A New Wrinkle in Time: What Wrinkles Does Your Future Behold?

Wrinkles

Seven Personality Types and the Wrinkles Associated with Them

Imagine you could foresee what kinds of wrinkles are in your future just by analyzing your behavior. Knowing your personality traits can help you take preventive measures to avoid wrinkles down the road.

Don’t say your mother didn’t warn you!  For decades, moms told kids that if they kept making that funny/ugly/crazy/scary face, it would freeze. These words sparked fear among legions of children who were simply trying to express their likes, dislikes with some other outside-of-the-box feelings via their facial expressions.

And mother wasn’t all wrong. (Is she ever?) “To some extent, our inside affects our outside and our outside affects the inside,” says Kate Goldie, MD, Medical Director of the European Medical Aesthetics Ltd in London. This means that certain elements of our personality – especially those that involve telltale expressions or actions – may determine where we get wrinkles and how quickly we earn these stripes.

Here’s what you can expect, and what you can do about it.

Personality Type No. 1: Are you a nippy sweetie?

Kissy Sweetie Botox Dysport Xeomin

This term is common in southern Scotland and Glasgow. “A nippy sweetie is slightly judgmental and disapproving, and it shows on her face,” explains Dr. Goldie. “Nippy sweeties tend to purse their lips all the time.”  This taxes the obicularis oris muscle which encircles the mouth and lips. “All this contracting creates lip lines, also called lipstick lines or smoker’s lines,” she explains.

What your future may hold: Neuromodulators such as Botox, Dysport or Xeomin can help delete fine lines and wrinkles in this area, but deeper folds may require volumizing fillers. Laser skin resurfacing and chemical peels can remove the skin’s uppermost layer, improving skin texture and color and softening very fine static lines. “There are many options to get rid of lip lines, and we can use them alone or together depending on the severity of the wrinkles.”

Change your destiny: Preventive treatment with neuromodulators can help stop these muscles from contracting, and retrain your lips before lines develop, she says.

Personality Type No. 2: Are you perpetually pissed off?

angry, wrinkled

If you are constantly scowling, you may overuse your corrugator and depressor supercilii muscles above your eyebrows and the procerus muscle between your eyes, explains Hema Sundaram, MD, a dermatologist with offices in the Washington, DC area. The result? Frown lines aka those pesky 11’s between the brows.

 What your future may hold: “Botox, Dysport or Xeomin – all brands of botulinum toxin type A – are in your future,” she says. These shots relax overactive frown muscles, smoothing them out. “Ongoing treatment can actually retrain your muscles so they are less overactive.” Plus there’s new evidence that Botox treatment may also elevate mood and relieve depression, she says.

Change your destiny: “Try to be aware of when you are doing this, and ask friends or colleagues around you to point it out,” Dr. Sundaram says. “If it is due to pure ire, try yoga for stress reduction or taking out the anger on a punching bag in the gym, rather than on your face.”

Personality Type No. 3: Are you a shiny, happy person?

happy girl, plump cheeks

All that smiling is hard on your risorius muscle, which is named after the Latin word for laughter. This muscle’s main job is to raise the corners of the mouth during smiling or laughing. “A sincere smile as opposed to a ‘fake’ one also involves the levator anguli oris and zygomaticus major muscles which raise the corners of the mouth when smiling,” Dr. Sundaram explains.

What your future may hold: “Fillers are a first option,” she says. “Good choices include Belotero, Juvederm, Radiesse or Restylane Defyne because they integrate well into the skin and move naturally with it when you animate your face, i.e., smile,” she says. “If the smile muscles are overactive, they can be injected with small doses of Botox, Dysport or Xeomin, but care must be taken to preserve natural facial expressions.”

Change your destiny: Don’t stop smiling! “A broad spectrum sunscreen, a good moisturizer, and skin rejuvenation treatments with growth factors and antioxidants can help to maintain skin quality and lessen the prominence of smile lines,” Dr. Sundaram says.

Personality Type No. 4: Are you a Nervous Nellie?

nervous, forehead wrinkles

If you are always worried, you may be giving your frontalis muscles a run for their money. These raise the eyebrows and cause horizontal forehead lines. Also involved is the orbicularis oculi, which closes the eyelids.

What your future may hold: “Botox, Dysport or Xeomin can get rid of these forehead lines,” Dr. Sundaram says. Treatment lasts up to six months. “Fillers may be added if you have volume loss in the area.” These lines start to develop in the late 20’s for most women, and in the mid-30’s for men.

Change your destiny: “Yoga again! Or maybe Tai Chi. When you’re Zen, you don’t worry as much,” Dr. Sundaram says.

Personality Type No. 5: Are you Selfie-absorbed?

selfie

Selfies are here to stay, and making that duck face is par for the course for many selfie lovers. “It’s an abnormal movement, and if you do it too often, you are going to get lip lines,” Dr. Goldie warns.

What your future may hold: Lip lines can be treated with neuromodulators, and deeper lines may need a filler, she says. “The good news is that we have many treatments to address lip lines today.”

Change your destiny: Applying sunscreen regularly and using a collagen booster or a wrinkle-fighting cream can keep lip lines away, and prophylactic Botox use will slow down the formation of these lines, she says.

Personality Type No. 6: Are you a Debbie Downer?

wrinkles caused by negativity

We all know one or two of these. They can literally suck the fun out of any conversation or occasion. When you go high, Debbie goes low. “If you frown a lot, you will develop frown lines quicker than others who don’t frown quite as often,” Dr. Goldie says. Frown lines occur between your eyebrows and around the corners of the mouth and lips (also called nasolabial folds).

What your future may hold: “Botox, Xeomin or Dysport between the brows can make it look like your mood has improved,” Dr. Goldie says. “Fillers in the nasolabial folds can also get rid of all the evidence that you were once a frowner.”

Change your destiny: “Small amounts of Botox in certain areas around the mouth will break the habit and literally turn your frown upside down,“ Dr. Goldie says. “This gets you out of the habit of frowning by stopping the muscle from contracting.”

Personality Type No. 7: Are you a hand talker?

hand talker

You know the type: that coworker who uses their hands to illustrate every point they are about to make or the PTA mom who always makes air quotes. Hand talking likely won’t cause wrinkles, but it may result in sun damage and age spots on the hands, Dr. Goldie says.

What your future may hold: Hand lifts are en vogue. These may include laser skin resurfacing or peels to get rid of sun and age spots and fillers to plump up hands so they are no longer a giveaway of your real age or your constant hand waving, she says.

Change your destiny: Slather your hands with sunscreen just as you do your face, Dr. Goldie says. Regular moisturization can also helps keep skin supple and moist.

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