Sagging Cheeks

As we age, our cheeks become more droopy. We used to believe this was simply due to the effect of gravity, causing the tissues to fall.

We know have a much more sophisticated understanding of facial ageing however and realise that loss of volume from the cheeks is the main contributor to ageing in the cheek. When we are young we have a plentiful supply of fat in the face. This keeps the skin looking firm and taught and the contours of the face looking youthful.

As we age, we lose fat and so the appearance of redundant – or excess – skin develops. In addition to this, there are changes that occur at the bony level whereby the facial skeleton loses bone. This contributes to the loss of volume, as well as reduces the structural support for the soft tissues of the cheek. The mainstay of treating sagging cheeks has therefore moved away from ‘lifting’ to ‘filling’.

Although the idea of filling can seem quite scary at first – we have all seen celebrities with over-filled cheeks, and it doesn’t look nice – the effects of well carried out cheek filler can be extremely effective at rejuvenating the face. The key in augmenting the cheeks is to focus on simply restoring what has been lost, and do not try to create something that never existed in the first place. So long as you stick within this remit, you should achieve a very natural and effective result.