Applying art to facial rejuvenation is key to making a face appear optimally youthful and at the same time completely natural. I have spent my lifetime studying faces to determine what are the qualities that make a face look younger or older. I particularly like to look at mother and daughters’ photos on social media to scan the features that make one subconsciously think a face is older or younger in quality. One element in the design of the face that I would like to explore is the upper, outer face. I have noted that with progressive aging there is a scalloping or hollowing of the temple area. Below this temple hollow is a convex zygomatic bony arch. Further, below this bony arch is another depression, which I call the “subzygomatic hollow”.

I find it of outmost importance to fill this area for a few reasons. First, it unquestionably makes a person look younger.

Second, it can make a face that is heavier actually look thinner. The reason for this observation is if the upper face is wider than the lower face then, the lower face will look proportionately thinner. Think of an egg that inverts with age from a wider upper shape to a wider lower shape.

Third, by framing this outer shape of the face, the eyes will look brighter and more youthful. It is weird that is the case but every time I fill this area I see that the eyes look more alluring and simply better. Fortunately by filling this area you don’t get the problems you see of overfilled cheeks where people look weird when smiling. This outer face does not move during smiling so you look natural smiling or not smiling. I have been asked many times whether this area is even worth doing because you wear your hair down, and I simply say that I can still see someone looks balding even when he or she wears one’s hair down. You can tell already but even more obviously when the hair is worn up. There are two methods for filling this area: fat grafting and fillers. Both work very well to accomplish this task. It is far more popular today to use fillers because it can be done so easily in the office. However, fat grafting is an amazing method to restore complete facial volume loss. For differences between these two methods, please visit this page on fat grafting vs. fillers.