By Dyan Zedeker
Collier County –
Brandi Griffith spent a lot of time in the sun when she was young, but is now dealing with the negative effects. She says, “well, I noticed once I hit my thirties, all these lines are popping up around my face. None of my friends seem to have them”.
To get rid of the wrinkles, Brandi is getting botox injections. Although wrinkles will make the face look older, it’s not the only cause of facial aging. As the years pass, we lose fat in our faces and our bones actually change in contour and shape. Facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Richard Maloney, says with age, the fat, or volume in our faces, can shift to other places in the body. Dr. Maloney says, “our face actually deflates like a deflated balloon. Part of what deteriorates is the soft tissue, covering the bones and then after age 60, the bones start to get smaller”.
Studies show, women tend to have a significant decrease of facial bone volume at a younger age than men, so women tend to see the signs of aging sooner. Women in their 30’s and 40’s or older can fight the problem with soft tissue augmentation, using injectable fillers like Restaylane to fill in depressions or lines in the face. Botox also makes a difference. And the two in conjunction are helpful. Dr. Maloney says, “botox, used creatively in a 3 d manner, you could actually do it in 3 dimensional fashion to kind of shift they tug of war in the facial muscles in positive directions to have things look better”.
Brandi Griffith is glad she chose botox. She says the small amount of pain is worth it to look younger.
Sometimes at the injection site, there may be bruising, but that is usually the only negative side effect.