I actually thought it was a huge mistake on Lucas's part which goes unquestioned. I mean Anakin NEVER blinks twice to it. It's like he expected it or something. Also the minute Anakin converts is the minute his eyes go red which again I think is a huge mistake. If a person is gradually turning to evil and using the dark side would his eyes reflect the use of the dark side? Thus when he killed all the sand people, shouldn't his eyes have been red? Whenever he got angry, shouldn't his eyes go red? I know it's nitpicking but Lucas had a TON of material he could have worked with to which most of this material was pretty damn good and well thought out especially with how the Sith and Jedi work but instead he chucked most of it out, even the material he kinda built up with the OT as if he said, "Finally I get to fix the stupid errors in the OT".
The problem being with the dark side withering away the face is that it only seemed to do it Palpatine. Darth Maul doesn't have any wrinkles. Count Dooku didn't have any wrinkles. Darth Vader had some but not nearly as bad as Palpatine. Thus the question, was it the force lightning that did it, or did he hide his face? Well, he never went back to his young face again which makes me think it was the force lightning that made it permanent. But that is so then why didn't Anakin get affected at the end of AOTC? People would argue because he hasn't turned yet, but my argument is, he has already dabbled. I just don't see the dark side as some defined line that once you cross at that point you are a dark jedi. I see it more as a philosophy and frame of mind that feeds on the already corrupted and craving mind. Anakin already acted according to the dark side ways of emotion and passion. He was well on the path and already benefiting from it. I would argue he was already using dark side powers without even being aware he was using them especially in killing all the sand people. But that's my opinion and I am WAY over analyzing this, but that's what happens when you actually think about the material over just writing something and churning out what came out. Empire Strikes Back is such a breath of fresh air for me because it took the time to realize that there are real characters and a real world and how did they both work?
oh well.