Facial aging makes its first appearance around thirty years of age when the first wrinkles appear on the forehead and around the eyes. Around forty years, facial flacidness around the mandibule starts to become visible, as well as the area around the neck and the mouth and the eyes. Treatment and prevention of facial aging varies according to each person and to the degree of aging presented by each patient. During the youth years care with exposure to the sun is extremely important in the prevention of facial aging because excess exposure destroys the elastin fibers of the skin and this leads to the early appearance of wrinkles. Therefore, the use of sunscreen and care with the amount of exposure to sunlight is fundamental for a healthy skin.

Beginning around thirty years, we should intensify the cares with hydration of the skin and at this stage we can also begin the use of Botox to minimize the wrinkles around the eyes and forehead while at the same time preventing that these same wrinkles become deeper. When static wrinkles (those visible even when the person is not making facial expressions) begin to appear around the mouth we can treat them with a fill-in technique. Presently the only one approved by the Minsitry of Health for this type of treatment is hialuronic acid? also known as Restylane.

Around forty, when facial flacidness becomes more evident, aside from the treatments and cares mentioned above, we can prescribe facial and neck creams composed of DMAE, a substance that intensifies muscular tonus. In other words, the cream works by turning the facial and neck muscles less flacid while at the same time correcting the skin flacidness that is adhered to muscles through ligaments. The use of topic vitamin C is useful as a moisturizer and also as an anti- free radical and anti- sun blotch remedy. With the onset of severe flacidness, surgical treatment is more adequate.

Today the surgical techniques used for treatment of facial and cervical flacidness provide very natural results, leaving no trace that a surgical procedure took place. Correction of flacidness is achieved while preserving the facial anatomy and hiding the scars so that they are not visible. The patient who takes care of their skin in the ways described above will obtain better results because the skin is of more quality. The results also last longer if the patient takes care of their face and neck adequately. We can say that the person today has their face and neck aged only if they so choose, because there is a wide variety of prevention and treatment methods available.

Today, with new methods leading to a more beautiful and attractive image it is perfectly viable to age with more dignity and with a better self esteem.

:: Dermatology