How to Spot the difference!
Expression Wrinkles vs Sleep Wrinkles
1. Expression Wrinkles … this is a job for BOTOX
Expression or dynamic wrinkles occur as a result of muscle contraction with facial expressions such as frown lines between your eyebrows, horizontal forehead lines and crow’s feet, which are caused by squinting. Photos below…
2. Sleep Wrinkles … this is a job for enVy, the Anti-Aging Pillow
Sleep lines or sleep wrinkles have nothing to do with muscle contraction or expression and are caused by the repeated pressing of our face into a solid surface (often our pillow) while we sleep. These lines are usually more vertical than expression lines and can be found on forehead, cheeks, chins, etc.
What Causes Sleep Lines?
Dermatologist, Dr. Samuel Stegman, was one of the first to observe that most people tend to exhibit these creases and imbalances on the side they prefer to sleep on and made a habit of telling them which side they slept on. Sleeping on their sides (and therefore their faces) was causing “sleep wrinkles”. As our skin ages these sleep lines become permanently etched into our faces.
THE SOLUTION: Dr. Stegman said the only way to get rid of permanent sleep lines was to SLEEP ON YOUR BACK and minimize facial contact with your pillow. We have a better idea!
“If sleeping with your face in a pillow is a nightly routine, then you can develop permanent sleep lines. And you don’t have to plunge headfirst to get these lines; even years spent sleeping on your side can cause wrinkles.“
– American Academy of Dermatology
Photos above show the tell tale vertical sleep lines through the eye brow and criss-crossing the crows feet.
Photos below show the deep vertical creases around chin area and lip lines caused by pressing face into a pillow at night.
Not sure those wrinkles on your face are from sleeping? Try this:
The “Hand Test” is easy to do and imitates the pressure your pillow places on your face every night.
The Sleep Wrinkle Solution
Dr. James Fulton published a follow-up article in 1999. He confirmed Dr. Stegman’s findings and warned patients against filling these lines with facial fillers (juvederm, restylane etc) which do not offer long term relief. More importantly Botox (which only works on dynamic or expression lines) is futile on these wrinkles. Facial creases will reappear within hours of treatment because the underlying behavior that created the lines continues to be unchanged…. sleeping on our faces!
Now that you know what sleep wrinkles are, you can adjust the way you sleep to prevent them. The enVy, Anti-Aging pillow was developed to deal with these sleep wrinkles by ALLOWING ergonomically supportive side sleeping while MINIMIZING face-to-pillow contact… brilliant.
