LAM FACIAL PLASTICS

Dr. Lam is it possible that the skull continues growing after the age of 25 or even after 30?

I feel the changes in my facial proportions (the chin looks way smaller than before) can't be attributed only to fat loss. Is the chin recess with aging due to bone absorbtion or because the other parts of the face grow more and make it look smaller in comparison?

Do you know of any studies of the scull development with aging?

A large proportion of the loss in the chin is due to soft tissue loss and not bone. However, you can lose some bone as you age. as a counterpoint, your nose is primarily cartilage and bone. that is why the rest of the face becomes relatively smaller compared with the nose that looks relatively larger as you age simply because the face is primarily soft tissue and the nose is primarily hard architecture. i have never heard of skulls growing. it also does not make sense that they would but i am not a specialist in understanding bone changes to that degree.

[quote="summertan"]Dr. Lam is it possible that the skull continues growing after the age of 25 or even after 30?
[/quote]

The skull certainly can keep growing at least up until the mid 30s or so, and, in men at least, may be the norm.

[quote="summertan"]

Do you know of any studies of the scull development with aging?[/quote]
Here is one involving men: Guess I am not allowed to post the URL.
Someone who is taking HGH will be even more likely to show signs of skull growth; another good reason not to take it.


[quote="summertan"] Is the chin recess with aging due to bone absorbtion or ...?
[/quote]

This will probably come later.

However, I agree with Dr. Lam that most of what you observe is probably indeed soft tissue loss rather than bone loss, and that loss may also make the skull seem like it is larger, when in reality it has not grown. I, too, was worried my skull had grown before, but now I think the changes I see are due to the very significant loss of fat simply drawing more attention to the skull.

Not sure why the BBCode is not working - I tried to turn it on in my profile, but maybe we just can;t use it on this board....

You could try posting the link as text without the http and www

www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109895603/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&S

thanks. i couldn't get on the site, but that's fine.
sml

The abstract can be accessed at

www3.interscience.wiley.com/search/allsearch?mode=quicksearch&WISindexid1=WISall&WISsearch1=109895603

but it requires subscription to read the full text. I did anyways, through my university. They found tenths of a millimeter increase for one year in all skull dimensions except one.

that is very interesting. i learn something every day myself!!! I always question how accurate a measurement to a 10th of a millimeter is. That is pretty precise measuring. I guess now if you call someone getting a bit thick headed, there is a scientific reason for it.
best,
sml