What is the best treatment for sagging jowls?

With over 31 years in the beauty industry, I have come across many non-surgical treatments that can help the jowl area. The one thing for sure is that they creep up on you very slowly and suddenly you have jowls!! I know it surprised me, I thought I had got away with it as you normally start to see them in your 40’s, but mine only appeared as I was closer to 50. From experience look after your jowl area to prevent them from sagging too early.

What causes sagging jowls?

Mainly the loss of elastin and collagen is the cause of sagging jowls. As you get older you lose the amount of collagen and elastin in your skin and when this happens gravity causes it to sag.

Other causes can be from your environment or from your lifestyle choices.

Example:

Facial expressions: Frequently making certain facial expressions can stretch the skin on your face and neck.

Weight loss: When you gain weight, your skin stretches to cover the increased body mass. If you lose the weight, the stretched skin may sag.

Sun exposure: Overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays can damage the collagen in your skin, causing it to sag early.

Smoking: Nicotine and other chemicals in cigarettes can destroy vitamin C which is essential for collagen and elastin synthesis, so in effect smoking depletes your collagen and elastin as well of course causing other health issues, but I am just concentrating on what it does to your skin.

Using computers or phones: Using a computer or looking down at a smartphone for long periods of time can make the skin around your neck lose its elasticity over time. These jowls have been called “tech neck.” Also blue light emitted from computer screens and phones can cause collagen fibres to break down.

Genetics: Genetics can also play a vital role in your jowl area. It is known for some people to start developing jowls in their 30’s!!

There are several options for treating sagging jowls or reducing how saggy or droopy they appear. Surgical procedures, such as neck lifts, can tighten your skin and make it look less saggy. My area of expertise is in nonsurgical treatments, such as radio frequency, lasers, micro-current, micro-needling and peels that can change the composition of collagen in your skin.

Radio Frequency is a fabulous treatment in tightening the skin by heating it up to between 38-41 ºC to create trauma in the skin so it will start the process of activating your fibroblast cells to produce more collagen and elastin fibres. You can either have in salon treatments for this or Newa do a home device which is very effective at tightening the skin around your jowl area. I offer Radio Frequency treatments using the Carlton ThermaVisage Pro which is a fantastic machine at achieving results in the jowl area. It is also very relaxing and often described as having a hot stone massage over the face. I also retail the Newa home device which has also achieved great results.

Another good salon treatment is Micro-current which allows for the repositioning of the facial muscles and the improvement of facial contours.

DF Ionzyme facials by Environ will help the jowl area too by allowing the penetrations of their active serums like Vitamin A +C and peptide serums into the skin by up to 4400% more than if you were just massaging them into your skin. 

Chemical peels like the AlumierMD Glow peel will encourage the dead skin cells to exfoliate producing fresher new skin cells allowing your active serums to penetrate more which will help with the appearance and tone of your skin.

Micro-needling is another excellent treatment which will trick your fibroblast cells into producing more collagen and elastin fibres.

Homecare products are important too at maintaining a healthy, youthful looking skin as well as good quality supplements. I will cover those in another blog.

So, 

How to prevent jowls:

• Avoid smoking. The chemicals in cigarettes and other forms of tobacco can damage your skin.

• Limit your exposure to the sun. You should always apply sunscreen to your face and neck before heading out for the day. Make it a part of your morning routine to minimise the damage from UV rays.

• Limit your screen time. Try to keep your head at a natural, comfortable angle when using a computer or phone to keep your neck skin from getting bunched up or stretched out. You can also protect your muscles by taking a 10-minute break for every hour of computer work that you do.
• Have an in-salon treatments, like radio frequency and micro-current.

• Use good quality medical-grade skincare.