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FORWARDS VS. BACKWARDS GROWTH
Why some faces age better than others.
You’ve probably seen it a lot, two guys are the same age. One looks chiselled and more handsome than when he was younger and the other looks recessed, has nasolabial folds and jowls. The difference is entirely the way their face grew during their development.
In this thread I’ll break down the most underrated predictor of long-term facial aesthetics - Forward vs Backwards growth. The reason some guys look better at 45 than at 23 and why some people peak at 14 and then descend for the rest of their life.
In this thread I’ll break down the most underrated predictor of long-term facial aesthetics - Forward vs Backwards growth. The reason some guys look better at 45 than at 23 and why some people peak at 14 and then descend for the rest of their life.
Content
1.What is forward growth
2.What is backwards growth
3.The science of bone, ligament and soft tissue support
4.Why forward growth ages better
5.Aging vs Youth Triangle
6.Assessing your own growth pattern
7.How to Fix backwards growth
8.What to prioritise
9.Conclusion
2.What is backwards growth
3.The science of bone, ligament and soft tissue support
4.Why forward growth ages better
5.Aging vs Youth Triangle
6.Assessing your own growth pattern
7.How to Fix backwards growth
8.What to prioritise
9.Conclusion
What is forward growth?
This means your facial skeleton developed projecting outwards (anteriorly) from the skull base rather than growing downwards or collapsing backwards.
Developing anteriorly is one of the defining features that anthropologists would call a harmonious orthognathic profile. And what we would see as having a chiselled jaw and great facial harmony.
Features of Forward Growth
Maxillary Prominence - Upper jaw (Maxilla) is projected sitting slightly forwards supporting the cheekbones, infraorbital rim and nose base.
Mandibular Projection - Lower Jaw is aligned or positioned slightly anterior to your upper jaw, the chin would be well defined and support the soft tissue of your lower face.
Low Mandibular Plane Angle - Jaw rotates forward not downwards creating a shorter lower third in relation to the midface and would also cause a defined gonial angle.
Forward Orbital Rim - Bone under eyebrows and around eyes projects outwards giving deeper set globes look because of the brow ridge and suborbital rim projecting forwards. And minimal upper eyelid exposure, the upper eyelid would be shadowed by the brow ridge.
Strong Pyriform Aperture - Nasal base supported by forward maxillary bone preventing a collapsed/dropping nasal tip occurring.
What i
- Cheekbones are high and projected
- Jawline visible from the front even when not skinny
- No bug eyes
- Neck meets face at sharp angle
What is Backwards Growth?
This means the facial skeleton developed posteriorly and inferiorly collapsing backwards towards the airway and rotates downwards. This has become the default due to a soft modern diet, bad tongue posture, mouth breathing and genetics.Features of Backwards Growth
Retruded maxilla - Upper jaw is set back, fattening cheekbones and causing infraorbital rim to reside, giving the person bug eyes because the socket lacks outwards support.
Retruded mandible - Lower jaw sits behind upper jaw. Chin is weak or not visible because the neck blends into the face with no defying angle
Downwards Rotation - Jaw grows vertically instead of horizontally, giving you a gonial angle that is obtuse or not visible.
Recessed orbital rim - Brow bone and upper orbital rim are flat or set back, eyes have exposed upper sclera and no brow hooding.
What it looks like:
- Round undefined face even at low bf%
- Double chin, no separation from neck
- Early nasolabial folds
- Bug eyes
In forward growth
- Ligament attach to bone that faces anteriorly, gravity pulls the soft tissue against the bone rather than away from it
- Maxillary prominence creates a support shelf under cheek fat. Malar fat pads sit on a ledge of bone - usually when you age gravity pulls the fat pads downwards but with maxillary prominence the ledge catches it.
- A strong mandibular border acts as a fence for jowl fat and cannot migrate downwards easily.
- Orbital rim projects forward so brow and upper eyelid have a ledge to rest so the eyes never look buggy.
