Facial Aesthetics Centre

You’ve looked after your skin for years. You cleanse, moisturise, wear your SPF. And yet, somewhere in your early to mid-forties, something shifts. The reflection looking back at you seems more tired, more hollow, less like you and no amount of extra serum seems to make a difference. You are not imagining it, and it is not simply about getting older.

What most women don’t realise is that the changes they are seeing in the mirror are driven by a very specific biological event: the hormonal transition of perimenopause. Understanding what is actually happening beneath the surface is the first step to doing something meaningful about it.

Our faces are a layered structure of bone, muscle, discrete pockets of fat (known as fat pads), then skin. Every one of these layers is influenced by oestrogen, which begins to fluctuate and decline from around age 40 onwards, and along with this, each layer changes simultaneously.

Research confirms that women can lose up to 20% of facial bone density in the five to seven years following menopause. Our eye sockets widen and deepen, our cheekbones flatten, and our jaw narrows. The bony scaffolding that once supported everything above it quietly shrinks and the soft tissues that used to sit over a firm, full framework begin to descend onto a smaller, less supportive base.

Our muscle and connective tissue that underpins the face begins to thin as oestrogen decline reduces muscle protein production. Fat compartments compound the effect. Our faces contain distinct fat pads under the eyes, along the cheeks, above the jaw and each one atrophies and descends with age. Then on top of all of this comes the skin itself. Oestrogen directly stimulates the cells responsible for producing collagen and elastin. As levels fall, studies show women lose approximately 30% of their skin collagen in the first five years after menopause, with a further 2% lost every year thereafter.

The good news is that modern aesthetic medicine is well-equipped to address each of these changes not just to improve the surface, but to restore what has been lost at every level of the face. Dermal fillers remain one of the most powerful tools available. Using hyaluronic acid, (the same substance the skin produces naturally), fillers can replace volume that has been lost through bone resorption and fat pad deflation.

Anti-wrinkle injections are not simply about freezing expression lines. In the context of perimenopause, they are used strategically to counteract the muscular changes occurring in the face. A carefully placed brow lift, treatment of the muscles around the mouth that can make us look sad even when we are not, can make a huge difference. Perhaps the most impactful area to treat are the frown lines between the eyes, making us look unhappy, tired and even unapproachable. Careful injections can eradicate these and make us feel fresher, less tired and more confident.

Medical-grade microneedling addresses the collagen deficit head-on. An initial course of three treatments, can increase skin thickness, improve texture, reduce pigmentation and restore the skin quality that oestrogen once maintained. At our clinic we use the SkinPen, the best microneedling device on the market, delivering predictable and longlasting results for our patients.

Finally, medical-grade skincare: this underpins everything. Prescription-strength retinoids, active Vitamin C, and daily SPF are the daily maintenance that keeps the results of clinical treatment lasting longer and working harder.

Our perimenopausal faces are still beautiful, but may not reflect the person we are on the inside. With the right professional help, we can all be our best selves, and more importantly, feel more like ourselves again.

If any of this feels familiar, you’re not alone. We would love to welcome you at Facial Aesthetics Centre in Haywards Heath, for a complimentary consultation, where our experienced and friendly clinical team will take the time to listen, explain, and guide you toward feeling like yourself again.