Facial Aging

Facial aging results from the simultaneous loss of multiple tissue types — skin, fat, muscle, ligament, and bone — not skin alone. At the cellular level, aging is a balance between protein breakdown (oxidation) and tissue repair; aging accelerates when breakdown outpaces repair. Ligament atrophy causes facial tissue to sag as the ligaments anchoring skin to the facial skeleton shrink. Bone loss around the jaw, teeth, and facial skeleton reduces the structural framework supporting facial appearance. Smoking directly oxidizes proteins in skin tissue, causing premature aging.