Facial Ageing
Reduced cheek fullness and downward tissue movement that can create hollows or deepen nearby folds.
Physician-led assessment · individualized care · Vancouver clinic
Understanding Cheek Volume Loss
Maybe your face looks a little more tired than you feel, or the lines beside your nose seem deeper even though your routine hasn't changed. Often what's really shifted is the cheek, and once it's supported, the rest of the face tends to look fresher too.
Two things happen in the cheek over time. It deflates, as its small fat pads lose volume and the cheekbone underneath gently recedes. It also descends, as those pads slip lower and the skin softens. Because it's both, adding volume only to the flattest spot can look overdone. Restoring support in the right places brings back a natural contour, and that often softens the folds and under-eye shadows people notice first.
Related Presentations
These focused pages explain different patterns within this concern.
Causes and Contributing Factors
The midface is supported by distinct fat compartments, the underlying cheekbone, and the overlying skin. With age these fat pads lose volume and can shift downward, the facial skeleton slowly remodels and offers less projection, and skin loses elasticity so it drapes and no longer holds a full contour. Weight loss, genetics, sun damage, and smoking can accelerate or accentuate these changes. Because the loss is often a combination of deflation and descent, the cheek can appear both flatter and lower over time.
Signs and Symptoms
Common signs include:
Assessment
At your consultation, we look at your midface as a whole, not just the deepest hollow. We consider where the cheek fat sits and how much volume it has, the bone support underneath, your skin quality, and how the cheek relates to your eyes, folds and jawline, and we watch how your face moves. Our cosmetic consultants may assist with your initial assessment and planning, while the treating physician reviews your suitability, confirms the medical treatment plan and performs your treatment. Your plan reflects the look you'd like, your timing and your budget.
Cosmetic consultations are complimentary.
Prevention and Ongoing Care
Healthy skin drapes better over restored support. Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen protects collagen in the cheeks, a retinoid used as advised supports firmness and texture, and a good moisturizer keeps skin supple between treatments. We'll suggest a routine that suits you, and you'll find our recommended products in the online shop.
Treatment Options
These are some of the options connected to this concern. The appropriate plan depends on assessment, suitability, and your goals.
Your plan is guided by how much volume has been lost, how much the tissue has descended, and the quality of your skin. Restoring a key supporting area usually looks more natural than filling the deepest fold directly.
Cheek injectables and thread lifts are performed by our experienced physicians. Dr. Gidon Frame is APTOS's official thread-lift trainer in British Columbia, and our clinic hosts official APTOS training.
Uses injectable fillers to restore or reshape facial volume and contour, selected for the structure and balance each area needs.
Uses absorbable barbed threads to reposition and lift facial tissue, with a gradual collagen build as the threads absorb.
For the fuller picture, explore the treatment pages above or discuss the options during a consultation.
Medical Assessment
Please see a doctor if facial volume loss is rapid, marked, or comes with unintended weight loss, fatigue or other symptoms of illness, as these can point to an underlying medical cause. A sudden or one-sided change should also be checked.
Frequently Asked Questions
With age the fat pads in the cheek lose volume and tend to shift downward, the underlying bone offers less support, and skin becomes less elastic. Together these flatten the upper cheek and can deepen nearby folds. The pattern differs between people, and we'll show you what's happening in your own midface at your consultation.
The fold near the mouth often deepens because of volume loss and descent higher in the cheek. Supporting a key area in the cheek can soften the fold more naturally than filling it directly, and our physicians will plan the approach around your anatomy.
It depends on the option. Hyaluronic acid fillers, collagen-stimulating injectables and threads each have their own timeline, and your face keeps changing naturally, so many patients plan occasional maintenance. We'll explain what to expect from the option that suits you.
Physician Assessment
An assessment can help clarify what may be contributing, which options may be appropriate, and what a reasonable next step could look like for you.
Visit Our Clinic
Anti-Aging Medical & Laser Clinic combines medical assessment, individualized planning, physician oversight, and a broad range of treatment options in its Vancouver clinic.
Bring your questions, treatment history, and goals. Your provider can help you understand appropriate options, expected recovery, and realistic outcomes.
Make an Appointment
Use our consultation form below and the clinic can guide you toward the appropriate starting point.