In backwards growth
- Ligament attach to a bone that faces posteriorly and gravity pulls the soft tissue away from the skeleton
- Recessed maxilla, malar fat pads have no ledge and slides down and inwards, causing the nasolabial folds and hollow midface.
- A weak mandible has no fence, and the jowl fat migrates past the chin.
- Recessed orbital rim, the brow and upper lid have no support so the skin will descend into the socket creating hooding and hollowing.
Bone Resorption
After 35, everyone loses some bone:- Maxilla resorbs posteriorly, the direction of someone who already has backwards growth.
- Mandible reabsorbs at gonial angle and chin.
- Orbital rim resorbs outwards widening the socket.
But the pattern of the resorption (bone loss) depends on your starting structure:
- Maxilla resorbs backwards and upwards when you have forward growth and there is enough bone to lose and still have some projection. In backwards growth every loss makes a large facial change.
- A strong chin can lose 2-3mm and look defined while a weak chin can lose the same amount and disappear entirely.
- Orbital resorbs outwards and the socket will enlarge, making the eye sink backwards creating senile enophthalmos.
Why forward growth ages better
Jawline
Forwards
Mandible projects forwards even with 5-10Ibs of fat gain, chin still ahead of neck, jowls will form late and mildly because the bone blocks the descentForwards
Backwards
Mandible is set back; hyoid bone sits low and forward blurring the neck-jaw interface. Any fat gain would submerge the jaw, and jowls would form early because of their bone blocking formation and by 40 your face would be the shape of an oval.Midface
Forward
Zygomaticomaxillary complex is prominent, malar fat pads lie on a ledge of bone, cheekbones would catch the malar fat pads as they migrate down the face, nasolabial fold is then therefore shallow.Forward
Backwards
The maxilla is flat or concave as the malar fat pad has no support and would fall towards the mouth corner.Eyes
Forwards
Supraorbital ridge and lateral orbital rim projects forwards. The upper eyelid is shaded by bone, even with excessive skin on the lids of your eyes the eye would maintain its shape due to the globe being supported from the front and below.Forwards
Backwards
Nose
Forward
The maxillary spine and anterior nasal spine are well developed so the nasal base is supported, and the tip will barely droop with age as the columella has the bone backing it.Forward
Backwards
Maxilla is retruded so the nasal base collapses and the tip of the nose droops and looks as if it has grown larger and longer.Neck
Forward
The hyoid bone sits high and back, close to the mandible. Digastric and mylohyoid muscles create tight submental planes. Even with some submental fat the angle is still acute.Forward
Backwards
Hyoid sits low and forward, the submental area would instead have an obtuse angle. Platysma bands would form early because of no underlying skeletal tension, and the neck would then age far faster than the face.Aging vs Youth Triangle
Facial aesthetics can be explained using geometry, when you are young the face is a triangle pointing downwards, high cheekbones, full cheeks and a defined jaw - widest at the cheekbones and narrowest at the chin.
Forward Growth would maintain the triangle of youth
The cheekbones would remain the widest point; mandible remains defined and narrow relative to the zygomatic width and even with soft tissue migrating downwards the underlying bone would maintain the triangle frame.
Backwards Growth would invert the triangle of youth into the pyramid of AGING
- The lower face would become the widest point due to:
- Jowls
- Masseter hypertrophy
- Submental fat
Assessing your own growth pattern
Sometimes it's hard to diagnose yourself and you don't want to share pictures with others and have never looked at a lateral cephalometric radiograph. Here's how to do it:
Profile Test (Side photo with a neutral head posture)
Forward - The line is straight or slightly convex. The chin would then be near or at the same vertical plane as the forehead
Backwards - The line is concave or very convex with the chin being far behind your foreheads projection. The forehead would retreat alongside the midface and the chin.
Check the mandibular plane angle, look at the angle between your jaw's lower border and the ear canal to nose line.
Forward - Low angle that's close to horizontal, the jaw is square and the ramus is long.
Backwards - High angle that would be steep and pointing downwards the jaw would be obtuse and the ramus is short.
