Abstract:
The method and apparatus of face lifting are invented for reducing facial sagging of aged people. The method comprises: 1) move up sagged temple, cheek and forehead tissues from sagged location to a higher location, 2) hold the tissues in the lifted location, 3) put a pressure on the lifted tissues. The apparatus comprises a cheek lifting band, a forehead lifting headwear and a facial pressure mask. Users can wear these for minutes or hours, depending on their preference and they can also use heat and/or massage to facilitate lifted facial tissues to stay in the lifted location.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of Application No. 61/751,870, filed Jan. 13, 2013. 
       REFERENCES CITED [REFERENCED BY] 
       [0002]      
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                 4,239,037 
                 December, 1980 
                 Fausone 
                 606/204.35 
               
               
                   
                 4,658,811 
                 April, 1987 
                 Beaird 
                 606/204.35 
               
               
                   
                 4,694,823 
                 September, 1987 
                 Young 
                 606/204.35 
               
               
                   
                 4,823,778 
                 April, 1989 
                 Ewing 
                 128/76 
               
               
                   
                 4,995,379 
                 Feburary, 1991 
                 Brooks 
                 606/204.35 
               
               
                   
                 5,431,610 
                 July, 1995 
                 Miller 
                 482/11 
               
               
                   
                 5,527,357 
                 June, 1996 
                 springer 
                 607/140 
               
               
                   
                 5,728,028 
                 March, 1998 
                 Dusch 
                 482/11 
               
               
                   
                 6,039,710 
                 March, 2000 
                 Kelley 
                 620/74 
               
               
                   
                 6,179,747 
                 January, 2001 
                 Kelley 
                 482/11 
               
               
                   
                 6,971,397 
                 December, 2005 
                 Knight 
                 132/54 
               
               
                   
                 7,384,377 
                 June, 2008 
                 Berman 
                 482/11 
               
               
                   
                 7,608,090 
                 October, 2009 
                 Matsui 
                 606/204.35 
               
               
                   
                 7,632,217 
                 December, 2009 
                 Rooney 
                 482/10 
               
               
                   
                 8,257,385 
                 September, 2012 
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                 606/204.35 
               
               
                   
