Wrinkles

Cutaneous ageing signs become visible from as early as the twenties, especially with excessive sun or environmental exposure. The two earliest signs of ageing are the development of crow's feet around the eyes, and wrinkling between the brows and forehead due to constant facial expressions.

Between the ages of 30 to 49 years there is a sharp increase in prevalence of skin changes such as wrinkles and sagging.

To understand the various treatments of wrinkles, one must understand that there are different kinds of wrinkles: static wrinkles and dynamic wrinkles:

• Static wrinkles are those facial lines that are evident even when our face is at rest, thus constantly visible.
• Dynamic wrinkles are those wrinkles and lines that appear when your face is animated.

Sleeping Positions are one of the main causes of static wrinkles. Resting your face on the pillow in the same way every night for years on end also leads to static wrinkles (also known as sleep lines). These wrinkles eventually become etched on the surface of the skin and no longer disappear when the head is not resting on the pillow. Patients, who tend to sleep on their sides, are most likely to see these lines appear on their chin and cheeks.  If one is prone to sleep with the face pressed face down on the pillow, then you tend to notice these lines on the forehead. People who sleep predominantly on their backs do not develop these wrinkles since their skin does not lie crumpled against the pillow.

When we were younger and our skin had abundant collagen, the only lines and wrinkles we had were dynamic. Our face was otherwise wrinkle-free when we weren't animated.

Dynamic wrinkles are caused by facial expressions and repetitive facial movements. Each time we use a facial muscle, a groove forms beneath the surface of the skin, which is why we see lines form with each facial expression. As skin ages and loses its elasticity, the skin stops springing back to its line-free state, with constant motion these grooves become permanently etched on the face as fine lines and wrinkles.

How do we treat the different types of wrinkles?

Injectable fillers such as Profhilo, Sculptra, HArmonyCa and Botox / Dypsort, laser rejuvenation treatments, Pearl Fusion, PDT, Skin Needling and Carboxytherapy are mainly used for static wrinkling.

Fillers soften lines and larger wrinkles by plumping them out so they look less evident at rest. At Skin Renewal, all our medical doctors are well trained in the MD Codes technique for injecting dermal filler.

In some cases, the combination of anti-wrinkle injections and fillers are used when the line or wrinkle is very deep and weakening the muscle action will help preserve the longevity of the filler. This is most common in the furrows between the eyebrows or bleed lines on the lip.

Wrinkle treatment should start as soon as one sees a wrinkle developing when the wrinkles are still "soft".

If these wrinkles are neglected they become "ingrained" and "scar like" and they are then almost impossible to treat successfully. If we intervene early with dermal fillers, then we can prevent these breaks in the skin.