Looking good after 40

ALMOST everybody dreads the 40s. It is a time where you are stepping into your middle ages. This is okay with a lot of people but for some it's hard to accept, and they start to go through a mid-life crisis. 

Some people start to become plagued by different health problems related to ageing. This not only affects your health, it also affects the way you look. For some, the change is really drastic and for others it is slower. But whatever the rate, there are answers available to slow or change the process according to your liking. 

Modern technology is not only helping us to solve our health problems but it has also become very advanced in delaying the ageing process through different aesthetic procedures.

Aesthetic or cosmetic procedures are the most popularly performed elective procedures in the west. Its main aim is to beautify or change the way a person wants to look. So now people don't have to live with wrinkles, sagging face or bodies. All of these problems can be solved very easily by cosmetic surgery.

Everybody wants to have nice and healthy skin. For this the ever green rule of cleaning, moisturising and toning should be followed by all. Also using sunscreen should be a regular feature in your daily grooming.

Fine wrinkles start to show around the eyes, lips and forehead at around 35 years of age. It can make a person feel very self conscious.  Botox is a very good treatment for wrinkles. Here Botox is injected into the wrinkled areas, which causes the wrinkling effect to disappear, and makes the face look nice and smooth. 

In people who have very deep furrows due to prolonged effect of wrinkles, prominent nasolabial folds or fine lines around the lip area, fillers are available to fill up these areas to reduce their effects. 

Many kinds of fillers are available. Fat has now become a popular filler, as it is easily available and less expensive and also has less chances of side-effects. This is known as lipoinjection and can be done under local anesthesia. 

Fat is taken from the patient's own body and injected into the depressions. With age some may develop deep hollows under their eyes, which gives a tired or sick look to their appearance, here lipoinjection can be done to make the hollow look go away. It is also used on prominent nasolabial folds, lines around the lips, etc. It is also being used for lip augmentation to give pouty appearance for lips.

Some people develop bagginess around the eyes as they age, as well as drooping upper eye lids. This can be reduced by Blepharoplasty operation where the excess fat and skin is removed. It is a very safe procedure and does not affect the eyes in any way and is usually done under local anesthesia. Deposition of fat in isolated areas around the upper and lower eyelids, known as xanthelasma, also start to appear around this age. These can also be very easily removed leaving no scar.

For the sagging face and neck skin many options are available. For those who have a very small amount of sagging, threads are used to uplift the skin and mini facelifts can also be done in these cases. Facelift surgery can be done on anyone who needs it. This is a major surgery done under general anesthesia and the patient requires admission. Any of these surgeries can be done successfully and are very rewarding as they make you look younger by 10 years.

Some women develop excess hair on their face due to effects of hormonal changes and some just have it from before. These unwanted hair can be removed permanently by laser therapy and leave you from worrying about plucking or waxing every few days. Skin tags, warts and freckles can be removed by CO2 lasers leaving no scars.

We tend to put on weight more easily after hitting 35 or in the case of women after having their first child. For some, this weight is really hard to get rid of even with regular diet and exercise. So, just to get started into reshaping the body there is Liposuction. Here the excess fat is suctioned out through small ports by a special method. This helps to reshape the body and can be done on any part of the body that needs it. 

If you have developed a pot belly or a sagging abdomen, tummy tuck surgeries can be done to bring back your body shape.

Another depressing factor for females is that after having children and breastfeeding there is a sagging of the breasts. This can easily be corrected by uplifting or augmentation mammoplasty.

Losing hair also becomes a problem at this age. This affects both males and females. Females start to lose hair on the frontal area due to premenopausal effects of hormones. For those who already have developed bald spots, this can be filled up by hair transplant surgery. Here, hair follicles are implanted into the bald areas to fill them up. And for the people who are just losing hair, there is hair restoration therapy to help prevent the fall.

Apart from all of these procedures, other surgeries are available according to the need of the person, to make them look and feel better. There is nothing to feel guilty or ashamed of if you do want to age nicely and gracefully. 

Looking good or attractive makes a person feel confident and vibrant. So even if you are hitting those middle ages you don't have to be depressed about it. With proper diet, exercise and a little help from cosmetic surgery you can age gracefully and be happy and confident.