As fat drifts down from the rest of your face and gathers under your chin and along your jaw, there's less collagen and elastin to keep the skin taut. At the same time, the neck muscles begin to sag and drag the skin down with it. The result: double chins and jowling.
In many cases, a receding chin is a natural part of aging in both men and women. As you grow older, you may naturally lose a bit of bone and soft tissue around your jaw, leading to retrogenia. Some people are simply born with a receding chin or develop one due to an overbite.
Most people begin to notice a shift in the appearance of their face around their 40's and 50's, with some also noticing a change in their 30's. But with these physical changes brought on by aging also comes a change in the appearance of our face - Luckily, there is treatment available.
"Yes, the entire facial skeleton does increase with age," Dr. Pessa relates, "but the jaw does so at an accelerated rate compared to the rest of the face.
The very structure of our face changes as we age. The 14 facial bones lose density in the same way other bones throughout the body do. Think of the bones of your face as the foundation of your face. As these bones lose density, they shrink causing loss of support to the more visible structures of your face.
As far as the female or male aging timeline, the biggest changes typically occur when people are in their 40s and 50s. However, it's not unlikely to notice changes in your mid to late-30s, as well. Some of the first signs of aging are droopy skin, smile lines, and wrinkles. These changes can be jarring, but natural.
Loss of bone mass in the jaw reduces the size of the lower face and makes your forehead, nose, and mouth more pronounced. Your nose may also lengthen slightly. The ears may lengthen in some people (probably caused by cartilage growth).
Chin size and shape will be influenced by bone structure, fat tissue, and skin elasticity. Genetics, changes in weight, surrounding musculature, and natural aging will all cause variations in and to chin appearance.
By age 35, we begin to lose bone mass along the entire jawline. The chin becomes more recessed, and skin loosens as the supporting bone shrinks. Other normal, age-related changes to the area, including skin laxity and a greater tendency to accumulate fat, can make the chin seem smaller still.
Exposure to light is a top cause of premature aging: Sun exposure causes many skin problems. Ultraviolet (UV) light and exposure to sunlight age your skin more quickly than it would age naturally. The result is called photoaging, and it's responsible for 90% of visible changes to your skin.
This is called extrinsic aging. As a result, premature aging can set in long before it was expected. In other words, your biological clock is more advanced than your chronological clock. Controllable factors such as stress, smoking and sun exposure can all play a role in expediting extrinsic aging.
Skin brightening treatments, like Microdermabrasion, Light Peels, Micro Laser Peels, or the Clear & Brilliant Laser treatment all help patients to look 10 years younger or more, with just a few treatments. These treatments can be used in order to combat the signs of aging in the face, such as: Wrinkles. Age spots.
Exercising the neck, chin, jaw, and other facial muscles can lead to subtle changes in your face, including sharper cheekbones and a more prominent jawline. One study found that performing regular facial exercises over the course of 20 weeks led to fuller cheeks and a more youthful appearance.
Plastic surgery to change the shape of the chin, cheek, or jaw may be done. This procedure is typically done to enhance certain facial features, or to bring a certain aspect of the face into proportion with the rest of the face.
Sometimes weight gain contributes to the formation of a double chin. Simply shedding those extra pounds can reduce the layer of fat under your chin.
Conventionally, the ideal chin is thought to be one that extends to just behind a vertical plane dropped from the vermilion border of the lower lip in the profile view (1–3) (Figure 1A). A chin that fails to do so is considered to be deficient, requiring augmentation.
A receding chin is also known as retrogenia or a weak chin. Instead of jutting out or lying flat, a receding chin slopes back toward the neck. It happens when the lower jaw – or mandible – is out of alignment with the upper jaw. It's most often a cosmetic issue, but it can be related to more serious health concerns.
The term “jowls” is often used to describe sagging skin below your chin or jawline. Almost everyone develops jowls as they age. It happens because your skin becomes thinner and less elastic over time.
It's not your imagination, your face shape IS changing
Eyes recede, the brow flattens, cheek bones lose projection, the chin protrudes and the soft tissue degrades, shrinks and sags. The face loses the triangle of youth and begins to “square out”.
For Caucasian women, it's typically around the late 30s. "This is when fine lines on the forehead and around the eyes, less-elastic skin, and brown spots and broken capillaries from accumulated sun damage crop up," says Yagoda. If you're a woman of color, the tipping point is more likely in your 40s.
In men looking older than you should is related to a high serum cholesterol and haemoglobin. In women looking older may be related to a high ESR and a low serum bilirubin. Predictably looking older was related to baldness, greying of the hair, arcus senilis, and skin inelasticity.
Wrinkles, age spots and small growths called skin tags are more common.
You might be surprised to know that your face is not actually the part of your body that ages the fastest. It is, in fact, your breasts. A study, published by the journal Genome Biology has found that breast tissue is the part of the body that's most sensitive to the affects of ageing.