                 8,282,684 
                 October, 2012 
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                 623/17.18 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT (IF APPLICABLE) 
       [0003]    This is not a federally sponsored research. 
       REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX (IF APPLICABLE) 
       [0004]    Not Applicable. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0006]    This invention includes methods and apparatus of face lifting for aged people. 
         [0007]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0008]    Aged looking=aged facial skin+aged facial contour. The later is basically shown as facial sagging and deep wrinkles. To make aged people looked younger, it is not enough only to improve facial skin with skin care. The improvement of facial contour has the same importance. 
         [0009]    There are many previous arts of toning facial muscles, lifting face, thinning face and reducing wrinkles, such as: 
         [0010]    U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,377 is the method and apparatus for training facial muscles to reduce wrinkles which employs a flexible stretchable membrane held in contact with the skin over a muscle group while manipulating a hand-held device with a motorized rotary brush over the membrane, so that the bristles stimulate and train the muscle group while the flexible membrane protects and stabilizes the skin. 
         [0011]    U.S. Pat. No. 7,632,217 is a facial exercising device comprising: a stretchable mask having a central aperture for a wearer&#39;s face; two connectable top straps connected behind the wearer&#39;s head for securing the top to the wearer&#39;s forehead; two connectable bottom straps for attaching the mask to the wearer&#39;s chin; and a top strap affixed to the top of the mask for attaching to the back of the wearer&#39;s head. 
         [0012]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,778 add a weight on stiffeners which attached to the facial skin where the muscles are to exercise the tissues. 
         [0013]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,028 applies liquid latex to the skin of face, and exercise muscles after it dries up. 
         [0014]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,357 uses a facial mask with electrodes to apply electric current to facial tissues to tighten the tissues. 
         [0015]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,823 is an apparatus engaging the lower chin and posterior jaw portions to provide substantially uniform lifting on all of the engaged skin and neck areas. 
         [0016]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,811 is a facial contouring mask of long soft pad surrounding head vertically engaging bottom of chin and cheeks to lift chin and cheeks up. 
         [0017]    U.S. Pat. No. 7,608,090 applies pieces of sticky and stretch tapes to local area where wrinkles are to use the contraction force to pull and tighten the skin. 
         [0018]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,710 uses a head strap to hold the apparatus on the face and to pull the cheek support into engagement with the cheeks to reduce the sagging of the cheeks. 
         [0019]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,037 uses straps connected with adhesive pads adhered to the woman&#39;s skin adjacent to her temples to pull upwardly on the skin and thus remove wrinkles. 
         [0020]    Some of these arts have effects of toning facial muscles. But they do not have the effect of lifting fat and connective tissues, which are also sagged and need to be lifted. Other arts, such as face thinner masks and some jaw and cheeks holding bands only put a vertical pressure onto facial tissues, which forces sagging facial tissues to stay in the sagged location and do not move the tissues up to a higher location. 
         [0021]    Facial tissue sagging is caused by a constant pulling force of gravity from down below. If we use a constant force to lift the tissues up and hold it in the lifted location, then use some technique to make it stay there, over the time, facial sagging will be elevated. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    The method and apparatus of face lifting are invented for reducing facial sagging of aged people. The method comprises: 1) move up the sagged facial tissues from the sagged location to a higher location, 2) hold the tissues in the lifted location, 3) put a pressure on the lifted tissues. The apparatus comprises a cheek lifting band, a forehead lifting headwear and a facial pressure mask. Users can wear these for minutes or hours depending on their preference and they can also use heat and/or massage to facilitate the lifted tissues to stay in the lifted location. 
         [0023]    Cheek lifting band is made of a material with elastic and sticky property. The band is placed with its center on top of head and two sides dropping down along cheeks. The tissues in temple and cheeks areas is lifted up by the contraction movement of the band by pulling down both ends of the band, making both sides adhere to the skin of temples and cheeks, and then reduce the pulling force. 
         [0024]    The forehead tissue lifting headwear comprises an elastic circular band, a sticky layer material and two elastic connection straps. The band surrounds forehead horizontally with its front section adhered to forehead skin by the sticky layer material. The two elastic straps connect the front section of the band to the back section of the band, cross over on top of head. Forehead tissue is lifted up by pulling down the back section of the band. 
         [0025]    The facial pressure mask comprises a plural of circular elastic fabric bands, which surrounds head horizontally, and a nose pad. The mask covers and put a pressure on the whole facial area. The nose pad is in the shape of an upside down “Y” and is placed underneath of the elastic bands to relay the pressure from the bands to frown area and to the tissue hills along two sides of nose. The advantage of this invention is that it provides a method of moving sagged facial tissues up to a higher location, hold the tissues there and then apply a pressure to keep the tissues to stay there, while other existing arts only apply a vertical pressure to sagged tissues. By using this procedure over a period of time, sagged facial tissues will be elevated. Therefore, it will make seniors looked much younger. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0026]      FIG. 1 . is the side view of a person wearing the invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 2 . is the structure of the cheek tissue lifting band. 
           [0028]      FIG. 3 . is the structure and components of the forehead tissue lifting headwear. 
           [0029]      FIG. 4 . is the structure and components of the facial pressure mask. 
           [0030]      FIG. 5  is the front view of a person wearing the cheek tissue lifting band. 
           [0031]      FIG. 6  is the side view of a person wearing the cheek tissue lifting band. 
           [0032]      FIG. 7  is the front view of a person wearing the forehead tissue lifting headwear. 
           [0033]      FIG. 8  is the side view of a person wearing the forehead tissue lifting headwear. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0034]    This invention includes a method and apparatus of lifting sagging facial tissues caused by aging. 
