ABSTRACT
Facial aging is a complex, multifactorial process involving multiple facial layers. Changes in the skin, skull, and soft tissues play contributory roles. Loss of collagen and elastin, combined with epidermal thinning, contributes to the appearance fine rhytides. Distributional changes in the superficial and deep fat pads, in addition to bone remodeling, constitute key morphological factors and result in the characteristic inverted heart shape of the aging face. The important aesthetic landmark of the upper third is the nasion, defined as the suture between the frontal and nasal bones in the midsagittal plane. Together with the nasion, the glabellar angle is used as an anthropometric measurement in facial and cephalometric analysis. The midface is a merging of the following bony structures: nasal, lacrimal, ethmoid, maxillary, zygomatic, and palatine bones. The main function of the midface is to house the eyeballs within the orbit and the teeth within the maxilla, which then transmits masticatory forces to the skull base.
