Can someone explain how your wrinkles look on your face from withdraw

When people are describing wrinkles on there face from withdraw. What do they look like? If you have wrinkles on your forehead do the wrinkles look really close together? The wrinkles on my forehead look really close together above my eyebrows. Its not just one or two wrinkles its like a cluster of wrinkles close together(Hard to explain) I know this is sorta a dumb question but I really look like shit. People say there skin goes back to normal is this true? If it does how long? Also are you people talking about alot of wrinkles or just one or two? I have wrinkles and fine lines all over my face and I dont even go out in the sun. Iam really depressed about this and its killing my self image.

I am experiencing the same problem with facial wrinkles. I'm 34 and had normal wrinkles prior to withdrawal. Now my wrinkles are much deeper and any facial gesture creates a much more dramatic wrinkle. My forehead wrinkles stretch from just past the end of each eyebrow and across my whole forehead. I've also developed new lines on the bridge of my nose and between my eyes. My face also sags now. I look much older now.

 

I don't think this will reverse. I believe this is the damage caused by highly elevated cortisol levels. I have lost muscle and good fat on my face. This problem with my face skin has destroyed my confidence and drives my anxiety through the roof.

 

Golf

 

I am experiencing the same problem with facial wrinkles. I'm 34 and had normal wrinkles prior to withdrawal. Now my wrinkles are much deeper and any facial gesture creates a much more dramatic wrinkle. My forehead wrinkles stretch from just past the end of each eyebrow and across my whole forehead. I've also developed new lines on the bridge of my nose and between my eyes. My face also sags now. I look much older now.

 

I don't think this will reverse. I believe this is the damage caused by highly elevated cortisol levels. I have lost muscle and good fat on my face. This problem with my face skin has destroyed my confidence and drives my anxiety through the roof.

 

Golf

 

Golf thanks for your reply. How come other people don't have this in withdraw. Iam sorry your experiencing the same thing as me. As I look terrible as well. I guess Iam vain but I see that your married and have kids. Hell I wont look at another girl right now until this gets better..lol How do you know that the wrinkles are permanent?

my face sagged, my skin seemed to change so much.

it got thin i dont understand it.

 

Has anyone gone through this and had their face go back to normal?

Hey guys, actually this is a very common symptom in withdrawal, at least benzo wd. Cant tell you how many posts Ive read about this stuff.

SOME of it is sim[ply that our perceptions are badly skewed, we see things in a more pronounced way, and its a distortion of reality.

I went thru a long period where all I saw in the mirror was an ulgy old lady. Ooh, it was so bad!

Then things changed, and for a good long while, I again saw myself as an older-but-still-pretty woman, and I think that is much closer to the truth.

The, I hit a bad wave, and again saw the old hag. Today, its a bit of both.

Never a dull moment!

But what Im saying is that perhaps a lot of what youre seeing is a distortion of reality due to benzo withdrawal. Period. And that will get better.

Hey guys, actually this is a very common symptom in withdrawal, at least benzo wd. Cant tell you how many posts Ive read about this stuff.

SOME of it is sim[ply that our perceptions are badly skewed, we see things in a more pronounced way, and its a distortion of reality.

I went thru a long period where all I saw in the mirror was an ulgy old lady. Ooh, it was so bad!

Then things changed, and for a good long while, I again saw myself as an older-but-still-pretty woman, and I think that is much closer to the truth.

The, I hit a bad wave, and again saw the old hag. Today, its a bit of both.

Never a dull moment!

But what Im saying is that perhaps a lot of what youre seeing is a distortion of reality due to benzo withdrawal. Period. And that will get better.

 

I appreciate that but this isnt a distortion of reality. I have very noticable winkling where someone doesnt naturally wrinkle. Iam talking about a wrinkle I have on the left side of my temple and its diagonal. Iam like wtf is this. Who wrinkles there. I have wrinkles that are vertical to on my forehead. This isnt natural wrinkling with facial expressions..lol

I wish this was a distortion.

 

Hi gardenia- have you noticed any improvements?

I have new wrinkles on my face and I only just turned 27! It's quite depressing.  They look like frown lines, mostly between my eyes.  Like I've just kept my face super crunched up for months.

Hi all! Yes I had problems like this and it IS getting much better! My jaws were very saggy for a long time. Probably some of this was just due to weight loss but it seemed extreme. I can't say exactly when it went away, I just noticed one day that it was gone! The wrinkling? Yep, had that too! My forehead wrinkles were very deep, I could feel them when I put on moisturizer. Just recently they have shown great improvement. My whole body would hold onto wrinkles from my sheets or clothing too! I am 18 months out from a valium c/t but it may not take you this long to improve. What helped? A good skin care program, staying hydrated, lots of veggies, fruits and salmon! I try to get lots of good oils in my diet also and once sleep started to normalize I'm sure that was a huge help also. The other thing that really helped was just not looking in the mirror very often! Seriously. It takes time to get better and for me it was better if I just didn't see the problem all the time. I'm happy to share if you have questions! Best wishes! Zippy

I have noticed the wrinkles too....I am 54, and I realize I will start getting some wrinkles soon...but these were NOT there 6 months ago.

