Saggy jowls is often used to describe the floppy or sagging skin below your chin or jawline. In the same way we'll all need glasses eventually, almost everyone will develop jowls, because we all lose elastic in our skin. It used to be only a face lift that would fix them, but thanks to the advances in non-surgical aesthetic treatments, there are a range of options that can improve the appearance of jowls, without going under the knife. Here, Hannah Swingler, gives us a brief overview of some of the best treatments to tighten things up!
How To Solve Saggy Jowls
The curse of the saggy jowl.
Since turning 40, the conversations in my friendship group always seem to come back to how our faces don’t seem to be reflecting how we feel inside anymore or how our reflection in the mirror is becoming less familiar. During drinks with one friend recently she despaired “My face is all droopy and I’m so tired of looking sad when I’m actually happy!” She was of course referring to the gradual appearance of saggy jowls on her otherwise taut face. The drooping that unfairly makes you look as though you are thoroughly fed up with your lot when in fact you are pretty chipper about life.
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Why are our faces betraying us by giving off unnecessary Boxer dog vibes?
Losing definition around the jawline is a common issue as we age. The supportive compounds that keep our faces looking sculpted, like elastin and collagen, start to diminish and we can lose fat in the cheeks and temples, causing our chin and neck to lose its form. Some of us find it harder to shift weight when we age and are genetically pre-dispositioned to carry this excess baggage around our faces which , can be great for keeping wrinkles at bay but does nothing for a streamlined profile. And, of course gravity plays its part drawing the skin around the chin and jawline down to just like that everybody thinks you’re a permanent misery moo.
What can I do to treat it?
For those of us who are further along the timeline and already have a jowly look then a mixture of treatments may be needed.
Fat-freezing is a non-invasive technique for lifting, tightening and firming jowls. It works by removing unwanted fatty tissues and targeting the saggy and droopy skin that jowls are most well-known for.
Treatments such as Coolsculpting are designed to treat smaller areas of fat bulges like those around the chin and works by targeting and freezing away unwanted fat cells by causing them to crystalise and shrivel away naturally. This is a popular treatment that can be carried out during a lunchbreak and has zero down time. You can expect to see results after around 4 – 6 weeks.
Ultrasound procedures are also effective when it comes to targeting sagging jowls and works by stimulating the production of new collagen which helps the skin retain a more lifted and tightened look. Like fat freezing this is a relatively quick procedure with no downtime, but you may need a few treatments over the course of 3 - 6 months before you see results.
The Slebs favourite jowl treatment: Morpheus8:
Judy Murray's skin transformation made headlines when she announced that she had been treated with Morpheus8 to tighten her ‘turkey neck’. Morpheus8, a device-based treatment that tightens and smooths the skin using a combination of microneedling and radiofrequency.
Microneedling is a treatment that uses tiny, sterilised needles, which penetrate the skin to cause controlled and intentional damage. This helps boost collagen and elastin production, which naturally dwindles from our 20s onwards. Radiofrequency energy is injected into the skin via 24 gold, insulated microneedles. The role of the radiofrequency is to tighten the muscle layer of the skin, so, combined, the two usually separate treatments create an overall more youthful, firmer and fresher-looking face.
Judy Murray had amazing results from Morpheus8 and a good skin care regime.
Jowls caused by lack of volume – are these treatable?
Jowls are not always caused by sagging, excess fat in the face and, believe it or not , can be caused by weight loss either through dieting or age. In this instance you want treatments that have a “plumping” effect to restore that youthful, dewy look which also provide structure to the lower face area.
Fillers are most definitely your friend and work by rebooting the skin’s natural supply of hyaluronic acid - a key substance responsible for delivering and maintaining moisture and nutrient levels in skin cells. As we age, we lose this naturally occurring substance which can make the face look gaunt and saggy (*read, permanently fed up).
The good news is that we can replace the lost hyaluronic acid with a few carefully placed fillers which will give the skin a much more refreshed and rejuvenated appearance. Clients often combine this treatment with a few shots of Botox to iron out any wrinkles and to keep the area tighter and lifted for longer.
Find a practitioner to help you with your jiggly jowls on Glowday, book in right here
