Gravity is a fundamental cause of facial aging, because it deforms skin and leads to sagging (aged appearance). However, it is unclear how skin resists gravity, since current technology cannot access its “antigravity system”. Thus, there is no rational basis of skincare for facial rejuvenation.
Here, we established a breakthrough technology called “4D-digital skin” to visualize whole-skin dynamics during deformation at ultrahigh resolution.
To do this, we observed movement of skin using micro-CT and then analyzed the skin dynamics. The 4Ddigital skin technology revealed that young facial skin resists deformation in the direction of gravity due to a resistant area where hair muscles (arrector pili muscles) “lock” the skin in place and resist deformation.
These muscles align with gravity but decrease with aging, resulting in skin deformation and an aged appearance. Therefore, hair muscles act as the skin’s antigravity system (designated the dermal “dynamic belt”), and loss of this belt is critical for facial aging. 4D digital skin technology represents a revolution in skin analysis from static 3D to comprehensive spatiotemporal 4D analysis, dramatically expanding the targets, depth and speed of research.
The discovery of the dermal dynamic belt is a breakthrough in skincare, leading to novel antigravity skincare for facial rejuvenation by targeting the skin’s antigravity system itself.
By IFSCC Magazine
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