According to Science Daily, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered why our appearance changes as we age.
The old school theory of wrinkles
Until now, scientists believed that facial fat was one big mass that turned wrinkley as it sagged under the relentless tug of that bastard, Gravity. But Drs. Rod Rohrich and Joel Pessa have found that our faces are more complex than a single fat blob. We’re actually made of individual pockets of fat that can change independently over time.
Your face is a puzzle made of fat
They discovered this by injecting different dyes into the facial cavities of cadavers. (And you thought YOUR job was bad!) Then they evaluated how the dye dispersed through fat below the skin. Surprisingly, they saw that the dye stayed separated in different areas of the face, which lead to their finding of fibrous tissues in the face that act like fences to keep areas of fat segregated.
When we’re young, these fat compartments line up like puzzle pieces to give us smooth, youthful faces. But as we age, these regions gain and lose fat and the puzzle starts to shift and crack. This shifting can cause our faces to look saggy and wrinkled.
Anti-aging treatment of the future
This new theory explains why different parts of our face, like our eyelids and cheeks, age differently. And that understanding may lead to better ways to rejuvenate the face, particularly where injectible fillers are used to add volume. It may even have implications for future research into age related diseases like obesity, diabetes and cancer.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow…this sounds like it will lead to something like accupuncture for the different pieces of the face/puzzle that need “work”.
Botox already scares me but this sounds like it represents the possibility for targetting even more discrete areas of the face for plumping up injections.
Sometimes knowledge is too much of a good thing. I wish these scientists would go back to looking for the magical fountain of youth…which would require one elixer and it would just turn back time without needles.
In what way is ‘obesity’ a disease, and in what way a ‘disease’ of ageing?
Wriggles:
We were just referencing what the original article said. Here’s the exact quote:
“This gives us an algorithm, or scientific approach, to help ascertain what areas of the face may need extra fat to combat the aging process. It also is a major breakthrough in facial anatomy that will have major implications for future studies on aging and possibly hold clues to the study of other diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.”
The link is in our original post. I hope this helps.
Thanks for taking the time to answer!