Wrinkles get discussed as one thing and they are several. A line produced by a muscle contracting is a different problem from a line etched by sun damage, which is different again from a crease that formed because the tissue beneath it deflated. They look similar on a face and they respond to entirely different treatments, which is why one treatment applied across all of them improves some and does nothing for others.
Sam Assassa, MD has lectured on aesthetic technique in more than 15 countries across three continents to over 5,000 delegates. He founded Beverly Hills Aesthetics in 1995, is board certified in Internal Medicine, and has performed more than 25,000 aesthetic procedures.
The Three Kinds of Wrinkles
Dynamic wrinkles appear when you move and soften when your face relaxes. They come from muscle contraction folding the skin above, and they respond to relaxing that muscle.
Static wrinkles are visible when your face is completely still. They have etched into the skin itself through years of the same movement combined with collagen loss and sun exposure. Muscle treatment softens them without unfolding them, and the skin needs addressing directly.
Folds are not really wrinkles at all. They are creases that formed because volume beneath them was lost or descended, and they respond to restoring what went rather than to treating the crease.
Most people past their forties have all three, in different places on the same face. Identifying which is which is what makes a treatment plan work.
Wrinkles by Area
Upper face
Mid and lower face
Neck
Where the change is loss of firmness rather than lines, that is covered on sagging skin.
Learn More About Wrinkle Treatment in Beverly Hills
Dr. Assassa will look at your face moving and at rest, tell you which of your lines are muscular, which have etched, and which are folds from lost volume, and explain what treating each would involve. Request a consultation or schedule your appointment online.