By Dr. TRACY MOUNTFORD, MBBS MBCAM
As we age, gravity and time take their gradual toll on our skin. Supportive collagen and elastin proteins in the dermis gradually deplete, leaving us with saggy skin that lacks the firmness and vitality of our youth. Factors like sun damage, muscle loss and repeated facial expressions also intensify this ageing process over time. The result is a situation that can leave many of us looking and feeling unhappy with the quality of our skin by the time we hit our 50s, 60s and beyond.
The Judy Murray Effect
This was highlighted when 61-year-old Judy Murray, mother of tennis superstar Andy Murray, had a non-invasive radiofrequency treatment to target sagging skin across her turkey neck. After suffering from loose neck skin for years, she decided to take control of her ageing process with a superior skin tightening treatment. This lifted, tightened and contoured drooping skin and wrinkles under her chin and across her chest area. It proved just how valuable skin tightening treatments can be for the over 50s age group.
Top Skin Tightening Treatments for Over 50s
This case study has thrown a welcome spotlight on the best skin tightening treatment for the over 50s. In this article, we explore these game-changing non-surgical treatments while showcasing just how incredible they can be at transforming tired-looking skin.
What causes loose and sagging skin on your face and neck in your 50s?
Collagen and elastin depletion
The ageing process is one of the number 1 causes of sagging skin. Our skin loses supportive collagen proteins at a rate of around 1% per year after the age of 20. The skin’s natural elastin and hyaluronic acid stores also gradually degrade. All of these substances work together to keep our skin plump and firm.
But by the time we reach our fifties, these crucial structural proteins are in short supply.
Fat and muscle loss
We also lose fat in the skin’s epidermis, which leads to a loss of elasticity and volume. Cheeks and temples are vulnerable to this hollowing, which is worsened by a gradual loss of muscle tissues and bone. Our chins and necks also lose their definition, resulting in the formation of jowls, wrinkles and drooping skin.
Hormone levels
Hormone levels can also wreak having on women in particular, as lower oestrogen levels after the menopause make skin much more prone to thinning, sagging and wrinkling.
Lifestyle factors
UV exposure, pollutants, weight loss and lifestyle choices like drinking excess alcohol all speed up the process of declining elastin and collagen levels. Together, these factors create a perfect storm for sagging, tired and wrinkled skin to develop when a person hits 50 and above. Luckily, we can tighten and revitalise sagging skin without the need for invasive surgery or downtime.
Types of Skin Tightening Treatments for Over 50s – Best Skin Tightening Treatment
Skin tightening treatments for older age groups are designed to replenish lost essential proteins like collagen and elastin while reducing the visible signs of skin fatigue. We walk through the top types of treatment, including collagen-stimulating ultrasounds and volume-boosting injectables.
Ultrasound for Over 50s Skin Tightening
Advanced ultrasound technologies like Ultherapy are highly effective at improving the overall strength and elasticity of aged skin. Ultherapy utilises harmless sound waves to restart the natural production and replication of collagen and elastin proteins. Its stimulating thermal energy heats up skin cells to kickstart healthy cell production in areas that have hollowed out. As a world-leading lifting and skin tightening treatment, it produces stand-out results that are similar surgical facelifts, without any of the associated recovery time.
It stimulates cell renewal at the same depth that surgeons go when carrying out a typical surgical facelift (rhytidectomy). While the likes of Jane Fonda and Sharon Osbourne have undergone this treatment, Ultherapy gives patients a great non-surgical alternative. Patients can treat sagging necklines, jowls, drooping brows and wrinkled ‘turkey necks’ in a safe way that achieves surgical results without any troublesome downtime.
Laser Skin Tightening treatments for Over 50s
Laser skin treatments have also proven their worth when revitalising natural collagen and elastin stores. Also known as laser resurfacing, these skin rejuvenation treatments can tighten up the skin while also repairing damaged skin cells and smoothing out wrinkles. Lasers work by enriching and renewing collagen cells, making them thicker and more robust. These treatments also accelerate healthy cell renewal, so that pigmented and sun-damaged skin appears brighter, more luminous and less lacklustre. Laser treatments like Clear + Brilliant and Tight + Bright lead the way for patients over 50 who want to both reduce signs of skin damage as well as tightening up sagging skin.
Over 50s Non-Surgical Face Tightening Treatment – Best Procedure for Sagging Jowls
Many people in their 50s may think a facelift is the answer to sagging cheeks, drooping jowls or wrinkled jawlines. However, taking the surgical route is expensive and involves weeks of recovery time, with distracting side effects like bruising. Due to recent non-surgical innovations, we can now offer patients the ability to restore youthful attributes without having to take this invasive route.
