Jowls

What are Jowls?

As we age, we develop loose areas along the jawline that look like pouches and are known as jowls.

Jowls typically occur alongside other changes to the lower face such as jawline laxity, facial folds and lax skin. Jowls are a natural part of the aging process and contribute to a less structured, tight or smooth looking jawline. Patients will notice jowls as early as their mid 30s, in the form of a slight softening near the lower corner of the mouth area. By the time we are 50, most of us have obvious jowls. While disheartening, there are options for improving the appearance of jowls.

Sagging skin, loose skin, lax skin – however you describe it, by the time many of us hit our mid-30s this issue can cause our faces and certain other areas of our bodies to lose their youthful plumpness, definition and resilience. Read on to discover what combination of factors causes sagging skin – and how an expert skin specialist can help alleviate the problem.

Before & After Photos

Frequently asked questions

What Are Jowls & How Can They be Treated?

As we age, we develop loose areas along the jawline that look like pouches and are known as jowls.

How Jowls Form

Jowls are often thought to be fatty deposits, when in fact they are pouches of skin and tissue that hang off the lower face and are suspended to a jaw ligament. Jowls can start to develop as early as mid 30s for some patients, and are typical visible in most of us by the time we reach our 50s. Genetics certainly play a role, and patients with recessive chins and small jaws will notice jowls earlier. Starting at around age 35, we start to lose fat and bone volume in both the mid and lower facial areas. This means that our faces start to shrink. At the same time, we lose collagen in our skin which makes it less capable than before at retaining a tight and taught firmness. Overall, our faces start to shrink and sag, and gravity pulls the extra skin downwards where it becomes apparent on the jawline and jowl area, in the neck area and in the upper and lower eyelids. You can find out more about facial volume loss and Lax Skin.

What lasers do we use to tighten skin?

If you have mild skin laxity then the Fraxel laser can help with wrinkles and fine lines. This can provide a slight lift; however, devices like Thermage, EndyMed 3DEEP or BBL Skin Tyte yield more predictable results. Laser treatments are designed to treat conditions that lie on the skin surface, while our other devices are designed to stimulate collagen which lies below your skin.

What causes sagging, lax and loose skin?

While gravity does, indeed, take its toll, several other forces are at work when it comes to sagging skin:

Sun exposure: The ultraviolet rays from the sun penetrate into the skin and damage the elastic fibres that keep skin firm. Sun exposure causes wrinkles, and is responsible for sun spots and other pigmented areas on the face, chest hands.
Loss of elasticity and collagen: Our skin, over time, tends to lose elasticity and collagen, causing it to become looser and less successful at holding back what is happening underneath – i.e., problems become more visible or noticeable at the skin’s surface. Remember, for instance, when the skin beneath your lower eyelids was tight and taut enough to hold back and “hide” the small pocket of fat below? As you age, that delicate skin will generally loosen, becoming less effective at its former job, and that pocket of fat begins to bulge forward, causing a bag.
Loss of volume in the face: Most of us, at age 35 or so, start to notice subtle changes – specifically, loss of volume – in our face. For example, as volume in our cheeks is lost and gravity pulls the mid-section of the face down, folds may appear around the mouth, pooling at each corner and forming nasolabial folds. The lower portion of the face can lose volume, as well; when this occurs, we tend to see shadowing at either side of the mouth near the jawline, which eventually become marionette lines and, finally jowls.
Weight fluctuations: Yo-yo dieting or large swings in weight cause the face to continually stretch and contract. After about age 35, because our skin is less elastic, the contraction isn’t as effective anymore

Prevention: your first line of defense

When it comes to sagging skin, prevention really is key. As such, it’s important to protect your skin from sun damage that can impact the elasticity – and compromise the smooth, youthful look – of the skin. Cover up with protective clothing, wear a hat, always use a physical sun block – such as that contained in Colorescience Mineral Makeup – and, as much as you can, stay out of the sun for prolonged periods of time. We have in stock Bluestone Sunshields which offer UV protection.

What does lax, loose, sagging skin look like?

When skin laxity due to loss of elasticity and collagen is subtle, you may start to notice such textural changes as skin creping and deepening skin folds – when this occurs in a woman’s décolletage, for example, it can be an easy age giveaway. As laxity becomes more pronounced, gravity may really begin to take its toll, causing drooping skin to pool in places like the upper and lower eyelids, jawline and neck.

Generally speaking, as far as volume loss goes, this issue can result in an anti-youthful change in the overall shape of the lower part of the face. Gone is the inverted triangle formed by our cheeks and chin and, in its place, a more square appearance forms, as the facial structures begin to pool around the mouth and jawline.

Treatment Options for Jowls and Sagging Jawlines

A thorough assessment of the patients’s face is essential for properly diagnosing the cause of jowls. The patient’s age, skin quality and overall health need to be taken into consideration. Often times patients achieve the best results by combining treatments since each of them improves a different condition. For example, RF Skin Tightening tightens the lower face, however does not replace facial volume. Patients will often have dermal fillers add volume back to the cheek and mid face area, and skin tightening treatments which plump up the skin in general and increase collagen production. Possible treatment options for jowls and lower face laxity include:

For jowls, a sagging lower face and lax neck: Our EndyMed 3DEEP RF Skin Tightening And BBL Skin TYTE has been one of our most popular treatments.
Medical-grade skin-care products: A medical grade skin care system like Skinceuticals includes products that strengthen the skin’s barrier function and increase the body’s natural wound-healing response and produce collagen, making them a key part of an effective course of treatment for sagging skin.
Dermal fillers: Natural looking and requiring little downtime, Dermal fillers provide a great way to quickly add volume back to the face. Best of all, these safe, effective injectables can be strategically placed in areas of the face that tend to lose volume first and fastest, such as cheeks, lips, temples, along the jawline and around the mouth.
Laser skin resurfacing: By directing short, concentrated pulsating beams of light at irregular skin, precisely removing skin layer by layer, laser resurfacing can not only improve skin elasticity and produce a general tightening effect, it also has the added benefit of simultaneously improving fine lines and wrinkles.
SkinTyte: A non surgical tightening treatment that penetrates deep into the skin to stimulate collagen production and tighten, Skin Tyte uses advanced infrared light technology to increase tissue firming with virtually no downtime.

