Lifting Fillers: Retaining Ligaments Are the Key

For a long time, we have regarded facial aging as a "process of losing volume." Consequently, the focus of anti-aging treatment naturally centered on filling in missing volume—plumping up sunken cheeks, filling in nasolabial folds, and adding volume where needed. This is why fillers have established themselves as a representative anti-aging procedure.

Recently, however, the perspective on aging has been evolving. The reason a face looks older in the mirror than before is not simply due to a lack of volume. The jawline blurs, the midface appears elongated, and the corners of the mouth point downward. Rather than losing something, it is closer to the fact that the structural support holding the face up has begun to weaken. At the center of this mechanism lie the retaining ligaments.

Retaining ligaments are anatomical structures that connect the skin, SMAS (Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System), and periosteum, holding facial fat and soft tissue securely in place. In a youthful face, they stably support the weight of the face. However, as time passes and elasticity diminishes, fat shifts downward and the face's center of gravity lowers along with it. As this structural support weakens, the weight load of the face moves downward, blurring the jawline and making nasolabial folds and marionette lines significantly more pronounced.