Stanford University researchers have found that getting older means that our facial bones change, making us look less youthful.

That's why surgical face-lifts are just cosmetic.

"As the skin sags, the bony framework underneath the skin deteriorates as well, contributing to the development of new folds, creases, wrinkles, droops and valleys," said Dr. David Kahn, assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Two studies by Kahn and Dr. Robert Shaw, a resident at the University of Rochester Medical Center who was a Stanford medical student when the research was done, document the problem.

One of those studies was presented yesterday at the annual convention of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in San Francisco.

"If plastic surgeons attempting facial rejuvenation are only considering skin changes, it's not enough," Kahn said. "After you do a face-lift on some patients and look at photos of them when they were young, they look very different. Plastic surgeons can't turn back the clock."

Restoring volume to facial bones would be a solution, Kahn and Shaw concluded.

The studies also showed that "dramatic" aging of facial bones happens at a significantly younger age for women than it does for men.

"In general, for most of our measurements, women experienced aging between young and middle age, and the men between middle age and old," Shaw said.

— Don Kazak