Facial anatomy and aging? Does the cheekbone or jawbone get wider with age?

The cheek bone and jaw bone do not get wider with age. In fact, it is the opposite. With age, there is actually some resorption of bone.

This is my expertise and a huge portion of my practice. Asymmetry is normal and expected. Buccal fat pad gives slimming not symmetry. Masseter botox will make you slimmer and make the jawline more loose. Fillers help give shaping and contouring. If you want perfect or close to perfect symmetry you need maxillofacial surgery or implants customized. I suggest seeing an expert to go through all options. Most of my younger clients use fillers to give them shaping especially on the cheeks, jawline, and chin which make the face look more slim and tight; and threads such as PDO or Instalift can build collagen and support the facial shaping and skin looseness over time, slowing down the aging process and given the face a more “snatched” look; and morpheus8 or PiXel8 deep microneedling RF can tighten crepe skin especially on the neck and jawline and is great for long term tightening of the full face, neck and chest; its often used to give the face a slimmer more sculpted look because it tightens the skin and gives lift. an early face lift can be performed as well even in younger clients if they want a different facial shape, maxillofacial surgery with bone breaking or shaving can also be done. For facial slimming a combination of treatments are always needed. Options include: 1. Buccal fat pad removal to reduce fat on the lower face 2. Factite or Renuvion/J Plasma to tighten the lower face, jawline, and chin to reduce fat and give the jawline and neck tightening and shaping. 3. Botox to the masseter to reduce the muscular size of the jaw giving the face an illusion of being more slender 4. Fillers to the jawline, chin, cheeks, temples and brow help to shape the face and make it more angled and defined Always use at home derma rolling (see link to Emerageskin x anteageMD roller plus stem cells/hyaluronic acid ampules) and peels like emeragecosmetics enlighten or aerify that can be used to improve skin quality and tighten the skin while improving wrinkles, pigmentation, acne, and Melasma. See an expert who does facial shaping with surgical and non surgical methods to get a comprehensive option. Best, Dr. Emer.

Thank you for your question. The bones of the face appear to project more due to volume loss in the face and this can give the appearance of bones changing in the face. I hope this helps.

Age is characterized by a loss of tissue whether we're talking about bone or muscle/ fat. Over time the cheekbones, jawbones and the soft tissue that pad them tend to atrophy or shrink in volume. Our understanding of aging has changed dramatically and most plastic surgeons are now not only focused on pulling and tightening faces but also replacing the volume lost with aging. For minimal to moderate aging, sometimes volume replacement without surgery can have dramatic effects. Stephen Weber MD, FACS

The cheekbone better know as the zygoma and the jawbone, better know as the lateral mandible both get reduced and thinner with aging in studies done on CT scan of a young group vs an older counterpart.