Wrinkles / Fine lines
Cosmetic Surgery - Plastic Surgery - Aesthetic Medicine - Reconstructive Surgery
The more time passes, the more the skin loosens,
becoming less smooth and less firm, wrinkles and fine lines begin to
tunnel out trenches of varying depths on the skin’s surface. Fine
lines are shallower than wrinkles themselves.
At the origins of a wrinkle or a fine line is a rupture of the elastic
fibres in the dermis and connective tissue is involved. Collagen and
elastic fibres are altered and reduced as a result of repeated
stretching of certain areas, making the skin lose its flexibility.
The main factors behind the appearance of wrinkles are:
-aging (hormonal in menopausal women and natural),
-weight loss,
- expressive creasing of the skin: amongst the signs of skin aging we
find expression wrinkles caused by day to day contraction of the facial
muscles, -
there is a genetic factor (this phenomenon varies with individuals).
These factors may be aggravated by the influence of the sun, wind, tobacco and stress.
Wrinkles or fine lines can appear on virtually any surface of the
body, with the more apparent areas being, especially, the face, chest
and neck.
We can distinguish broadly between:
1 / Expression lines or dynamic wrinkles dependent on facial muscles and found:
-on the forehead: forehead wrinkles resulting in horizontal lines;
-in the area of the glabella (the smooth protrusion between the eyebrows) with frown lines or intercilliar wrinkles;
-at the outer corner of each eye with the wrinkles in the form of the crow's feet or smile lines,
-in the nose, resulting in wrinkling of the nose with wrinkles of disgust or Bunny lines;
-at the mouth, surrounding it in the form of vertical tracts resulting
from the repeated action of muscles around the lips involving perioral
wrinkles or hyperkinetic lips.
2 / tunnelling wrinkles resulting from a lack of hydration: these are
mainly related to skin aging with the decrease in the hyaluronic acid
that occurs naturally in the skin and is responsible for its proper
hydration. There are three categories:
-wrinkles from nose to lips or nasolabial folds;
- wrinkles from the corners of the mouth, forming a longer or shorter
groove moving downward on the face from the nasolabial folds. These are
marionette lines;
-wrinkles from the inside corners of the eyes to the outer part of the
face. These are tear rings or valleys of tears and are located above
the cheekbones.
3 / Fine lines are more superficial and shallow, but numerous.
The treatments available for treating wrinkles and fine lines are numerous. The main ones are:
- The use of wrinkle fillers (hyaluronic acid instead of collagen).
- Injections of Botulinum toxin or Botox® which decreases muscle tone so as to diminish wrinkles
- Reinjection of autologous fat or lipo-filling/lipostructure which is a real graft of fat cells from the patient himself (autologous).
- Mesolifting is a mesotherapy technique consisting of plumping the skin to make it lose its crumpled appearance (treatment of wrinkles and fine lines) by injecting a variable nutrient mixture depending on the patient to be treated. The mixture injected in a "classic" Mesolift is a cocktail of vitamins, minerals, vasodilators and calcitonin. There is a Mesolift "fill", done solely with non-crosslinked hyaluronic acid.
- Dermabrasion is a technique for erasing blemishes and smoothing the facial skin using a burr or very fine sandpaper.
- The temporal lift: this lift corrects the signs of aging in the forehead and cervicofacial regions, the lateral brow, and in crow's feet, putting a mild tension on the outer part of the eyelids. It is often associated with eyelid surgery or blepharoplasty. But crow's feet are only slightly improved by a facelift.
- The peel is a chemical process to destroy the superficial layers of the skin (exfoliation) so as to erase some skin blemishes, especially the signs of aging (superficial or medium wrinkles, scars, keratoses and liver spots).
- Medical laser: lasers are widely used in medicine and surgery and also have a growing number of paramedical uses: hair removal, acne treatment, treatment for wrinkles and scars but also removal of tattoos.