Like Mother, Like Daughter : Generations Age the Same

Now researchers claim to have established the truth behind the saying that husbands-to be have traditionally been told: “If you want to know what your wife will look like when she is older then look at her mother.”
Experts found that the faces of mothers and daughters wrinkle and sagging in exactly the same “pattern” as they get older.
They scanned the faces of mothers and daughters an saw that the skin and soft tissues-especially around the eyes – showed the same pattern of wasting away and loss of elasticity.
The similarity becomes most apparent when the daughter reaches their mid-30s, claimed the researchers who presented their findings at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons conference in Seattle, Washington.
Dr Matthew Camp and colleagues at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California said studies of facial ageing up to the present had largely been observational and subjective. This is the first that actually proves scientifically that your mother truly reflects how you will age.
To measure the full spectrum of ageing, they examined 10 sets of similar looking mother-daughter pairs, aged from 15 to 90 years old. Using state of the art facial imaging and 3D computer modelling, the authors found a consistent pattern of sagging and volume loss specifically around the inner corners of the eye and lower eyelids in the mothers.
They found a “consistent pattern of atrophy and regression” around the tear ducts and lower eyelid. Analysis of the soft tissue around the eye found that it lost elasticity and plumpness in exactly the same way.
Removing the bags under people##s eyes and other eyelid surgery is one of the fastest growing cosmetic surgery procedures in Britain – just behind breast surgery. Ageing around the eyes and bags under the eyes are caused by the skin losing elasticity and muscles slackening with age. For the eyelids this results in an accumulation of loose skin which collects as folds in the upper lids and forms deepening creases in the lower lids.
At the same time there is slackening of the muscle beneath the skin allowing the fat, which cushions the eyes in their sockets, to protrude forward to give the appearance of bagginess.
The findings back up the perceived wisdom – mainly of men – that women will age like their mothers. In general women are believed to age more badly than their male contemporaries because female features are more susceptible to the age of gravity and loss of muscle and elasticity. This is mainly because the shape of their face tends to change from oval to square as the skin sags.
In a speech for a conference Norman Waterhouse, the past president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and leading facelift surgeon, said women are perceived as ageing more poorly than men because their face changes shape as they get older. Women##s faces, which are oval shaped when they are young, become more square as they age. On the other hand men have square faces throughout their lives.
This is why facelifts are more prevalent among women. A facelift is designed to offset this effect. At the same time the surgery can remove wrinkles.
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The Telegraph

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