Wanted: Perfect Face
Okay, let’s face it. When we meet someone for the first time, our first impression has to do with looks, right? Only later do things such as character, reputation, brains, and disposition start to take on meaning.
The truth is, beauty is an asset, just like physical prowess, charisma, brains or emotional intelligence. So, are you aging too fast too soon or do your genes deprive you of all these extraordinary treatments or privileges? The answer is just around the corner. You need not be left out. Do it now while you can still enjoy it! But make sure you choose the right doctor to do it for you, otherwise you could look much worse and end up more miserable.
Cosmetic dermatology or surgery is designed to make one look better and refreshed, a little different, not totally different but definitely better. Some people who have dermatologic procedures or surgery done may have looked better if they didn’t do it because it was done too aggressively.
Volume can make a world of difference in one’s face, but opting to restore it before too much or any of it has been lost can do more harm than good. Why? Because volume has its place in the face, especially when fat has been lost or maybe fat is needed to augment features where there’s a lack of it. However, overfilling with either fats or filler injections throws off parts or sections of the face, disrupting the natural proportions of the face. It has been a habit of most aesthetic and plastic surgeons to revolumize the lips (like the lips of the giant gourami fish) and the cheeks, neglecting the lower face. Volume needs to be maintained throughout the face so if you do not have flat cheeks or fat loss, and fillers are used, the middle face can be distorted. With or without fillers, the lower lip should be a bit larger than the upper lip. Sometimes, patients try to match their facial features to their lips by adding volume throughout and so you have lips that do not match the face.
Excessive facial volumization is sometimes done in younger patients, which they really do not need. Adding this unnecessary volume makes the face look fat and inflated. This alters the contour of the face, which becomes angular, making it look older. It gives the abnormal fullness that does not look age-appropriate. That is a face that morphs from a heart shape to a rectangular or square one, which typically isn’t seen until the onset of aging.
In older patients, as their body loses fat, they also lose it on their face, resulting in a hollow appearance. And if you treat one area with more fillers, one ends up looking older as the untreated or left-out areas will be accentuated with the filler injections and will look even worse. For example, big apple cheekbones give the face more volume than it needs, making the central part (the middle third — that is from the lower lid to the upper lip) of the face look taut and aged. Excessive filler in the cheeks produces a sense of rigidity, stiffness, and a more masculine appearance, too. This extra volume produces the characteristic chipmunk look.
Injectable toxins can make one look frozen, too. Dysport, Botox, Xeomin, Botulax, Neuronox are all effective in reducing lines by temporarily paralyzing facial muscles to restrict movement. But problems arise when you start to overdo it. Paralyzing the whole forehead muscles adds insult to injury by increasing the rigid and severe look of the face, as well as lowering the brow. Upper eyelid hooding becomes exaggerated (meaning drooping of the eyelid). Sometimes, the brows are elevated too high, too. If you naturally have a long face and your brows are elevated to an unnatural position, the pronounced height makes you look weird and bizarre. You also get a more mature look because the length of the face becomes drawn-out. Brows that sit too high can make the face appear “pulled.”
As for the chin: Too large a chin implant throws the overall balance of the face. The well-known half moon look on a side view is definitely unacceptable.
In women, overly contouring the neck, or removing too much fat from it, results in an excessively deep and sharp angle that gives more of a harsh, masculine look than a young attractive, feminine one.
It’s not just surgery and fillers that can age your face — too much heavy-duty lasers can leave it looking waxy. Plus they change the natural pigment in the skin. When that happens, there is such a difference or demarcation in the coloring of the skin that needs a lot of makeup to cover permanently. Heavy makeup makes one look older, too.
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For inquiries, call 09174976261, 09998834802 or 263-4094; email gc_beltran@yahoo.com.
