I used to be obsessed with the super models from the late 80s and early 90s. I was in high school then and knew them all by name. Cindy Crawford. Kate Moss. Linda Evangelista. Naomi Campbell. Christy Turlington. Tatjana Patitz. Niki and Krissy Taylor. You get the picture. Essentially they were all in George Michael’s Freedom video. Looking back I still think they were some of the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen.
Around that time I remember hearing that there was actually some research on what exactly humans find attractive in the placement of facial features. There have been a multitude of studies and research on this, but essentially individual attractiveness is optimized when the face’s vertical distance between the eyes and the mouth is approximately 36% of its length, and the horizontal distance between the eyes is approximately 46% of the face’s width (this is apparently known as “the new golden ratio”). Part of this equation is also known as the Ogee Curve.
In our business, clients often come in requesting a particular service to enhance or alter a particular feature (such as lessen forehead lines, or enhance lips). Iris recently shared with me a new way of looking at beauty enhancement: focus on the balance of the face, or harmony of the features, rather than simply on one specific feature.
One of the first ways we start to see facial aging is in our cheeks, as our fat pads below the skin begin to sag, causing the face to lose volume. This of course throws off the balance of the face, and what is know as the Ogee Curve.
Now, the first time I heard someone mention the Ogee Curve, I thought in my head: OG. Why are they saying OG?!? I used to work as a counselor with a lot of kids who were gang bangers, and so OG to me meant original gangster. Apparently at Body Tonic it means the curve of your face. More specifically the Ogee Curve of the face is the double soft-S curves that are seen on the youthful face from an oblique angle. There is fullness to the outside of the brow that softly curves where the upper and lower eyelids meet, then softly curves outward on the upper cheek to again curve inward just above the mouth. As we age the natural curve collapses: as a face loses volume it also loses the harmony of the Ogee Curve of youth.
By using dermal fillers, you can instantly lift your cheeks and restore lost volume. The result, which lasts one to two years depending on which filler is used (Kit and I have Lyft in our cheeks, Leslie has Voluma), is contoured cheeks and a more youthful appearance.
For the first year I worked in the world of aesthetics, I couldn’t see the benefit of a cheek enhancement and I didn’t think I needed one. I didn’t understand what the results would look like. I just thought it would make my face look round and I didn’t want that. I finally decided I wanted to try the procedure, and after we were done, and I turned just slightly to an angle and saw the curve of my cheekbone in the mirror, and I thought Ooooooo! Very pretty! There it was…the Ogee Curve. It had diminished and I didn’t even know it!
So, what does a cheek enhancement feel like? Numbing cream is applied first so it really doesn’t hurt much. You can hear the filler going into your cheek though and it sounds sorta…crunchy. Ewwww. But as soon as the first side was done I looked in the hand-held mirror and was blown away. It was like I just looked much more youthful. My other side looked tired and dry! It creates a curve where before it was flat.
How much product will be used? One and a half syringes were used for my procedure, but I think I would have been quite happy having a total of two syringes. Your injector will discuss this with you at your consult, based on where you’re starting from and what results you are looking for.