Checking the nasolabial angle (Angle between your skin bridge under your nose and your upper lip)
Forward - Acute angle, indicating forward places maxilla and slight upper lip support
Backwards - Obtuse angle that indicated a retruded maxilla and a lip that falls backwards.
Frontal Test
Backwards - Flat midface with no light reflection on the upper cheek, the face would be widest at the mandible or lower cheek. The jaw is invisible from the front unless it is clenched.
Eye Test
Forward - Upper eyelid is partially covered by a shadow formed from the brow bone, there is minimal visibility of the Sclera and the eye looks protected.Backwards - Upper eyelids fully exposed and the sclera is visible above the iris. Bug looking.
Neck Test
Forward - Place one of your fingers on the chin and the throat if there is a clear angle, the submental area is flat or hollow.Backwards - Finger slides from chin to throat without step. The submental area would appear as a continuous slope.
It's okay if you have backwards growth because I basically do too.
How to Fix Backwards Growth
Mewing - Improves facial aesthetics in only children and adolescents. Won't do much if you are over 20, if you are over 20 mewing won’t advance your maxilla, but it could improve muscle tone and swallowing tone.Orthognathic Surgery
Maxillary Advancements (Le Fort I)Maxilla is cut and moved forward and or rotated and then plated.
This is the most transformative feature for backwards growth, fixing midface, nasal base and orbital support. However, it's 6 figures with over a year of prep and recovery.
BSSO (Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy)
The mandible is cut and advanced or set back. This would bring the chin forward for someone with backwards growth.
Genioplasty
Cutting and advancing only the chin bone. This isn't a true fix for backwards growth because it only focuses on the chin and won't do anything for the midface or the maxilla. But it is better than implants because it is bone.
Implants (Chin, Jaw, Cheek)
These are just compensations they don't change underlying biomechanicsFULL GUIDE ON IMPLANTS:
https://forum.looksmaxxing.com/threads/guide-to-facial-implants.222598/
(My implants guide, if the link doesn't work.)
Soft Tissue compensation
Fillers - Mimics forward growth by adding volume to the chin, jaw and cheeks.PCL Threads - Can lift soft tissue that's descended, but they don't fix underlying lack of support. There's probably a guide on these somewhere.
Buccal Fat Removal - If your lower face is wide from fat instead of bone, this can help. But when you don’t have any cheekbone support this can hollow your midface and make you look older so may backfire.
TLDR - Young: Mew and fix breathing, Older - Save for orthognathic surgery, if unaffordable use a strategic implant or filler to mimic the lack of projection.
If you found you have forward growth:
If you have backwards growth:
In general:
- Maintain leanness, don’t mess up bones by taking drugs
- Keep bf under 18% and wear sunscreen. Avoid rapid weight loss that deflates facial fat pads. (This means things like reta, Ozempic, mounjaro.)
- Spend no money on structural interventions instead focus on projecting skin quality with things such as retinoids and microneedling.
If you have backwards growth:
- Stay lean
- Grow a beard, creates a visual jawline where bone fails, keep trimmed and shaped in a way that mimics a square gonial angle
- Chin augmentation. Either an implant or genioplasty, the best investment for the profile as it also improves the neck angle.
- Cheek fillers done strategically, place them high on the zygoma and not in the midface due to you having no forward maxilla.
- PCL threads can help
- Save for Bimaxillary surgery
- Don’t do buccal fat removal without cheekbone support
- Don’t overfill midface
- Don’t get oversized chin implants
- Don’t ignore bruxism
In general:
- Don't clench or grind your teeth, bruxism hypertrophies the masseter and temporalis rounding the face, if you do this use a mouth guard at night to prevent it.
- Sleep on back, sleeping on the side increases the descent of soft tissue
- Low T accelerates bone resorption.
- Don’t mouth tape if you have severe obstruction.
- No mouth breathing.
9. Conclusion
Forward growth is the base that everything relies on, if you have forward growth be grateful and keep the growth by doing all the things I put in section 8. If you don’t don’t cope with fillers or angles, save for surgery and compensate for what you have because it defines your life of either peaking at 25 or 45.
