In the photo on the left: Clinic of Preventive Medicine “Vallex M”
Pictured right: Kolieva Madina Hadjimurzaevna, candidate of medical sciences, scientific director of the educational and methodological center “Vallex M”, dermatovenerologist, leading specialist in methods of rejuvenation.
What is gravitational ptosis?
Under the influence of gravitational forces (gravity), soft tissues “slide” down. This leads to a loss of clarity of the oval of the face, the formation of nasolabial folds, drooping of the eyebrows and corners of the mouth, the appearance of “puppet wrinkles.” Not only the shape changes, but also the size of the face. The face from round or oval becomes square or rectangular as a result of the heavier and more transverse size of the lower third of the face.
Similar changes are also characteristic of the chin zone and neck: excess and sagging of the skin appears, the cervico-chin angle becomes smoother, and so-called strands are formed along the neck due to stretching of the subcutaneous muscle.
One of the most significant reasons for these phenomena is the age-related change in the quantity and quality of collagen fibers in the superficial musculo-aponeurotic system (SMAS), which acts as a kind of frame that supports the shape of the face.
Modern cosmetology has a wide arsenal of tools for eliminating age-related skin changes: contouring, fractional photothermolysis, photorejuvenation, etc. However, they are not effective enough for correcting gravitational ptosis, manifested by drooping of the eyebrows and cheeks, the appearance of excess eyelid skin, deformation and loss of clarity of the face oval , the appearance of a double chin.
The gravitational changes cannot be reversed by affecting only the upper layers of the skin, as the supporting structures are located deeper and attach to the muscles. Therefore, to effectively lift the skin of the face, it is necessary to act on collagen fibers in the deep layers of the dermis and in the SMAS.