Defy Gravity

Most people don't think about jowls or saggy skin until, well, it starts to sag. But even then, you can take proactive skincare steps to help prevent jowls and keep your lower face looking firmer and less like a droopy dog.

So, what are jowls and when do they typically happen? "Jowls are lax, drooping facial skin and soft tissue along the jawline and chin area that blur the once-crisp border between the face and neck," explains Dr Mona Gohara, an associate clinical professor of dermatology. "Most people notice the first hints of laxity in the lower face in their late 30s or 40s, with jowls becoming more prominent through their 50s and 60s."

Our genetics are often what help to set that timeline. "Skin thickness, bone structure, fat distribution and collagen quality are all inherited, which is why one person may notice jowls at 35 while another barely sees them at age 60," Dr Gohara explains.

So, you may not be able to control when jowls appear, but there are things you can do now to help you prepare for when the time comes. Like saving for retirement, when it comes to protecting and nurturing your skin, it's never too early to start. Read on to learn how exactly jowls happen – and what you can do to help defy gravity.

What causes jowls?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the factors that cause jowls to appear are the same ones that trigger other visible signs of ageing, such as fine lines and wrinkles, or crepiness on the neck. "If you picture your face at the age of 25, it's like a perfectly plumped cushion, with everything supported by a firm, strong yet flexible internal structure of collagen and elastin proteins, fat, bone and muscle," Dr Gohara says. "Over the years, some of that scaffolding and stuffing diminishes, and the skin becomes laxer. That's essentially what happens with jowls. It's not just the skin loosening; the entire architecture underneath is changing."

Oh no. What!?

Before this all gets too Debbie Downer – here's the upside: There are actionable things you can do to help prevent jowls. This is because gravity and the natural ageing process aren't the only culprits behind the downward trajectory of your face.

"When it comes to skin laxity – including jowls – the groundwork is laid decades earlier, because collagen loss is a slow leak, not a sudden drop," explains Dr Gohara. The key to firming sagging skin is to stop that leak and build up the stores of collagen and elastin in your skin.

What makes collagen and elastin so important?

As skin gradually loses collagen and elastin over time (and again, we're talking decades here), it becomes less firm and supple. "Collagen provides the volume and structural scaffolding underneath the skin, while elastin gives skin its snap-back, like a rubber band," says Dr Gohara.

These essential proteins naturally decline with age, as production of everything starts to slow down and the skin cells head into retirement mode – a process called 'senescence'. Collagen and elastin formation becomes sluggish with age, and that actually starts earlier than you think (as early as your mid-20s, research has shown).

But while the process may start decades earlier, "studies have shown that this collagen loss accelerates in menopause due to declining oestrogen," Dr Gohara adds. Gulp. Besides ageing, there's one thing that dissolves and destroys your stores of collagen and elastin like nothing else – and that is UV exposure. "Sun damage is one of the biggest preventable contributors to visible skin ageing," says Dr Gohara.

But it's not just the decline of these proteins that causes sagging. "The jawbone itself can lose density and projection with age, weakening the foundation beneath the skin," says Dr Gohara, "and deep fat pads, especially in the cheeks, shrink and shift downward over time, so the volume that once supported the midface is no longer in the same place."

Okay, okay, so everything is falling – but what can you do about this?

How to prevent jowls

"A healthy lifestyle – including getting enough sleep, eating a nutritious diet and not smoking – will all help preserve the collagen you already have and stop it from degrading so fast," says Dr Gohara. "A supportive AM and PM skincare routine will also go a long way towards boosting the production of collagen and elastin and protecting your skin from accelerated ageing."

A good place to start is by incorporating some key ingredients into your skincare routine to protect the collagen and elastin that make up the supportive framework keeping your skin taut.

Daily sunscreen

Here's a fact that will motivate you to put on SPF diligently and daily: Up to 80 per cent of visible signs of facial ageing come from unprotected sun exposure. "Daily sun protection is the closest thing we have to true prevention of jowls and sagging because it addresses a major driver of ageing that is within our control," Dr Gohara says.

This simple step will help protect your future skin from a myriad of ageing-related issues, from dark spots to wrinkles to sagging skin. Sunscreen shields your skin barrier from sun damage, but it also helps protect the collagen and elastin deep in the lower layers of the skin from being destroyed by UV rays. And yes, your skin is still getting that UV exposure on cloudy days and when you're in the shade. Protect exposed areas of your skin, especially your face and neck, 365 days a year.

Antioxidants

Antioxidant ingredients like vitamin C and niacinamide fight environmental damage to your skin by helping to neutralise free radicals (unstable molecules triggered by UV rays and pollution) before they can damage collagen and elastin, Dr Gohara says. Vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid also helps to brighten skin, and it's also been proven to help stimulate collagen production.

Retinol

Prescription-strength tretinoin and over-the-counter retinol are vitamin A derivatives and gold-standard active ingredients for treating skin laxity. "They're clinically proven to stimulate collagen and elastin production in the skin and slow the breakdown of both," says Dr Gohara. "These are the best-studied topical ingredients for firming the skin."

Peptides

"These small protein fragments act as messengers, signalling the skin cells to produce more collagen and elastin," says Dr Gohara. As a topical ingredient in skincare serums and creams, peptides are generally gentle and safe for sensitive skin, so they're easy to layer over other active ingredients, such as retinol or vitamin C.

Dr Gohara recommends the 'retinol sandwiching method' to prevent irritation from retinoids and retinol, which means layering a peptide-packed barrier repair cream on top of a retinol product. It's a good way to prevent dryness and irritation from retinoids and double down on collagen building.

Can cosmetic procedures help to firm jowls?

While firming skincare products and daily sun protection all help to prevent and improve jowls and lax skin, they won't give you the more dramatic tightening results of a non-invasive treatment performed by a specialist dermatologist.

"In-clinic procedures using technologies such as laser resurfacing, radiofrequency or focused ultrasound can deliver energy like heat deep into the skin to prompt collagen and elastin production over time," Dr Gohara explains. "I tell patients that these treatments can create meaningful improvement, but they can't reproduce the results of surgery, like a lower facelift. Surgery physically repositions and tightens tissue in a way that no topical treatment can replicate."

The bottom line

Loss of elasticity and volume due to decreased collagen and elastin alters the symmetry and balance of the face over time. Think of a once-fluffy down pillow that eventually flattens and loses its shape because the inner support is no longer as firm. Jowls are basically a droopy pillow.

So, can anything really prevent jowls completely? "Here's the honest answer," says Dr Gohara. "Skincare and healthy habits can delay and help to firm jowls, but they can't completely prevent or reverse them. Ageing is a normal biological process, not a flaw that needs to be erased. The realistic goal is to push back the timeline and reduce the severity of skin laxity, not stop ageing altogether."