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There are entire industries dedicated to helping people look younger, from medical and surgical intervention to skin treatments and cosmetics. This week on Health Watch, we’ll talk about the science behind looking younger, as well as what you can do to keep your face looking young and fresh.
Doctors have believed that gravity acts the same way on the whole face, causing sagging skin and wrinkles. But Dr. Joel Pessa, a plastic surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says the face is more like a three-dimensional puzzle, with individual compartments that gain and lose fat in different amounts at different times as we age. Doctors discovered this by injecting dye into facial cavities of cadavers. Instead of permeating the whole face, the dye stayed in separate areas. That means fibrous tissues form “fences” between compartments that help the face maintain its blood supply in case of injury — and that affects aging.
Next: What this information means for aging.
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September 2007
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