DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SLEEP WRINKLES AND EXPRESSION WRINKLES?
IS YOUR BEAUTY SLEEP AGING YOU?
Ever wondered what is the difference between facial expression wrinkles and sleep wrinkles? And how do you treat those pesky sleep lines and wrinkles? We all know that smoking and sun exposure can age your skin, but did you know that how you sleep can play a role in the formation of wrinkles and lines?
Facial expression wrinkles are formed when we deliberately move our muscles such as frowning, lifting our brows, squinting or smiling. These expression lines can very effectively be treated with Botox. However sleep lines and wrinkles have nothing to do with facial expression and are formed because of compression when our faces are squashed into the pillow when we sleep on our sides. This viewpoint is shared by the ~ American Academy of Dermatology “If sleeping with your face in a pillow is a nightly routine, then you can develop permanent sleep lines. And you don’t have to plunge head first to get these lines; even years spent sleeping on your side can cause wrinkles.”
Sleep lines and wrinkles CAN NOT be treated with Botox. These sleep wrinkles are often vertical lines that can crisscross with expression lines and persist even after a Botox treatment.
Two forces seems to play a role in forming these sleep lines
- Compression with downward pressure exerted by our 3-5kg head and
- Tissue shift that is caused by friction of the muscles.
Sleeping on your back to prevent your skin to be crumpled is the preferred position and treatment for sleep lines. As 75% of us prefer to sleep on our sides what is the solution to minimize face-to-pillow contact? We can sleep on our backs or consider a pillow designed to keep our faces off the pillow.
One such option is the EnVy® PILLOW that is now available at our office. Not only keeps it your face away from the pillow due to its patented design, it also aligns you spine for a better night’s sleep! It is also touted as a neck and spine support pillow, a shoulder pain pillow, a TMJ relief pillow as well as a CPAP pillow.
Cheers to a good night of Beauty Sleep!
