Non-surgical Treatments For Jowls

One of the most common (and unwelcome) signs of ageing is the appearance of lower jowls – the drooping bags of skin and fat deposits below the jawline. If you’ve found yourself staring in the mirror, pulling back flesh towards your earlobes, noticing the cleaner jawline that it creates, you’ll be happy to know that there are non-surgical options available to address or help prevent this annoying but very normal condition.

What causes jowls?

Many contributing factors cause jowls. However, the major contributor is ageing, which essentially is a deterioration of our physiological functions. As time passes, the skin around our lower cheeks and jawbone loses much of its collagen and elastin and becomes thinner and less elastic.

Collagen is a protein that makes up the connective tissue in your body. Connective tissue supports, protects, and provides structure to our tissues. Elastin is a connective tissue protein that returns your skin to its normal shape after being stretched, just like an elastic band retracts. We also lose fatty tissue in our faces as we age, so skin is no longer plump and firm but saggy and loose.

Other causes of jowls include significant weight loss, bone loss, genetics, sun exposure, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet and repetitive facial expressions.

Treatments for jowls

The only way to treat jowls successfully is through non-surgical volumising and augmenting treatments or plastic surgery. However, there are non-surgical treatments that can help prevent your jowls from worsening, which we’ll discuss further below.

To determine the best course of action for you, book a consultation with one of our registered nurses so that we can examine your face and discuss your wants and needs.

Volumising & augmenting products

To instantly firm the jawline and minimise the appearance of jowls, we can administer high-quality products specifically to strengthen the jawline (bridging the front and back part of the jawline to help ‘conceal’ the jowls). This highly effective treatment requires almost no downtime and no surgery.

Volumising products are made from complex sugar molecules naturally occurring in your body. They bind with water to support your skin and increase volume, giving you a more youthful appearance.

THE TREATMENT: The treatment typically takes one hour.

RESULTS: Results can last up to 24 months, depending on the product used.

POTENTIAL RISKS: Common side effects can occur straight after treatment or may be delayed. They include but are not limited to bruising, bleeding, tenderness, numbness, swelling, skin redness and itchiness. Other adverse reactions can include skin discolouration, weak filling effect, nodules or infections.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information on volumising the jowl area, please see our treatment page here.

Preventative measures

Prevention is better than cure.  And while ageing is inevitable, you can stave off the ageing process (and the development of jowls) by caring for your skin in the following ways.

Medilux LED Light

When used regularly, LED (Light Emitting Diodes) can treat signs of ageing by enhancing your body’s natural cellular recovery and stimulating collagen and elastin. This, in turn, helps prevent fine lines, wrinkles and skin laxity. By preventing skin laxity, you help prevent jowls from forming around your jawline.

THE TREATMENT: An LED light treatment is a soothing and relaxing treatment that will benefit your entire face and neck, giving you many skin boosting and anti-ageing benefits, along with being a preventative treatment for jowls. It’s pain-free, non-invasive and highly effective.

Treatment involves lying on a bed with the Medilux head secured directly over your face and neck. Your skin will be cleansed thoroughly before your 20-minute treatment commences.

The Medilux LED treatment uses 1.500 powerful LEDs in colours blue, green, yellow, red and near infrared. Each lightwave length targets specific skin conditions, from acne and redness to pigmentation, lines, wrinkles and signs of ageing.

In particular, red and near infrared light stimulates collagen production, which helps keep your skin firm and wrinkle free.

• Red light reaches the deeper layers of skin known as the dermis, where it stimulates fibroblasts – the cells that produce collagen. Collagen helps heal your skin and keep it firm.
• Near infrared light targets the deeper layers of the body’s skin and tissues. It targets fibroblast cells to create new collagen and elastin while rejuvenating fatigued cells.

RESULTS: Regular treatments of LED light help boost circulation, stimulate collagen production and keep the effects of ageing at bay.

MORE INFORMATION:

For more information on this treatment, please see our procedure page here.

Rejuran

Rejuran is a powerful injectable product that accelerates skin healing and promotes skin rejuvenation. The key ingredient is polynucleotides (PN), DNA fragments extracted from salmon.

When injected into the skin, PN promotes collagen production and skin regeneration, improves elasticity and reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It also reduces unwanted inflammation (which impedes healing and accelerates ageing).

THE TREATMENT: Small amounts of the product are injected below the skin surface. Treatment takes approximately one hour.

Before your treatment starts, you will be thoroughly numbed with a topical anaesthetic. If you prefer, you can have nitrous oxide (happy gas) to ensure there is no pain.

RESULTS: The final results take two to four weeks to be visible. For maximum results, three treatments, one month apart, are recommended. The type of results you experience will depend on your skin condition and overall health and lifestyle.

POTENTIAL RISKS:

Side effects include (but are not limited to) bruising, bleeding, swelling, skin redness, numbness, tenderness and itchiness. Other adverse reactions can include skin discolouration, nodules, infection, facial scabs and weak filling effect.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information on this treatment, please see our procedure page here.

Skin care

A good skincare regimen is vital in combating the visible signs of ageing. At Bella Plastic Surgery, we use Gernetic Skincare, specifically created with powerful active ingredients that bring precisely dosed nutrition to the different layers of your skin. These products can treat your epidermis in-depth by stimulating the fibroblasts, which encourage collagen production and help keep the ageing process at bay.

If you like to discuss your concerns and determine which jowl treatment is right for you, book an appointment with one of our Registered Nurses at Bella Plastic Surgery today.