From the Doctor's Desk
The field of Facial Cosmetic Surgery is undergoing a tremendous change. A much greater understanding of the aging process has led to the development of many non-surgical techniques that can remove years of aging with minimal downtime.
Let’s look at three of the largest components of early facial aging.
1. Facial Fat Loss
As we age we loose the youthful fullness of our face. This is literally from a loss of the normal subcutaneous fat throughout the face. The loss of this fat causes a deflation of the skin much like taking air out of a balloon. This deflation results in sagging skin, thickening facial folds, and a hollowing appearance.
2. Dynamic Wrinkles
At the same time as our facial volume is deflating we begin to show the deep lines of facial muscular expression. These result from strong muscles in the forehead, around the eyes, and around the mouth. Vertical lines between the eyebrows, horizontal lines in the forehead, crow’s feet at the side of the eyes and upper cheek, and vertical lines around the mouth become increasingly visible.
3. Skin Texture and Pigmentation Changes
The facial deflation and lines of facial expression are then accentuated by fine wrinkling, pigmentation changes, and fine dilated vascular spots throughout the skin that occur secondary to sun exposure. This is associated with mild laxity secondary to solar weakening of the skin’s collagen.
Solutions
Instead of addressing these three areas surgically we can now offer specific non-surgical techniques to reverse these signs of aging.
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The loss of facial fat is naturally reversed by transplanting some of the patient’s unwanted fat that has accumulated in their thighs, bottom, or low back. Tiny cannulas are used to remove the fat and transplant the fat back to the areas where the facial volume has been lost. This restores the youthful fullness, lifts the sagging skin, and flattens the facial folds.
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BOTOX® Cosmetic can be used to weaken the strong muscles of facial expression and erase the associated frown lines, forehead wrinkles, crows feet, and smile lines. This is done with a deep understanding of the facial musculature resulting in a very natural appearance.
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Fraxel® re:pair CO2 laser resurfacing can be done to erase years of sun related aging. The fine wrinkles, pigmentation spots, and vascular spots are remarkably reduced and the face obtains a general lift and tightening. Unlike other laser techniques, the results are present with only one treatment and there is just a few days downtime.
Can a patient really restore their natural youthful appearance with minimal downtime and discomfort? Absolutely. While surgical results continue to offer a greater degree of improvement, these non-surgical techniques can provide excellent results with minimal downtime. The modern understanding of facial aging is providing this generation the opportunity to stay naturally youthful without the artificial appearing results or all of the downtime experienced by patients in the past.