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What Causes Expression Wrinkles?

In the past, many dermal fillers were thought to be overly stiff and too unnatural looking on the face if used to address dynamic wrinkles. Revance’s fillers at our St. Louis-based practice—known as the RHA® Collection—are the first-ever fillers to be approved for use on areas of the face that move repetitively to reduce the appearance of dynamic wrinkles and folds.

As the hyaluronic acid that they contain is processed to be very similar to the natural hyaluronic acid that’s found in your skin, these fillers are able to stretch and adapt to facial movement.

You may have heard the term “dynamic wrinkles” before, but might be wondering what exactly are dynamic wrinkles and why do they occur? Also called expression wrinkles, dynamic wrinkles aren’t the same as the static wrinkles that remain even when your face is at rest. 

Many of the wrinkles that develop on your face are mainly caused by age-related collagen loss, but there are others—especially where the skin is thinner and there is regular and aggressive muscle movement. This tends to happen around the eyes and lips, where other types of wrinkles are likely to occur. Simply put, dynamic wrinkles form due to facial movements, such as squinting, frowning, smiling, and furrowing of the eyebrows.

Everyone has about 20 flat craniofacial muscles that are essential for facial expressions. As opposed to other skeletal muscles in our body that are attached to bones, these facial muscles are attached to other muscles or the skin. That means that whenever there are minor contractions, our facial expression will change. Expression wrinkles form in the areas where the skin folds together.

Our skin wrinkles in a similar way to creases forming on a sheet of paper. The more times you fold the paper, the deeper the creases become. Also, once our skin starts producing less collagen as we age, our skin doesn’t bounce back to its normal shape as easily, and we develop more pronounced wrinkles in the areas where muscles contract. 

Get more information on RHA® fillers, as well as other injectable treatments used for facial rejuvenation, from West County Plastic Surgeons of Washington University. To schedule a appointment and find out which minimally invasive procedure would be best for you, call us at (314) 996-8800 or submit a contact form online to request a consultation.