Age-related changes in the three-dimensional morphological structure of human facial skin

The human face shows morphological changes with age. Although these changes are generally recognized as wrinkle formation, there have been no quantitative studies of three-dimensional morphological changes with age in each area of the face. The object of the present study, therefore, was to evaluate age-related three-dimensional morphological changes in each area of the face.

We obtained replicas using a silicon impression material from eight areas of the face (forehead, eye corners, upper eyelids, lower eyelids, glabella, cheeks, mouth angles, and nasolabial groove) of 136 healthy women, and performed morphological evaluations using a small object type three-dimensional surface morphology measurement system (Voxelan, NKK Co. Ltd., Japan).

All parameters examined, with the exception of sWvin the cheeks, increased with age. The correlation between sWp and age was high in the following order: eye corners > mouth angles > glabella > nasolabial groove > upper eyelids > lower eyelids > forehead > cheeks. sWp in all areas except the eye corners was similar to the mean value in the cheeks in the group aged 18-20 years. However, in the group aged 71-83 years, marked differences were observed among the eye corners, glabella, mouth angles, nasolabial groove, and upper eyelids.

Although sunlight is important in the development of three-dimensional changes in surface morphology (wrinkles) in the face, other factors seem to play important roles for the progression of these changes.