Facial aging trajectories: A common shape pattern in male and female faces is disrupted after menopause

Sonja Windhager,

1 Philipp Mitteroecker, 1 Ivana Rupić, 2 Tomislav Lauc, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 Ozren Polašek, 6 , 7 and Katrin Schaefer 8

Our Summary –

BACKGROUND:

Do women age faster than men when it comes to facial changes?  Sonja Winhager researched this in more detail.

OBJECTIVE:

To detect differences in the rate of facial aging between men and women.

METHODS AND MATERIALS:

We collected surface scans of 88 human faces (aged 26–90 years) from the coastal town Split (Croatia) and neighboring islands. Based on a geometric morphometric analysis of 585 measurement points (landmarks and semi- landmarks), we modeled sex-specific trajectories of average facial aging.

RESULTS:

Age-related facial shape change was similar in both sexes until around age 50, at which time the female aging trajectory turned sharply. The overall magnitude of facial shape change (aging rate) was higher in women than men, especially in early postmenopause. Aging was generally associated with a flatter face, sagged soft tissue (“broken” jawline), deeper nasolabial folds, smaller visible areas of the eyes, thinner lips, and longer nose and ears. In postmenopausal women, facial aging was best predicted by the years since last menstruation and mainly attributable to bone resorption in the mandible.

CONCLUSION:

You can see that from the results women age up to 3 times FASTER than men when it comes to facial changes post-menopause.  

OUR OPINION:

This may be an important study t show your pre-menopausal patients to help them understand the strategies to prevent this acccelerated facial aging.

DOWNLOAD the full article here Windhager S, et al. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2019. 169(4)_678-688. F

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