I just decided, like Zippy, to spend less time looking at things that I find bothersome/upsetting...I only look in the mirror a few times a day...There is NOTHING I can do about any of this and I realize I made some poor choices...but no need for me to ruminate on how bad I look right now or the fact that I should have known better. I can only move forward and try to do better from here on out!

The only thing I can do is move forward with a smile on my face, a song in my heart and hope and pray that I will not be judged by others....and in return, I will not judge.

I really hope these wrinkles go away too....Either I was just not paying much attention to myself at all...or I have developed some things that are downright frightening and ugly....You two are both young, so I would be willing to bet you both heal completely and move on from all this relatively unscathed....I hope the older folks that also posted see complete healing too...I believe we all will...Hopefully a few others that are further out from all this will post some encouragement too.

Smile more, bark less...

Love,

Causing

Hi all! Yes I had problems like this and it IS getting much better! My jaws were very saggy for a long time. Probably some of this was just due to weight loss but it seemed extreme. I can't say exactly when it went away, I just noticed one day that it was gone! The wrinkling? Yep, had that too! My forehead wrinkles were very deep, I could feel them when I put on moisturizer. Just recently they have shown great improvement. My whole body would hold onto wrinkles from my sheets or clothing too! I am 18 months out from a valium c/t but it may not take you this long to improve. What helped? A good skin care program, staying hydrated, lots of veggies, fruits and salmon! I try to get lots of good oils in my diet also and once sleep started to normalize I'm sure that was a huge help also. The other thing that really helped was just not looking in the mirror very often! Seriously. It takes time to get better and for me it was better if I just didn't see the problem all the time. I'm happy to share if you have questions! Best wishes! Zippy

 

I gained and lost 30 lbs 3 years ago and I'm petite, but have jowels, etc. because of that. I'm questioning now whether benzos have anything to do w/ it though. I'm only 31.

Hi Spring! I'd say at 31 your jowls will go away quicker than mine did at 54! I certainly think the drugs were responsible for the lack of muscle tone. One thing I also thought about is that I did not "use" my face much for a year or so. I'm normally very expressive but during the time on the pills and in acute w/d I wasn't smiling or talking a lot or even yawning which I find myself doing all the time now. I think the benzos make the normal snapping back of the skin take longer but eventually it does. Take care! Zippy

Thx

This is a really cool thread!

 

Something I noticed recently is that the new lines Ive gotten are SMILE lines! Around my eyes, to be exact. For years, all I saw were those deep forwn lines between my eyes, and they bothered me deeply. (That was during the foggy benzo years-). Its weird, because duing wd, I have not exactly been smiling a lot, but there are those smile lines. Im kinda happy to have them.

eastcoast

i can't handle the way i look and on the other hand after all i've been through i can't believe how i still look. maybe it's all those year of being an Esthetician and reading so many anti-aging things all day long/ i don't know? i don't have any wrinkles i don't think i will--but the skin changes and hyperpigmentation is pretty bad for me and i'm a very vain person.

 

i do amazing things for my skin. and eat as clean a diet that i can/ i agree with Zippy that the facial muscles need exercise too and all year long after the c/t i've had one long drawn look on my face. i wish i felt better so i can go have a facial and not just do it on my won without the massage. massage is so good for the skin. i've shared on a few other threads what i've used that really does help.

 

here is one of threads

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=63440.10

 

it is also probably all those cortisol surges and i do believe if we can get the thyroid and all the other sex hormones to be balanced and corporate like progesterone levels for woman (not estrogen) that will help and also i don't know about anyone else but i am still about 30 lbs underweight and i know that helps with the skin and hormones.

 

somethings gotta give!

Hi all,

I would like to stress that this IS NOT OUR IMAGINATION.

 

I have : thin, wrinkled, sagging skin all over my body. It looks like my skin suddenly became 2 sizes too big and very soft and mushy.

I'm 42 now. This all started last year when I was 41. I look like I'm a sickly 52 year old. Not even a healthy 52 year old.

Dark circles under my eyes, under eye wrinkles, sagging eye lids, deep marionette lines on either side of my mouth, sunken cheeks, protruding cheek bones, MAJOR hair loss (I have what looks like male pattern baldness), muscle wasting and my hands look like serpent skin.

 

The only thing I have been able to improve is my calves. When my muscle wasting got really bad my calves shriveled up. I KNEW this wasn't just my imagination because my boots no longer fit and I had actually GAINED weight. I'm carrying all my added weight in my belly. Each and every pair of boots was WAY to big.  I guess I really got frustrated because I was pissed that I couldn't wear skirts any more and that's more than half my wardrobe for work. Long story short I do about 300 calf raises a day now and my calves have filled out just enough where by boots are only slightly too big, and I can wear skirts again without shame.

 

This tells me that our bodies will likely respond too exercise if we can get the energy to do it. Fortunately for me, calf raises are fairly easy, so it's not so taxing. My advice to anyone who wants to do the calf raises, start off with low reps and work your way up to high reps. The soreness can be unbearable if you go too quickly.

