NUMERICAL MODELING OF FACIAL AGING

Facial aging is a biological phenomenon. Skin properties change with t ime, and gravity and facial expressions exert mechanical deformation. Knowledge of these alterations may suggest ways to reverse them by ide ntifying the corresponding distortional forces. The aim of this study was to determine a pattern of change for parameters of the face during the aging process, based on the numerical fitting of measures from a sample of patients. The first aspect of this study was to define adequ ate facial parameters and means of measuring them. Subsequently, each parameter was defined individually, and these data were analyzed as a set. The sample for the research was restricted to a group of 40 white female patients with a history of limited exposure to the sun, with a ges ranging from 25 to 65. The reason for choosing this sample was the availability of frontal pattern photographs at different ages. The pa rameters for each patient were measured at two different ages. A stron g correlation was found between age and behavior of the parameters. Th is aging model can be verified qualitatively by comparing photographs of a a patient with manipulated photographs simulating aging. The quan titative verification of the model was done through the comparison of the measured and the predicted parameters.