Lifestyle Choices

Six major causes of our facial wrinkles:

1 Natural or “intrinsic” aging

Natural, biologic aging is responsible for the inevitable thinning of our skin accompanied by the loss of structural collagen and elastic tissue. The good news is that this biologic aging is the least important of the causes of wrinkles on your face.

2 Sun damage

The sun is responsible for at least 90 percent of the appearance of skin aging. The sun is the most destructive and also the most preventable of the causes of wrinkles. You learned that the sun causes the skin to take on a leathery texture, with permanently etched deep creases. No one wants their face to look and feel like a thickened hide! You can prevent these deep, sun- induced wrinkles by applying a high-protection sunscreen and always wearing a hat.

3 Your facial expressions

While the sun is largely responsible for most of your wrinkles, it is your facial expressions that cause all the furrows that become imprinted on your face. Once again, there is hope! Many of these deep creases are indeed avoidable, and all of them are treatable!

The human face is indeed exquisite in its ability to communicate so profoundly through expression. Indeed, it is remarkable that wrinkling your face thousands of times each day — and hundreds of millions of times in your lifetime — results in so few lasting facial markings. Although most facial movements are essential and attractive, you can learn to avoid or minimize certain nervous habits, such as wrinkling the nose when laughing, wrinkling the forehead to show sincerity or incredulity, or grimacing unnecessarily when watching television. By observing other people’s expressions, you can see why their wrinkles and creases form. But how can you recognize your own habits? It’s not easy to observe your own face in action. To learn something about your subtle, often unconscious facial movements, you might ask a good friend to observe your habitual facial expressions.

Alternatively, you can keep a mirror near your telephone to observe your own facial expressions as you speak, noting exaggerated or unnecessary movements. If you squint when you read or drive, get glasses. If your eyes are sensitive to the sun, wear sunglasses.

I recall a beautiful 60-year-old patient whose skin looked 80 years old on the right side of her face, and 40 on the left. She had suffered an accident 20 years before, which had immobilized her right forehead. She had a distinct habit of wrinkling her forehead whenever she spoke, prematurely aging the left side of her face which retained its movement.

Although some European surgeons actually operate on a patient’s nerves in order to preclude wrinkling of the forehead, I do not advocate this treatment myself. More recently, a new treatment has been developed, which involves injecting into the forehead a carefully controlled dosage of a paralyzing toxin that has been used for years to cure muscular spasms or tics, in order to temporarily (for several months) block wrinkling. This treatment often has the additional benefit of breaking the habit of unnecessarily wrinkling the forehead.

Facial expressions are a matter of habit — but they can be changed without too much difficulty. If you

Notice that you wrinkle your face frequently and unnecessarily, you can break the habit. Simply place a small piece of medical tape (or the sticky part of a plaster or Band-Aid) across your wrinkles when you are alone to become aware of habitual movements you can avoid.

One very important point is that you should not try to become expressionless! Everyone looks better and communicates better when they show their feelings. Your face should have personality and character. I always recommend a smile! In your daily life, I hope that you smile often. It takes only half as many muscles to smile as it does to frown! If you don’t have any wrinkles at all, you obviously haven’t laughed enough during your life!

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