         [0035]    The method comprising the following steps: 1) place the center of an elastic band with sticky property on the top of head and make its both sides drop down along cheeks equally, 2) grab the both ends of the band with both hands, 3) pull down both ends to make the band stretch for a predetermined degree, 4) move the both ends toward each other, 5) adhere the inside membrane of the band to the skin of cheeks and temple area, 6) reduce the pulling force to the both ends gradually to let the band contract upwardly and move temple and cheek tissues upwardly together with its contraction, 7) make the both ends of the band overlap and adhere together under the bottom of chin, after the tissues moved up to a predetermined degree, 8) put on the circular elastic band of predetermined width to surround forehead horizontally and let the layer of material with sticky property, which is adhered to the inner membrane of the front section of the band, bind the band to forehead skin, 9) pull down the back section of the band in the back of head, in turn, to pull up the front section of the band through connection straps, which connect the top edge of front section, cross over the top of head, to the back section of the band, 10) adjust connection straps to make forehead tissues move up for a predetermined degree, 11) put on the nose pad with its head portion covering frown area and its two legs covering the areas along two sides of nose, 12) put on the circular elastic bands, which surround head horizontally, one by one to cover the whole face and apply a pressure onto the whole face, 13) keep all of the components mentioned above on for a predetermined period of time, 14) apply heat and/or massage to the lifted facial tissues for a predetermined period of time. 
         [0036]      FIG. 1  shows the side view of a user wearing the invented devices. The cheek tissue lifting band  40  comprises an elastic band of sticky material, which forms a circle that surrounds head vertically from the top of head, along temples and cheeks, to the bottom of chin. Its two sides adhered to the skin of temples, cheeks and chin areas and sandwiched between the skin and the elastic bands  20 ,  60 ,  70  and  80 , where band  20  is under band  60 . 
         [0037]    The forehead lifting portion of the device comprises a layer of sticky material  10 , an elastic circular band  20  and two elastic connection straps  30 . The layer of sticky material  10  is adhered to the inner membrane of the front section of band  20  sandwiched between forehead skin and the front section of band  20 . The two elastic straps  30  connect the top edge of the front section of band  20  to the back section of band  20 . 
         [0038]    Nose pad  50  takes the shape of an upside down “Y”, with its top portion covering frown area and its two legs covering the areas along two sides of nose, where the tissue hills are for seniors. Elastic bands  60 ,  70  and  80 , partially overlapped, cover the whole facial areas with two gaps, one for eyes and one for nose, and form a facial pressure mask to put a pressure on the whole face. Mouth area is covered by elastic circular band  80  to prevent the formation of thick lips. Nose pad  50  is placed underneath of elastic circular bands  60 ,  70 ,  80  to relay the pressure from the bands to the area of forehead and the areas along two sides of nose. 
         [0039]      FIG. 2  shows the cheeks lifting portion of the device. An elastic and sticky band  40  has the dimension of 1-200 mm in width, 300-800 mm in length and 0.1-10 mm in thickness. The whole band is made of a sticky and elastic synthetic material. The sticky property of the material allows the band to adhere to facial skin and be removed easily without hurting the skin. Alternatively, the band is made of an elastic fabrics material with at least one of its membranes coated with a sticky layer of material. 
         [0040]    The forehead lifting portion of the device is showing in  FIG. 3 . It comprises a sticky layer of material  10 , an elastic circular band  20  and two connection straps  30 . Band  20  is made of an elastic fabrics material and surrounds forehead horizontally, with a width of 10 mm-200 mm. Sticky layer of material  10  is adhered to the inner membrane of the front section of band  20  and sandwiched between the front section of band  20  and forehead skin. The dimension of sticky layer material  10  is predetermined to cover forehead skin. Sticky layer material  10  binds the front section of band  20  and forehead skin together. The sticky property of the material allows the layer to adhere to forehead skin and be removed without hurting the skin. Two elastic straps  30  connect the front section of band  20  to the back section of band  20  with one end secured on the top edge of the front section of band  20  and the other end secured to the back section of band  20 , crossed over on the top of head. By pulling down the back section of band  20 , the front section of the band is pulled up by connection straps  30 , and forehead tissues is lifted up with the front section of the band. Alternatively, the whole band  20  is made of a sticky elastic material and the sticky layer material  10  is merged with band  20 . 
         [0041]    The facial pressure mask portion of the device is shown in  FIG. 4 . It comprises 3 circular elastic fabric bands  60 ,  70  and  80 , which surround head horizontally. The bands partially overlapped to cover the whole facial areas with one gap in the area of eyes and one gap in the area of nose tip to provide maximum coverage of face. Circular elastic band  60  covers the horizontal area above the top of eye frame. Circular elastic band  70  covers the horizontal area from the bottom of eye frame to nose tip. Circular elastic band  80  covers the horizontal area below nose tip. Mouth is covered with elastic band  80  to make lips to receive the pressure from the band, therefore, to reduce thick lips. A nose pad  50  in the shape of an upside down “Y” is placed underneath of circular elastic bands  60 ,  70  and  80  and with its top covering frown area and its two legs covering the areas along two sides of nose to relay the pressure from the circular elastics bands  60 ,  70  and  80  to those areas in order to reduce frown lines and to push down the tissue hills along two sides of nose. The head portion of nose pad  50  is round in shape and has a flat surface facing the skin, with the thickest point in the center on the other side and the thickness gradually reduced toward the edge. Its two legs cover the areas along two sides of nose, where the tissue hills are. 
         [0042]      FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6 . Show the front view and side view of a person wearing the elastic and sticky band  40 . Band  40  forms a circle that surrounds head vertically, covering the facial areas of temples, cheeks and chin. 
         [0043]      FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8  show the front view and back view of a person wearing the forehead lifting portion of the device. Circular elastic band  20  surrounds forehead horizontally, with a sticky layer material  10  sandwiched between forehead skin and the front section of band  20  and two elastic connection straps  30  connecting the top edge of the front section of the band to the back section of the band. 
         [0044]    The material of cheek lifting band  40 , the sticky layer material  10  of forehead lifting headwear and nose pad  50  is either Septon, Polyurethane, Silicon rubber or other thermoplastic rubbers with hardness between 1 IRHD and 90 IRHD. 
         [0045]    A hair protection helmet, which has many supporting pins inside, can be used for people with hair styles. The helmet can be worn as the first step, before putting on the device in this invention. 
         [0046]    Heat and/or massage can be used to facilitate the lifted tissues stay in the lifted location after put on the device in this invention.