 

Regarding the sagging skin and wrinkles : nothing works. I look hellish and I'm developing "mirror-phobia". I made that up, but if there is such a phobia, I have it. It makes me so sad to look in the mirror. I hate what I have become. My father tries to reassure me that my looks will come back. He says that my appearance is related to the w/d and when my brain heals, everything will return to normal. I want to look like I'm 42 and age naturally. Aging is a natural human process. I'll be happy to look 50 when I AM 50, and 60 when I AM 60. No one should have to wake up 10 years older. This isn't a Tom Hanks movie. It's not cute or funny. It's a living nightmare!

 

Thank you to all the kind souls who have shared their success stories. I especially appreciate those who discuss specific symptoms. It helps us a lot to see that other people are healing mentally and physically......and APPEARANCE-wise. I made up that word too.

Wow, if getting off benzos will make my face firm up, then I am totally ON Board!  I'm starting to look too much like my Grandma! Please keep us posted, anyone, on positive changes on that front!

yes, anyone please keep us posted. i am going to start using my facial steamer hopefully daily so as to get some blood and nourishment into the skin. i do recommend getting a facial that has a good massage in the facial as that also brings the blood and oxygen to the surface. and other than that i guess it's just time. and my mother keeps telling me the same thing that your dad told you--Hope, and i too have developed a mirror phobia. but it's got to make some sense that when the brain heals--everything else will heal and reverse too!

Hi Meowie

I should warn you, that in my case, the rapid aging did not start until I went OFF the Klonopin. 

yes, me too--until i did the c/t i started noticing the rapid aging. now at 12 months i am starting to see my face fill out a little and my skin looks a tiny bit better. the dark pigmented spots must be from w/d because they are lightening up just a bit.

This is one thing that had me totally demoralized and still does me in when I look at myself!  I wasted away from a swollen, sick 220 lbs to under 100 lbs, folds and folds of wrinkled, saggy skin...no tone at all in spite of a lifetime of dancing, walking, martial arts...to barely being able to stand... now it is slowly getting better sort of.  It is so very hard to believe that it will truly get better.  2 months out now and it is so bad...6 hours sleep last night after 3 nights of almost no sleep at all.  Looking at my saggy, wrinkled self with not teeth is so depressing and scare.  What has been getting me trough is the Youtube video of Brian Baker 3 Years Later...from a gaunt figure with little hair who looked old to a healthy looking and sounding young man, calm and reassuring!  I need to watch it again.  My partial makes me look as though I have teeth.  The wrinkles are still there, the skin sags and has a weird textures.  Time is different when you are in your 20's or 30's but when your are over 60...it is hard to see things getting better.  To see so many post on this topic is strangely encouraging - even young people, and some who got better.  so I guess what is said so often here has to be said again and again, TIME  will make it better.  We will heal and improve and regain what we had.  I am telling myself that even tho' I can't believe it again today.  The life I have to get back to is not nice or good, but it is life versus ...Now to truly believe that there will be health and some happiness, some joy and productivity!  We need pictures I think, of those of us who are wrinkled and saggy, gaunt and drawn, then months down the road, improved, healthy looking...definitely need to go look at those videos again!

Yes , I have this too , jaws dropping like over month period , just my face  sagged  down . I never see something like that  , not my parents  over 70  dont' look like me .

Also  chicken neck , I lost all face muscles  [body too] and  that create  all saggy neck . Nobody  in family ever have this , never . My parents look very young always , I look always younger [genetics] , but something like this is horrible .  I looked always 10 years younger since  child ,  aduld life too . 

I lost all muscles in face ,  when I touch my face is only bone and skin , no muscles . And holls under eyes .

Because we all  have this i believe is part of w/d and will go away , but when and how muscles come back in face i have no idea .

 

Also , when I was on Clonazepam my hair was like grass , grow very fast .

Since quit  my hair stop grow , also under arm hair stop , [is great ] , butjust I can see  it .  Legs , dont' need shave . Hair stop grow .

[i am lucky , have always lots of hair , but can see  the difference . 

Wrinkles ? I dont' have any new or deep , but my face sagged  , neck , boobs , arms ,  legs , every muscle in my body is gone ., Even I was  exercise  lots ,  this is someting to do with benzo .,Muscle relaxant . 

 

 

Yes , can tell have new wrinkle between  eyes  and on top lip , like very old people . Is pretty horrible .  Is not too visible , but I can see it , over night thing .

This is very hard look in the mirror and you see different person . I am  47 and can , all this started 3 years ago and now I look  and feel like 65 .

Preety bad . 

Everyone said will come back , have no idea how . 

But for sure i am still in w/d at 21 months . Because I have most very good days , little stress or bad food I chocking , have shakes ,  head pressure etc . Not like first year , but is still in my system .  I am 90 % better , but still can feel in my system .Erika

It's like my face just "fell". Hollow cheeks, jowls, turkey neck, lines around mouth....horrible horrible.  Hard for me bc I'm still single. I've obsessed over acupuncture face lift.... But I hope this'll return to Normal. I hate how I look now and avoid the mirror. Hate it... Think I look disgusting.

I'll trade the burning pain for a couple of wrinkles...any day.