One of the most common areas of the face to show signs of aging is around the jawline. Once the facial skin in this area begins to sag around the jawline, you start to form what are known as jowls. In some cases, the excess skin can actually start to droop below the jawline. The unfortunate effect of jowls is that they can make you look angry or upset, even if that is not your mood or general personality.

Fortunately, there are several options available to tighten up your jawline and remove jowls that have formed. Two of the most popular of these are liposuction and facelift. What are the differences between these procedures? Below, Dallas, TX plastic surgeon Paul Pin explains what causes jowls to form, as well as the liposuction and facelift procedures that may correct them, in order to help you determine which one might be the better option in your particular case.

What Causes Jowls?

Sagging of facial skin around the jawline occurs due to a loss of collagen in that area of the face. Collagen is a protein that the body forms to fill out the body over the skeleton. As you age, your body will lose collagen, leaving you with sagging skin around the lower part of your face, thus forming jowls.

Liposuction

A liposuction procedure is designed to remove pockets of excess fat from various areas of the body, including the jawline, chin, and neck of the face. For a liposuction procedure, Dr. Pin will first make a series of small incisions into the areas of your body from where he will remove fat. He will then insert a thin, hollow metal tube through the incisions and remove the fat with the help of ultrasound to break up the fat cells to make them easier to remove.

Facelift

A facelift procedure will tighten up the skin that has sagged around your jawline. This can involve lifting either just your skin and underlying tissue, or also lift the facial muscle structure around the jawline. A facelift that also addresses the facial muscles will generally give longer-lasting results. Furthermore, Dr. Pin can either do a full facelift, or just address the lower portion of your face, depending on whether or not you want to only focus on your jowls as your goal from a facelift procedure.

Which One Is Right for Me?

The answer to which procedure is the right one to address your jowls depends on whether or not you have fat deposits around your jawline. If you only have fat deposits, but no actual skin sagging, a liposuction procedure is a better option because there is no need to reposition the skin or underlying facial structures. If, on the other hand, you indeed have sagging skin, a facelift will be a better choice. Dr. Pin does not recommend combining the two procedures, but instead waiting until several months after a facelift procedure to see the final results before doing a liposuction to remove any excess fat that may still be around the jawline.

If you feel that the jowls on your face make you look older than you feel, or give people an inaccurate impression of who you are, it may be time to consider a cosmetic procedure to address the problem. Dr. Pin can help you determine the best method to correct the problem.