40 is the New 20: How to Look Your Youngest

In a youth-obsessed culture, signs of aging can affect self-confidence. Fortunately, from skincare to surgery, there are several options available to help you look and feel younger.

Key Takeaways

• Facial Contrast: Enhancing eyebrows, lips, and cheekbones can restore youthful facial features.
• Wrinkle Reduction: Injectables like Botox and hyaluronic acid reduce wrinkles and provide smoother skin.
• Surgical Options: Facelifts and neck lifts offer more permanent solutions for aging signs.
• Non-Surgical Treatments: Resurfacing, dermal fillers, and moisturizing are effective for maintaining youthful skin.

40 is the new 20 - at least, that’s what the media tells us. In our youth-obsessed culture, sags, bags, and wrinkles could hold you back. So, even if you only think you see signs of aging, your self-confidence could still take a hit.

Fortunately, there are several things you can do right now to look five, ten, or even 20 years younger.

What Makes a Face Look Young

Everyone knows a young face when they see it, but youthful skin is about a lot more than moisture and a lack of wrinkles than anything else.

Facial Contrast

Several scientific studies have shown that facial contrast, or in other words, how many facial features stand out, is a subconscious sign of age. Fortunately, there are simple remedies, including colours and permanent makeup.

Eyebrows

As people age, eyebrows often fade and thin out, especially after a lifetime of plucking, waxing, and threading.

Luckily, many nail salons and spas offer brow tinting, which makes brows look fuller and brings back a more youthful colour. Brow tinting is more affordable at around $20–$75, but it only lasts about three weeks.

Lips

There’s hardly anything more youthful than plump, dewy lips. Unfortunately, lips begin to fade and lose volume almost from the moment we’re born.

Lip Fillers

Well-applied lip fillers add back the lips’ lost fullness. Depending on your desired look, there are several injectable options, including collagen and hyaluronic acid.

Lip fillers are expensive, as much as $3,000 per treatment, and they last about six months to a year.

Full Face and High Cheekbones

We’re either born with high cheekbones, or we’re not - however, as we’re young, we have fat and tissue pockets on our cheekbones and hollows below them that may make it seem as if we have high cheekbones even when we don’t.

As we age, those fat deposits drift downward to our chins and jawlines, which explains the jowly look many people have as they age.

There’s little you can do about your bone structure without cosmetic surgery, but you can use dermal fillers such as hyaluronic acid or collagen to enhance the shape of your face. However, as with lips, the injections can be expensive, and they only last about three months.

Clear and smooth skin

When most people think of aging faces, they think of dry skin and wrinkles. The best way to fight dry skin and wrinkles is to start early with routine moisturizing and sunscreen. Even after your skin changes, there are several non-surgical options to give you the appearance of youthful skin.

Wrinkle Reduction

Wrinkle reduction agents help relax muscle motion, making frown lines, crow’s feet, and forehead wrinkles less noticeable and less deep. Botox is the most famous wrinkle reduction agent, but newer technologies include resources such as hyaluronic acid.

Each injectable is temporary - hyaluronic acid lasts up to a year.

Hyaluronic acid even helps fill necklines and ridges. However, most injectable wrinkle reduction medications are available by prescription only. Therefore, a licensed practitioner should administer them to avoid unwanted results such as droopy eyelids and even temporary paralysis.

Scars

Scarring from acne or other skin damage can afflict any age, but scarring tends to become even more noticeable as we get older and lose volume in our faces. There are several treatments available for scarring, including resurfacing procedures such as chemical peeling, laser skin resurfacing, dermabrasion, and microdermabrasion.

Resurfacing procedures work well on shallow scars. For deeper and raised scars, you may choose fillers, skin tightening, collagen-induction therapy, and even surgery.

What are the best non-surgical treatments to look younger?

Non-surgical treatments to restore a youthful appearance include wrinkle reduction agents like Botox, dermal fillers to enhance facial features, and resurfacing procedures for smoother skin. Regular moisturizing and sun protection also help maintain youthful skin.

Surgical Options

Perhaps you’re ready for a more dramatic and permanent outcome. For that, you might consider surgery.

Mini Face and Neck Lift

If neck folds or a double chin are your issue, you may opt for a full or mini facelift. First, the doctor makes tiny incisions behind the ear and under the neck skin. They then remove excess fat with liposuction and tighten or reposition the neck muscles. The result is subtle, natural-looking, and long-lasting.

If there is an abundant double chin, neck liposuction may be in order.

Facelift

Facelifts have long been a favourite of aging actresses and socialites. However, current technology operates at a much higher standard than in the past. Using the optimum Mobility Facelift technique, pioneered by Dr. Nabil Fanous, Dr. Zakhary provides a youthful look with minimal incisions and scars hidden by the hairline.

Other Procedures

Dr. Zakhary’s office addresses many other problem areas you may be facing, such as blepharoplasty (eyelid lift surgery), brow lifts, or facial implant surgery for youthful cheeks or a more defined chin.

If you are looking for more permanent solutions to your aging skin, Dr. Kristina Zakhary is a respected and highly-credentialed facial surgeon in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Please call (403) 775-2583 or book online for a free consultation.