JOWLS!

[LadyBigtoes]

I'm 43 (shite how did that happen) and have always thought I looked ok for my age, but the dreaded droopy jowls are arriving. I don't actually mind getting wrinkles and so on and I'm happy to age gracefully, but I do not like the jowls. They make me look like my mum and I feel like I have her self-pitying, downtrodden jowly expression. :(}}

I am not a surgery or Botox type at all and wouldn't go there, but I might be interested ina wonder cream if anyone knows of one? Or other tips?

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Someone asked this a few weeks ago and I think exercises to work your facial muscles were recommended, with YouTube as a source.

[LadyBigtoes]

Ooh! Will have a look, thanks.

[Talisin]

this www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/a1658123-Has-anyone-found-a-way-to-improve-sagging-jowls was the previous thread mentioned, I believe.

[LadyBigtoes]

Fab, thank you.

[kissmyheathenass]

Mine look better if I smile. So I try to do that alot , now I have crows feet laughter lines too.:(

[ClaudiaCutie]

Lady B, whatever you do, don't waste any money on wonder cream. There is no product in the universe that you can put on top of your skin that will make any difference at all. Forget Botox for fixing jowling, even if you were that type of person (I see you're not) it would not do anything to help because it works by relaxing muscles. Jowling is caused by too much laxity in the first place. However, for some people, Botox can help reduce the down-turned mouth. But that's not for you, so let's move swiftly on.

My jowls started looking awful at 38 and on me at least, they are very aging. The key to improvement is tightening things up. I have looked at options for this a lot as it makes me dismayed when people ask if I'm upset or sad. I'm not - I'm probably feeling perfectly cheerful - but because of the down-turning mouth and heaviness in the jaw area it creates a negative, mournful facial expression. I make a concious effort to keep my mouth turning up a bit at the corners in order to look more cheerful, or at least neutral, but it's incredibly difficult to remember to do that all the time!! I have accepted that in the end, the only thing that will work completely for me is to have surgery.

If you can't stand the idea (and I totally understand why!) then you can try the facial exercises (unlikely to make any difference, but won't cost a bean and can't do any harm) or you could consider acheiving a partial improvement by having Radio Frequency treatment. It is not needles and not surgery - a doctor massages the jowls and underchin area with a thingy (techinical term) that looks like a TV remote control but in fact it's a device which emits radio waves. The radio waves warm up the skin and it tightens gradually over a few weeks. I paid £500 for three sessions and it made a huge improvement (80%) to my underchin area and about a 40% improvement to the jowls. For me it was worth it. HOWEVER.... it is not permanent; it needs to be done every 18 months or so to keep the effect 'topped up'. It really depends on how much it bothers you. It drives me crackers so I'm prepared to do a lot to improve things, other people will feel differently of course.

[LadyBigtoes]

Claudia, thanks for such a detailed reply! You're EXACTLY right - it's the miserable, negative expression it gives me that I can't stand. I don't mind laughter lines, so I will be trying the smiling too kiss!

I have never been one for posho beauty treatments but I will keep this radio frequency thing in the back of my mind for if it gets really bad - yes it could well be worth £500 to me too, if it does.

Meanwhile - I went on youtube and had a go at the exercises - prompting DP to go "WHAT are you doing???!!!" :o I can definitely feel my muscles have been exercised in the area so will carry on and see if it does anything.

[MaeMobley]

Claudia, where did you? (if it was in London?).

I am also 43 and have the same problem.

[MaeMobley]

should say "where did you GO?". I can't type.

[Jelly15]

I am forty three also and I have a shock when I look in the mirror. My eye lids are drooping and I am getting jowls. I am four stone overweight so I thought this was the problem but it is probably age too.

I don't mind the laughter lines as much but the drooping is awful. I will never afford surgery so I am f**ked

[ClaudiaCutie]

I'm glad the info is helpful. I thought it might annoy people because I am very pro-intervention. The fact that the jowls add ten years to my face does make me cross as the rest of me is in surprisingly good nice. Oh well - must be grateful for good health, which a lot of people don't have, I keep telling myself this!

MM - The place I went to for the RF is Brighton (even though I live in London!) because I wanted treatment on a Saturday. I don't like taking time off work for relatively frivolous things like this! It's a Hove Skin Clinic which is run by a private dermotologist (Dr Russell Emerson, he is delightful). Even though it's a bit of a drive, it's actually a very pleasant run on a Saturday and he's a lot cheaper than London doctors which is a side benefit. Russell seems to like offering treatments that offer very good results for not too much money - I've asked him about other things and he's said straight up "don't bother doing that, you won't see enough benefit". He'd been doing the RF treatment for a year before I asked him what on earth I could do about the wretched jowls so he certainly doesn't push treatments on people - you have to ask, definitely.

Having said all that, another thing that did help with the dreaded downturned mouth was getting a botox injections in that down-turning muscle, (Dr Helen St John in Wimbledon is very clever in that lower face area ...) but I do really understand why people are repelled by that idea of needles and things.

Trying hard to keep a Mona-Lisa-like enigmatic smile costs nothing and is side-effect-free and it's a good thing to do. Far better to look gently amused that be looking like you've lost a bob and found sixpence, as my grandmother used to say :-)

Jelly - I lost two stone last year and my jowls really decreased a lot, so if you can tackle the weight issue, your face will look a lot younger! So that's free too. You can disguise the eye thing with clever eyeshadow - have a look in Lisa Eldridge's tutorial for hooded eyes, and on You Tube for eyeliner for hooded eyes. MUA £4 pallettes are great for experimenting with shadows. I love a cheap visual fix if it's available.

[MaeMobley]

Thanks Claudia. That is really useful. I have heard of Helen St John (I live in Wimbledon).

[FellatioNels0n]

My mouth is horribly downturned.

I hate it. My lovely luscious lips are going thin as well. I have tried botox to life the mouth but to be honest I looked like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls377ly3Q21qjhzvpo1_500.png&imgrefurl=fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/post/10646423998/when-henry-is-unhappy-he-makes-a-face-that-is&h=549&w=449&sz=101&tbnid=o6Cg2-T2wb8nMM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=75&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmarlon%2Bbrando%2Bgodfather%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=marlon+brando+godfather&usg=__9bux1j8lYLrlOqLwHAFQ7AuGPVA=&docid=dF8d0ug4JyenkM&sa=X&ei=qjkXUeyZNIuNrgf6tIHoCw&ved=0CDcQ9QEwAg&dur=1357" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">this.

I am avoiding having my lips plumped though as I do not want to look like this.

A few months ago had Restylane filler put in the troughs under my eyes, which were getting hollow and grey-looking and baggy. That made a huge difference. I would definitely do that again.

I don't know of any realistic cure for jowls though, apart from surgery. Some mornings I wake up and look in the mirror and see Walter Matthau in there.