The temples are among our most unassuming features. We don’t adorn them with makeup, target them with special serums, or pierce them as a rite of passage or act of rebellion. We don’t think about them much at all, really—until one day, we do. <\/p>
We typically take notice as they start to shrink, altering their surroundings. Like the rest of the face, the temples deflate with age, losing volume as resident fat pads, collagen, and bone gradually erode. Since there’s already a natural concavity to the temples—actual hollows in the skull itself—you may see this area sinking faster than other parts of the face, says Dr. Papri Sarkar<\/a>, a board-certified dermatologist in Brookline, Massachusetts. <\/p> Sunken temples can exacerbate crow’s-feet, make the brow look heavy, and even change the shape of the face, giving it a peanut-shell silhouette. “If you look at children, the forehead is very broad and the rest of the face is plump with healthy facial fat,” explains Dr. Jennifer MacGregor<\/a>, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. Aesthetics doctors often liken a youthful face to an upside-down triangle—but receding temples upend that geometry: “The upper face narrows and the [overlying] skin drops, causing the lower face to sag and widen,” she adds.<\/p> Oftentimes, it’s the consequences of temple atrophy—not the hollows themselves—that catch our eye. “People notice the lower face softening and drooping but almost never put their finger on the cause,” Dr. MacGregor says. Likewise, Dr. Sarkar finds it’s rare for patients to come in asking for temple filler specifically, but many do recognize an overall shape shift—the peanut-head phenomenon that’s synonymous with temple hollowing.<\/p> Perhaps more striking than this new contour is what it conveys. “People subconsciously read faces—we make quick judgements on age just by reading head shape across the room, well before we get close enough to see any wrinkles,” says Dr. Annie Chiu<\/a>, a board-certified dermatologist in Redondo Beach, California. “A gaunt, depressed temple creates a concave area that sucks in light, making the face appear more shadowy, less healthy.” Moreover, she adds, as the temples collapse, the cheekbones become exaggerated, the outer eyelids droop, and the tails of the brows “appear to fall off a ledge, leading to a sharpness in this area.” <\/p>