Silhouette Soft Threading is a leading non-surgical facelift treatment that restores youth to older patients by bringing back the ‘triangle of youth’ to a patient’s face. Youthful faces feature full cheekbones, a contoured jawline and full cheeks. With Silhouette Soft Threading, we inject tiny poly-L-lactic acid suture threads into the skin to immediately lift and regenerate cores zones. They instantly pull up sagging skin around ‘triangle of youth’ target areas for an impressive lift without downtime. The biodegradable sutures then remain in the skin after the treatment to stimulate the natural collagen renewal over time. This achieves a lifted and refreshed face that can take years off a patient’s look. See some amazing Silhouette Soft Thread lifting before and after results that our lovely patients have achieved following their treatment.
Learn more about Silhouette Soft Thread Lifting
Radiofrequency Skin Tightening treatments for Over 50s
Radiofrequency (RF) technologies like Thermage also uplift and enhance aged skin. The heat energy emitted by radiofrequency treatments like Thermage works to stimulate the body’s own skin renewal process. By three-dimensionally heating collagen-rich layers of the skin, Thermage CPT and Theramge FLX tightens the skin’s existing collagen stores while kickstarting the reproduction of fresh ones. It’s ideal for over 50s patients as it safely reduces the appearance of skin issues that affect this age group. Think sagging skin under the eyes, bingo wings, turkey necks and sagging skin around the buttocks. As collagen bundles are progressively modified by the heat energy, skin cells bounce back and remodel themselves in the process. This creates tighter, firmer and more elastic skin, with wrinkles and lines radically reduced.
Microneedling and Radiofrequency Skin Tightening treatments for over 50s
For those over 50 who’s concerns are a bit deeper set, then a duo treatment of Microneedling and Radiofrequency can achieve the skin tightening results they desire. With its advanced technology, Morpheus8 combines microneedling and radiofrequency energy advanced technology.
Using FDA approved fractional technology, Morpheus8 tightens the skin whilst awakening your skin to create more collagen and elastin. The microneedling targets a specific depth of the skin to stimulate a healing response to produce further collagen and elastin. The radiofrequency energy targets the tissue area with heat to tighten the existing collagen stores and moulding the fat to lift and firm contours. This will create results in which the skin is tighter and firmer, with a lovely rejuvenated and youthful contour.
Injectable Treatments for Over 50s
We can also achieve lifted and tightened skin with the help of injectable treatments like dermal fillers and anti-wrinkle injections. These instantly uplifting treatments restore volume and plumpness to over 50s skin while naturally stimulating long-term collagen production. We can apply hyaluronic acid dermal fillers to sagging or wrinkled skin to fill in deep-set wrinkles. As our own natural hyaluronic acid stores begin to dwindle in our 30s and 40s, such lines become more noticeable. But by restoring hyaluronic acid to sagging or loose skin, we replenish lost stores while encouraging new ones to grow. Advanced injectable treatments like Profhilo offer the highest concentration of this substance to restore skin strength at a deeper level. Once injected, our skin holds more moisture and collagen is strengthened to restore firmness and tightness.
Read more about Dermal Fillers
We can maximise results by combining them with anti-wrinkle injections to forcibly relax facial muscles. Botulinum toxin injections have a tightening effect as they physically smooth out the appearance of uneven wrinkles. This greatly benefits patients over 50 who are much more likely to suffer from drooping skin and wrinkles. See what are the areas on the face that you can treat with Botulinum Toxin Injections!
Skin Tightening Consultations for Over 50s
With so many skin tightening options out there, it can be a confusing task to pick the right one. For example, some treatments are ideal at tightening skin across the body, like Thermage and Ultherapy. Others, like Silhouette Soft Threading, only target the face.
It is really important to identify treatable areas that will give you the best skin tightening results. Having a detailed consultation with a professional can help with this process, Medically trained clinicians are adept at assessing your overall skin tightening needs on balance to target areas that need the most work. This ensures you tighten and lift your skin without any confusion, and with visible results that make a big impact.
Over 50s Best Skin Tightening Treatments for Face at The Cosmetic Skin Clinic
At The Cosmetic Skin Clinic, we are experts at delivering specialised facial skin tightening treatments. So, if you are above 50 and contemplating a skin tightening treatment, then our dedicated team has the right mix of knowledge, experience and expertise to get your skin looking its absolute best.
Best Skin Tightening Treatment UK – Contact our London and Buckinghamshire clinics directly on the following phone number to find out more about our leading skin tightening procedures: 0330 057 9047 (London and Bucks). Alternatively, complete our online enquiry form and we will be happy to get in touch to arrange a personalised consultation.
How to find us – Non surgical face tightening treatments specialists in London and Buckinghamshire
The Cosmetic Skin Clinic in London, near Harley Street and conveniently located close to Mayfair, Hyde Park, Kings Cross, Regent’s Park, Soho.
The Cosmetic Skin Clinic in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire
Our clinic in Bucks is close to Gerrards Cross – Chiltern Railway and Slough’s – First Great Western station. If you’re travelling via the M25, M4, M40 or the A40 roads our clinic is close to Beaconsfield, Marlow, Windsor, Wembley, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond, and the Surrey area.
