your jowls were caused by genetics or your lifestyle, it’s not a problem you have to live with.

1. It’s unlikely jowls will go away without surgery
Many cosmetic problems can be improved through some simply healthy living. Unfortunately, sagging jowls aren’t one of them. If you are significantly overweight than shedding the pounds can help, but beyond that, there’s not a whole lot you can do. This is because the skin and underlying tissue has fallen… it won’t just lift itself back up on its own. This is why jowl surgery is so far the only effective way to correct it.

2. Topical products will have little to no effect on your current jowls
The skin care industry is huge and they want you to buy their products. Make no mistake about it, using the right skin regimen is important; it may help slow down the formation of jowls. However, once you already have them, it’s extremely unlikely that any topical cream is going to reverse them. Like we said, the skin won’t magically lift itself back up, only sagging jowl surgery will do that.

3. It’s unlikely you’re at fault for getting jowls in the first place
There are definitely things we do in our lives that can contribute to jowls, wrinkles, etc (such as bad skincare, unhealthy living, etc.). But a big factor is hereditary. That’s why some health nuts still get them early on, while some others can get away with reckless lives and still avoid them for years.

4. Sagging jowls are one of the most important age signs to address
When it comes to our appearances, all to often people lose site of what’s most important. This is why some women end up looking like a plastic surgery nightmare – they don’t have their priorities straight. With cosmetic surgery, less is more. If you want a natural appearance for your age, sagging jowl surgery is a very natural way to look years younger, yet without looking different. It simply makes you look refresh; like you lost weight and are taking better care of yourself.

5. Sagging jowl surgery is easier than ever
Just a decade or two ago, face lift surgery was a crapshoot; it may turn out good, it may not. Either way, the downtime and costs were outrageous. However, now we are experiencing the future of medicine. There are new, advanced non surgical face lifts – like the feather face lift and threading face lift – which are minimally invasive and low cost, yet still extremely effective.

Q: What causes sagging cheeks and what can be done to improve them?

A: Saggy cheeks are a sign of aging which usually goes hand-in-hand with sagging jowls. Let’s talk about why this is and what types of treatment options you have.

What causes sagging cheeks?
In today’s world, we have found all types of ways to escape the forces of mother nature. However there’s one force which is impossible to avoid and that is gravity. Gravity pulls everything down. Just like when Newton dropped the apple and it fell to the ground, the same thing is happening to your face whether you realize it or not. While it’s true we have muscles and ligaments to help hold us up, they can only work for so long. Eventually the effects of gravity start to show… sagging cheeks are one example.

While gravity is something that affects us all, there are also things which can contribute to and accelerate the sagging of skin and tissue. Genetics plays a big part in determining how soon your cheeks will start sagging. Other factors include lifestyle choices – unhealthy choices can also lead to cosmetic consequences too.

How to tighten sagging cheeks?
Not too long ago in history there wasn’t anything that could be done to improve sagging cheeks. However thanks to the advancements in cosmetic surgery and skincare over the past few decades, there are now ways to improve or correct saggy cheeks.

Cheek Implants: When done properly, cheek augmentation can be an excellent way to prop up the loose and sagging tissue. The other added benefit is that it can make a person look much more youthful. This is because when we’re younger, we have much fuller cheeks, so by restoring that lost tissue you are giving yourself a more youthful appearance.

With cheek implant surgery “less is more” and that’s why it’s recommended you go with the smallest size implants. Anything larger and it may not look natural. Also make sure you go with a board certified plastic surgeon whom is highly experienced performing cheek augmentation.

Face Lifts: This is another great option to rejuvenate your sagging cheeks. It involves pulling the excess slack out of the skin. For the most natural results, it should be done in combination with cheek implants or with an injectable filler procedure (such as Restylane or Juvederm) to restore the lost volume in the cheeks due to aging. A couple decades ago, face lift surgery was a very intense operation that involved lengthy recovery. However today, there are non invasive face lift options which make the process so much simpler.

