Prepare To Look Good

I once overheard a woman say to a nearby, lovely, 30-something femme fatale, "You're so young and beautiful! Why do you need BOTOX?" I'm certain she thought that to be a rhetorical question...but it isn't. The correct answer, however, becomes evident when you're armed with a basic understanding of skin structure and a little information about how BOTOX® actually works.

First a bit of important anatomy: The muscles of facial expression lie directly over the facial bones. Next there's a layer of fat, which varies in thickness and in some places, for example around the eyes and in the forehead, can be insignificantly thin.

Above this fatty layer lies the deepest layer of skin, the Dermis. The Dermis is a dense web of woven collagen fibers not unlike a thick, flexible cloth. Collagen fibers provide strength and elasticity to the skin, so we constantly produce new collagen to replace old collagen, reinforcing and repairing the Dermis.

As we age, the rate of collagen production slows dramatically, and the formerly thick, flexible collagen becomes thinner and more brittle.

The outermost layer is the Epidermis. It's composed of four distinct layers. Soft new cells are created at the deepest layer, the Basal Layer, and rise through the more superficial layers, changing and hardening as they rise.

By the time they reach the surface, the epidermal cells become dead, dry, crusty flakes, which slough off in order to make way for the next rising layer.

The cycle is endless but as we age, cell replacement slows to a crawl. Babies create a new layer of epidermis every 7-10 days. At age 40, we require about 45 days to complete the process. Now, let's talk about wrinkles.

There are two types of wrinkles, active and passive. Active wrinkles occur only when you are actually moving muscles to make a facial expression. Passive wrinkles, or furrows, are visible even at rest... even while asleep!

The "woven cloth" of the Dermis becomes more brittle as we age - as if cashmere were becoming burlap - and our facial muscles are actively wrinkling that fragile cloth over and over, thousands of times a day. Regrettably, the most susceptible areas are also the most active and to make matters worse, have the least amount of cushioning fatty tissue.

Despite skin's natural elasticity, the formation of permanent, passive furrows is the inevitable result of a million active scrunchings of the forehead, between the eyebrows and at the Crow's Feet.

Furthermore, adult skin cells shed more slowly leaving a dryer, duller, more brittle surface layer that only serves to accentuate the deepening furrows. Dry, deep furrows covered in dull dead skin cells! BOTOX®, properly applied, weakens the facial muscles. Yet the over-application of BOTOX® and paralyzing your face into an expressionless mask is singularly unattractive.

However, weakening the muscles while preserving the attractive and essential quality of facial expression, is a terrific way to extend your youthfully smooth appearance and possibly completely avoid ever forming passive wrinkles and deep furrows.

Of course, the process of permanent furrowing accelerates due to thinning and decreased resiliency of the skin as we age, but starting BOTOX® in our 30s, essentially preemptively striking at active wrinkles, is a lot more effective than trying to play "catch up" with our passive wrinkles when we're approaching 50.

So, the question should have been, "Why not begin BOTOX® in your 30s, before permanent, deep wrinkles form?"

And that, indeed, is rhetorical!

For more information contact Dr. Eric Berger at Berger Medical Aesthetics, 333 E 49th St. Suite LD, New York, (212)-838-6900 or mail to info@bergermedical.com

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