aging with braces

Message

#1 Post by **starzz** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:13 am

Has anyone else experienced this? During braces treatment, I am noticing more lines on my face have appeared that I swear were not there before I started ortho treatment! The braces make my lips protrude more and I'm concerned that they could be stretching out my skin and that it will have more wrinkles after the braces are removed. My face also got thinner but at the same time I lost weight so I don't know if the change was due to one or both things, but it could be my face was getting thinner from aging. I read the other thread on thinning of face and maybe because my teeth are being repositioned my face looks longer or maybe it's just an illusion because the brackets make my lips look bigger so my cheeks appear smaller in comparison? So in summary it seems like I am looking in some ways older since I started braces. On the other hand I always get carded now.

So I'm curious to know if other people aged with braces or if aging was reversed?

#2 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:58 am

Hey starzz - as opposed to many other posters here, I don't really think my face looks any different with braces.. just my smile. Overall they do make me look like a kid... I apparently always looked young but now people describe me as looking between 14 and 17... Im going to be 24 in 3 weeks. I actually got carded at the movies for the first time in my life while I was braced last year! It really sucks bc sometimes people don't take me seriously, at least not when they first meet me... anyway so nope haven't noticed any wrinkles or change in facial shape but maybe Im just not observant enough.

Im curious to see if I appear different (age or facial shape) after debracing, to myself and/or others. Hopefully I'll be finding out in a couple months!

#3 Post by **Cecily** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:43 pm

I don't notice that I'm aging, but I do look a little different since my braces went on. I'm not surprised that this is happening though, especially if the shift in your teeth is drastic.

Maybe it's just time for a little firming serum?

#4 Post by **CactusZAF** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:43 pm

Well now that you mention it, I am looking way wrinkly for my age, perhaps...... Nah! I'm sure it's all the work related stress and too much time spent in the sun on the job that's done it.

I guess we'll never know as we can't turn back the clock and do it again without the braces to compare results. It would make for an interesting study subject though!

#5 Post by **newsboysgrl777** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 2:14 pm

Starzz...how old are you? If you're an adult and you're going through treatment, this may just be coinciding with the braces treatment. What i mean is, we all start developing small lines and wrinkles here and there...at approximately 25 years old. Obviously this is an approximation, and I am not talkign deep lines and wrinkles, but there is documentation to support that at this age, our skin does start to change.

Anyway, that said, I'm 27, going to be 28 in June and I haven't noticed wrinkles or anything else, but I'm only braced on top and although some movement has happened, my teeth weren't in need of anything dramatic, so it's mostly been alignment and slight repositioning so that the bottoms could be put on and i wouldn't hit them against the back of my top teeth when i closed my mouth. So, maybe I'll have a different opinion once the lowers are put on and things really start moving.

My advice to you is to buy some Mary Kay Night Solution and apply it liberally...and always use a moisturizer. Hey! It can't hurt?? Even if this IS from the braces, it should help. (Don't know a Mary Kay rep? I'm one!! LOL Albeit, not a very good one...I only buy it to use it, not sell it...ha ha).

#6 Post by **starzz** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:26 pm

Did you notice this was posted on April 1st

Thanks for your responses

I do not mean to scare anyone who may be reading this, I was really exaggerating any small changes I might see and attempting to poke fun at the idea that anything that happens during treatment is CAUSED by the braces.

I am an adult, and I have gotten almost 2 years older since I started braces. Um, aging --calendar wise-- is inevitable.

In fact braces have not made me older, nor have they made me younger!!! It is a mixed bag -- in some ways I feel older and some ways younger.

Hope you all had a great April Fools Day!

Actually in all seriousness I do use lotion with SPF protection and have done so regularly since my early twenties. Generally, I am happy that my skin is good and I have been told I appear younger than I am both before and during braces.