Woman holding eyes apart looking in a mirror

This is a statement Aesthetic Nurse Hannah Depledge hears a lot from the clients visiting her skin clinic in Sheffield. In this blog she discusses the ageing process and why people start to look tired as they age, even if they don’t feel it.


As well as “Why when I look in the mirror do I always look tired?” other comments that I hear are “my face looks as if its drooping” and “I always look so sad”. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain why the ageing process causes us to look in the mirror and see these changes and feel the way we do.

As we get older our skin starts to lose its natural moisture (hyaluronic acid) and the levels of collagen and elastin in the skin start to decline. This means that our skin quality is affected, it becomes dry, decreases in volume and lines and wrinkles start to appear. These signs of ageing are most commonly noticed first around the cheeks and chin. The levels of subcutaneous fat in the face starts to decline, the bones in the skull start to reabsorb and become thinner, meaning that the skin starts to hang and sag. Imagine a cushion getting older, as the stuffing gets flatter the cover isn’t as tight at it used to be. This is what happens to the skin. The shape of the face changes from the “triangle of youth” to a rectangular, heavy shaped jaw

Illustration of a face with fat shown at various ages
Illustration showing a young ladies face and old ladies face with fat dispresal illustration

So what can be done?

This is where dermal filler plays a huge part in helping to restore the lost volume in the face. The most commonly used dermal fillers are made from hyaluronic acid and can be injected into the different layers of the face, creating subtle, smooth natural results. My aim isn’t to make you look done or give you a pillow faced look. What most of my clients say to me that they don’t want to necessarily look younger, but they want to look the age that they are but amazing for it, they want to be the best they can be!

To help improve the quality of ageing skin, your daily skincare routine plays a massive part in this, simple daily steps, using retinol and alpha hydroxy acids can help to improve collagen density, tone and texture. Look out for my next blog on improving ageing skin quality with at home skin care.