The last thing you want to look like is Phil Spector and his sagging face!

When you hear the phrase “sagging face” it’s kind of scary to think that our entire face is sagging, but the honest truth is that is a perfect term to describe it. Often times we wake up one day and look in the mirror and realize our entire face seems to be just melting off and hanging off. This can be an extremely frustrating condition and for some it’s worse than others. In fact, I have a friend that just turned thirty that she already has sagging jowls which are a hot mess!

What causes a sagging face?
Of course there are environmental and lifestyle factors which can contribute to our appearance but I think the biggest culprit is just mother nature. As we get older that’s just part of the game – gravity taking a toll on our faces. The best we can do is try and treat what we have and utilize proper preventative measures to help stop it from getting any worse.

1. Proper Skin Care: It’s important that you use a the right ant aging cream on a daily basis. This is probably not going to fix the sagging but what it will do is help keep your skin operating in peak condition to help prevent the problem from getting worse. It will also help supply the necessary nutrients your skin needs to look and feel its best.

2. Eating Right: There are many choices we can make when eating and as the old sang goes “you are what you eat.” Why bother eating refined sugars and fattening things that have no nutrients? It would be better for your skin and your entire body to consume things which deliver  the right nutrients and minerals your skin and connective tissue needs.

3. Facial Exercises: We all know the importance of hitting the gym to keep our body in tip top shape, but did you ever think that exercises may also help prevent a sagging face? There are dozens of muscles in our face and neck and they need to stay in prime shape, too. The easiest way to do this is with the help of a facial exerciser device which doesn’t cost much at all.

4. Face Lift Surgery: The truth of  the matter is that if you have severe facial sagging, the only way to correct it is probably through surgery. Fortunately now there are many different variations of this surgery – from non surgical face lift procedures to full face lifts which aim to correct all parts.

Felicity Huffman allegedly had a neck lift and it looks good!

How often are you watching TV only to see a glamorous middle-aged celeb with a perfect face… but her neck sagging ruins it all.

Unfortunately, the neck is one we all forget about. I’m just as guilty of this too; at night when I apply my cream, I often forget to put it on my neck. I think a lot of people do this too. This is because it has been drilled in our heads that it’s all about the face – which is true – but if you have a mismatched neck, it can actually distract away from your face.

What causes neck sagging?
There are many different causes but I will talk about what I believe to be the biggest two:

Yo-Yo Weight: When our weight goes up and down, our body has to grow new skin and other tissue to expand with it. Then when we lose the weight we are still left with all that extra skin. In my opinion, I think that doing this to ourselves over the years may contribute to neck sagging. So I think it’s best to maintain the same weight rather the fluctuating it all the time.

Natural Aging: Inevitably this is probably the top cause. Your genetics and the law of gravity play a big part in causing our neck to sag over the years. Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about either of these things, so are only options are to treat the problem and improve it.

What are the treatments for neck sagging?
Let’s talk about the two main categories of treatments:

Topical Products: There are many creams, serums, and other products which claim to be able to help our sagging necks. While I don’t doubt the fact that these are good to use anyway to keep our skin moisturized and nourished, I have a hard time believing that a cream in itself can solve it.

Neck Lift Surgery: When all is said and done, this is probably the best option to consider. I don’t see any other way to get rid of the excess skin and tighten up the area without resorting to neck lifts.

But for most of us, this problem just bothers us because we don’t look like what we did in the past. So what’s the treatment for sagging jowls? Let’s take a look at the options…

Feather Face Lift: The great part about this is that it is an in-office procedure that can reportedly be done in as little as thirty minutes. It involves the use of ultra thin micro threads that that are discreetly placed under the surface of the skin in strategic areas – like the hair line and behind the ears – to lift saggy skin.

Facial Toning Exercises: This is probably not a solution for extreme cases, but some have reported improvement with facial exercises to tighten up the area. It’s definitely an inexpensive treatment for sagging jowls since they don’t cost much. Being that there are dozens of different muscles on our head and neck, this seems logical to conclude that tightening them would help, just like we do with our bodies when something is sagging.

