Facelifts may never be the same again. Scientists have found that sagging skin is not itself to blame for making us look older – it’s our sagging skulls.
A head-scanning study of 100 patients by Duke University, in North Carolina, over three years reports that as we age, our skulls change shape. Our foreheads get bigger, our lovely cheekbones become less prominent and our facial bones tilt forward. “This causes our facial bones to lose support for the overlying soft tissues,” says the researcher, Dr Michael Richard. “That results in more sagging and drooping.”
The study overturns the idea that our facial bones, along with the rest of our skeletons, tend to stay stable after puberty. Dr Richard says the research also shows that facial bone changes seem far more dramatic in women, perhaps due to the same hormonal shifts that cause osteoporosis. “It’s not fair, it’s not fair,” he adds. Dr Richard told the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive surgeons that his discovery may mean that facelifts have been tackling the wrong problem: “Our focus has always been on tightening and lifting soft tissues, skin and muscle. It might be better to restore the underlying bony framework of the face to its youthful proportions.”
