Anti-Aging

Eyes truly are the window to the soul, so we are always striving to make them look youthful, rested and full of life. The skin around the eye area is the most delicate, so it is often the area that signs of aging can first be seen.

Prevention and Maintaining:

As early as your twenties, it is important to be good to your skin and body, and thus your eyes, to look your best. This means healthy lifestyle habits such as eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, drinking 8 glasses of water per day, and avoid unhealthy habits such as smoking or excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption. Sunscreen and sunglasses that blocks both UVA/UVB rays are also crucial as a preventative measure.

Other medical conditions, such as allergies and thyroid conditions can give the illusion of tiredness and must be treated as well.

Treating and Turning Back the Clock: There are many factors that can contribute to an aged eye, and a skilled facial plastic surgeon, such as Dr. Anil Shah, will be able to hone in on what treatments will be the solution to each patients unique areas of concern. Some treatments are:

• Botox - This can help to treat crow's feet and fine lines, as well as improve brow position to open up the eye.
• Facial Filler - Can improve under eye darkness cause by volume lose.
• Upper Blepharoplasty - Can lessen the appearance or remove creepy or excess skin, fat above the eyes, and heavy eyelids.
• Lower Blepharoplasty - Can remove the excess fat, loose skin and under eye creepiness.
• Endoscopic Browlift - Can improve the position of the brow and eyebrow, with minimal scarring.

You're so cute! I just want to pinch your cheeks!" Children hear this common exclaim directed at them by mothers, friends, and the dreaded distant relatives.

But for many of us, it has been many, many years since we've heard these words directed at ourselves.
The plump and rosy cheeks are tell tale sign of youth. However, the malar fat pad, commonly termed the apples of the cheeks, tends to get flatter with age.

There is a saying that you can love your body or love your face, but not at the same time.
This often is from the observation by patients that as they lose weight, their face often loses fullness.
This is certainly noticed  in the apples of the cheeks, creating an aged look.

On the other hand, when patients maximize their apples in their cheeks, they may accentuate volume along their body, not ideal for health reasons. The classic catch 22. However, with facial fillers, patients can continue to keep their bodies buff while keeping their faces youthful. Facial fillers which work best are either hyalouronic acid derivatives (termed HA's) such as Restylane or Juvederm or calcium hydroxyapatite (Radiesse). Both of these fillers work by adding volume to the face. 

Studies have demonstrated that these fillers are often replaced by collagen, which is the material of youth and volume. 
The down time of fillers is typically minimal with many patients going back to work or out that evening after treatment.

The key step is the injector's technical ability to artistically transform cheeks so that they appear youthful without looking overly plump. (See picture)  Once your apples are rejuvenated, you may want to steer clear from that plucky aunt who just can't resist fuller cheeks.

Harvard Researcher David Sinclair, who is only 39, discovered that resveratrol, which is found in red wine, helps mice live longer.  What Resveratrol does is activate an enzymes called sirtuins.  Sirtuins exist inside every cell and essentially preserve the organism for when times are better.  This may change the natural lifecycle of our cells which is theorized to be around 92 by Leonard Hayflick. 

Resveratrol inhibits metabolic activation of carcinogens, has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as decreases cell proliferation.   For those of you keeping track, it is this compound and not the alcohol in red wine which gives it is theorized health benefits.  In fact in de-alchohoized red wine, reseveratrol is still present, and health benefits still exist.

Sirtuins, the enzyme stimulated by Reseveratrol,  may hold the keys to diseases such as Alzheimer's, colon cancer and others.  Other molecules thought to play a role in aging are MTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). 

Sinclair, featured in June 2009 of Forbes, theorizes that a whole new class of anti-aging medications will be available and takes Reserveratrol himself.

If your thinking I can take a glass of wine with my dinner and I would be fine, you may want to think again.  For the amount of reseveratrol when found in pills used in the study, it  would require about 1,000 bottles of red wine a day, which is more than I recommend.

Most of the tablets containing reserveratrol are derived from Japanese knotwood and can be had for as little as $4.50 at Walgreen's.  While this research is exciting and promising, only time will tell how effective it is in anti-aging. 

As for me, the questions often remain what supplements do I take?  Fish oil, resveratrol, glucosamine/chondroitin, and alternate a specialized multivitamin every other day. 

There is a whole slew of anti-aging products available to patients.  I think that 2 of the best products out there are Prevage MD and Retin-A.  Both of these products can be worn at night if not irritating,  Prior to use, these products should be tested on a non face portion for one week to determine if there is a reaction.

Prevage MD ($70)

Retin-A ($80)