Facial Aging Is Mainly Due To Changes In Fat Pockets

June 3, 2008

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New studies reveal that major changes in our faces, as we age, are not due to thinning skin and less collagen but are due to changes in fat.

It turns out that we have fat compartments in our face. These compartments are separate from each other and are contained within fibrous connective tissue.

In young people there is a smooth transition between these compartments. However, as we age the different compartments change in different ways. These fat pockets can change shape, and shrink or grow. The result is that there is no longer a smooth transition between the compartments and where they have shrunk the skin gets looser and the face more hollow. These changes are part of our faces looking older.

The shrinking of some of the fat compartments probably plays a much bigger role in having loose skin and a saggy look, than the skin thinning and reduction in the synthesis of collagen.

One of the major fat pockets for affecting how we look is a deep fat pocket in the cheek. When this fat compartment shrinks, the nasolabial folds (the folds that rum down beside and nose and mouth) become more obvious, the under eye area and our upper lip all start to look older. Replacement of this fat will reduce the prominence of the nasolabial fold, fill out the area below the eye and make the upper lip look fuller.

These new findings are sure to have an impact on the methods that are used for skin rejuvenation. As more is learned about these fat compartments, targeted techniques will be developed using fillers for fat pockets including the deep fat pocket in the face.

It is probable that the use of targeted fillers will often replace face lifts. The returning of the face to a youthful shape which will make the skin less loose, rather than tightening the skin over an “old shaped” face will look more natural and not involve surgical incisions.

The research is published in Plast. Reconstr. Surgery (2008) 121: pages 1804-9 (PubMed), and the same journal volume, pages 2107-2112 (PubMed not yet available).

photo credit: Linds K