Chin Liposuction: In terms of intensity, this is probably in-between the two methods mentioned above. Basically it involves sucking out the excess fat in this area. Like any treatment, everyone is going to have different results, but some people have had desired results with liposuction under chin for improving sagging jowls. The cost is usually relatively reasonable, too.

Face and Neck Lift: As the name implies, this involves lifting both the face and neck at the same time. This offers a number of benefits – it saves money you by getting both done at once and it is probably the most effective way to solve the problem. The great part is it is completely customizable too – for example, instead of doing the full face, you can just do a mid face lift and neck lift.

Which method is right for you? The only way to know is to speak with a qualified doctor. I do not have a medical background so I’m not in a position to give advice.

A sagging jawline is usually caused by excess skin; often a cosmetic facelift is the only way to remove it. The last few years, non-invasive approaches to do this have been pioneered, like the thread lift and feather face lift.

The treatment method that’s right for you will depending on a number of different things, including your age. For most of us, this problem starts in our forties, but many experience it long before that. I have a good friend that had a sagging jawline by the age of 30, so it can strike a lot sooner – or if you’re lucky – later on.

Is Your Bone Structure At Fault?
There are many different reasons – from genetics to muscles – that cause the jawline to sag. The shape of your jawline bone has a lot to do with it to. On some people the jawbone protrudes out more than it does on others. This helps to prop up the tissue.

Is this the only cause? Definitely not. As mentioned, there are other causes and to be honest, they affect everyone differently. But the shape and size of the jawline’s underlying bone may have something to do with your problem.

What can be done to improve your sagging jawline?
There are numerous remedies out there which are touted to help with this problem. Some people say that a face exerciser – which strengthens the muscles around the face and neck – can help. Many benefit from the liposuction double chin procedure, which removes excess fat from around the jaw line. Meanwhile many prefer a surgery face lift because they say it is most likely to give them the results they want. Whatever the case, it’s important to have realistic expectations.

Just like most muscles, it’s best to keep them in shape regularly, rather than waiting until they become a problem to do something about them. It is said that there are approximately 33 different facial muscles alone! Let’s take a look at how many are on each part of the face:

Mouth: 12
Chewing: 8
Eyes: 6
Nose: 4
Eyelids/brows: 3

That’s a lot of different parts you need to keep working in tip top shape! With so many different ones, you can guess why they’re so important as an internal support structure to hold things together on our face. This is why so many people are turning to exercises for sagging jowls.

Primary Muscles Affecting Sagging Jowls
First of all I would like to say I’m not doctor, so please don’t interpret anything I say as advice. However, as a hobby over the years, I have studied these parts extensively. This was not only due to aging, but also a terrible accident I was in which required reconstruction of one side of my face. So I do have a lot of experience dealing with these body parts to say the least!

Here’s a few of the main culprits I suspect when it comes to this pesky problem:

Plytisma: This is a thin layer of muscle at the front of the neck, right around where your chin and neck intersect.

Sternomastoid: This is a very big one that runs from behind your ear all the way down to the bottom of your neck. This is definitely a key support structure.

Masseter: When you “flex” your jaw, this is what you see. This one is not only important for chewing, but also supporting and holding up the tissue in this area. On some people, typically those of Asian descent, these can be especially big. This is definitely not a bad thing but for some it causes pain and problems in the area when eating. Interesting enough though, many from this ethnicity are known for their beautiful aging process; not developing wrinkles and sagging jowls. Could this be because they’re more likely to have a masseter which is in excellent shape that helps hold the jowls up?

Using a Face Exerciser
So you can see why it makes sense to keep this area in prime shape. Many people are starting to realize that sagging jowls exercises may help. It’s not a fix for everyone but many do experience an improvement. There are many thing you can do without using a facial exerciser device, but I recommend you at least consider it. They don’t cost much at all (around $20) and make the process very easy.