BBL Photofacial Rejuvenation: The newest-generation of Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) technology, called Broadband Light BBL Photo-Rejuvenation, improves skin thickness, tone and texture by stimulating collagen.
Forever Young BBL: Forever Young BBLis an innovative technology that delivers light therapy (similar to IPL or intense pulsed light) in a groundbreaking manner that’s been shown to effectively change genes’ expression of aging, with minimal downtime. Patients looks younger than they did 10 years previous, and there is Stanford University research behind it
Coolsculpting: If the jowl is actually a fatty deposit, it may be possible to freeze the fat away using CoolSculpting MINI – a non surgical FDA approved fat reduction treatment

Methods we use to treat

Botox

Moderate to severe frown lines between your brows form over time as a result of muscle activity. To address this problem, Botox® Cosmetic is injected directly into the muscles between your brows and works by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to the injected muscles. This reduces the activity of the muscles that caused those persistent lines to form. If you are looking to rejuvenate your appearance, tackle the signs of aging, bring back volume to your face, or even treat excessive sweating, Botox® is definitely the right treatment for you. Book an appointment at LSG to receive a detailed understanding of the treatment and how it can help you.

Filler

The active ingredient in the Filler family of products is hyaluronic acid. The flexibility, texture, and resilience of youthful skin exist because of the high amount of water it contains. Also known as hyaluronan, hyaluronic acid is a sticky substance that our body naturally produces. The skin, eyes, and connective tissue are the sites where maximum amounts of hyaluronic acid are found. Its capacity to retain water up to almost a thousand times its weight is the key reason why it is used in cosmetic fillers. Apart from hydration, hyaluronic acid is also linked to tissue repair, rejuvenation, and has anti-inflammatory action. Hyaluronic acid also facilitates new cell growth and promotes tightness and volume of the skin.

EndyMed Skin Tightening

If you are looking to smooth and tighten the skin on your neck, lower jaw, upper arms, chest or knees, EndyMed Skin Tightening could be the perfect treatment for you. Whether performed on the face or other parts of the body, EndyMed skin tightening relies on 3DEEP technology that deeply heats collagen fibers. The thermal energy targets the sub-dermal layer of the skin in order to stimulate the body’s natural healing process and stimulate the collagen to rebuild, hence giving a firmer, tighter appearance in the area.

EndyMed Intensif RF Microneedling

INTENSIF combines the deep skin tightening benefits of radio frequency and the collagen-producing technique of microneedling. This patented technology delivers thermal energy deep within the dermis to stimulate collagen without damaging the surrounding tissue. The radio-frequency thermal energy is delivered in multiple passes through tiny needles at varying depths to provide a 3-dimensional coverage to lift and tighten the skin from within. INTENSIF is the latest advancement in tightening skin and reducing wrinkles on the face and sensitive neck area. If you’re looking for serious results, without the downtime and risk of surgery or aggressive CO2 lasers that leave you embarrassed to leave the house, INTENSIF is the treatment for you. After INTENSIF radio-frequency treatment, there is no need to hide in the house for weeks. Over time, your skin will begin to look more youthful as wrinkles diminish.

BBL Skin Tyte

Skin Tyte works by depositing infrared heat deep into the dermis, which is where our collagen and elastin fibers are found. The immediate response to the infrared heat exposure is a contraction of the collagen and elastin fibers. Longer-term, fibroblasts (cells that make collagen) are activated which stimulate the production of new collagen and elastin in response to wound-healing which continues to take place for up to 6 months after the initial heating. This tissue remodelling results in a thickening of the dermis and shrinking of elastin fibers plus the contraction of collagen, resulting in the improvement of the skin’s firmness.

Jowls

What are Jowls?

Before & After Photos

Frequently asked questions

What Are Jowls & How Can They be Treated?

How Jowls Form

What lasers do we use to tighten skin?

What causes sagging, lax and loose skin?

Prevention: your first line of defense

What does lax, loose, sagging skin look like?

Treatment Options for Jowls and Sagging Jawlines

Methods we use to treat

Botox

Filler

EndyMed Skin Tightening

EndyMed Intensif RF Microneedling

BBL Skin Tyte

Products & Treatments we offer

Product

Clear & Brilliant

More Products in our store

Book An Appointment Online

Contact Us Today

Hamilton - 905-393-7546
Burlington - 905-631-5956

laserspagroup

Jowls

What are Jowls?

Before & After Photos

Frequently asked questions

Methods we use to treat

Products & Treatments we offer

Product

Clear & Brilliant

More Products in our store

Book An Appointment Online

Contact Us Today

Hamilton - 905-393-7546Burlington - 905-631-5956

Join Our Mailing List For Monthly Specials

laserspagroup

Hamilton - 905-393-7546
Burlington - 905-631-5956