Triad of Facial Aging
Northern Virginia, Maryland & Washington, DC

The Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery located in Reston, Virginia, specializes in facial surgery, including facelift, brow lift, rhinoplasty and neck sculpting for Northern Virginia, Maryland & Washington, DC.

Facial Rejuvenation

If you are beginning to notice the signs of aging on your face, chances are it's not just one place. There may be several places where you notice it, even if only one area bothers you. You may notice your jowls, some wrinkles here and there, maybe the hollows under your eyes. These changes happen all at once because facial aging is not just one effect, but a combination of changes that happen as a result of the natural process of aging.

This page gives some basic information on the aging process, but if you want to learn what's responsible for your facial aging and how best to treat it, we invite you to schedule a consultation. Please call or email The Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery, serving patients in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

The Triad of Aging

As we age, the changes in our face are primarily the result of three different factors that combine to create an aged appearance:

• Changes in the skin
• Loss of facial volume
• Sagging tissues

This triad of aging works together to transform the face from a youthful one into an aged appearance, but each manifests itself in particular ways. Understanding the source of your symptoms lets us target them individually or combine treatments to get you the facial rejuvenation you desire.

Changes in the Skin

When we are young, our skin is constantly replacing itself. Your skin looks young because it is, maybe as young as a few days or at the most a couple weeks. As we age, the process of replacing skin slows and your skin may be months old, which means that it spends more time exposed to environmental toxins and ultraviolet radiation. Your skin also loses much of its elastin and collagen, proteins that help it maintain its elasticity.

As these changes take place, your skin becomes thinner, less lustrous. It also begins to acquire more wrinkles, eventually gaining a crepe like appearance. Our advanced skin care procedures target these changes and reverse their effects. BOTOX® Cosmetic injections can also be used to target over-active muscles whose habitual action contributes to creasing of the skin.

Loss of Facial Volume

As we age, our body changes the way it deposits and stores fat. We may notice first that more of it is being stored everywhere, but this quickly changes as fat storage is moved away from the face, which can contribute to the appearance of sunken cheeks and deep hollows that cause shadows under the eyes.

The loss of facial volume can be combated using facial fillers. At The Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery, we prefer Juvéderm, and the use of your own fat to restore volume to the face.

Sagging Tissues

Although physicists say gravity is the weakest force in the universe, when it comes to facial aging, it is possibly the strongest. The effects of gravity over time can displace your facial tissues, pulling them out of the positions that mark the youthful face and transforming your face into a markedly aged one. This speeds up as your skin changes reduce the amount of support it can give, putting more stress on the ligaments and other support structures of your face. As your tissue sags, you will see jowling, facial folds, and loose, excess skin.

Although some nonsurgical treatments can give temporary relief, the only reliable way to get long-term correction of sagging tissues is with a facelift or other skin tightening procedure.

If you want a personal evaluation of the aging of your face and what treatment will help you look as young as you feel, please call or email the Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery today and schedule a facial rejuvenation consultation with one of our board-certified facial plastic surgeons.