Aesthetic Medicine

Archive for the ‘Liquid Face Lift’ Category

The aging face presents a variety of intriguing challenges. More and more, these challenges are being met with injectable fillers, and an increasing variety of fillers populate the market.

At the outset, fillers were used primarily to address specific consequences of aging such as the deepening of the nasolabial folds, the prejowl sulcus, marionette lines and oral commissures.

While fillers met their objective of ameliorating deficits in specific areas, they increasingly are coming to be seen as having broader applications, including the noninvasive remodeling of the lower two-thirds of the older face.

As we age, the face becomes characterized by sagging skin and volume loss. Because skin laxity can result both from the intrinsic aging process as well as volume loss, a certain subjectivity is inherent in treatment considerations. Aging mechanisms of each specific patient may vary from one to the next. By analyzing the face as a whole, rather than isolated lines or wrinkles, today’s aesthetic physician can execute comprehensive treatment protocols to help return the aging face to the “triangle of beauty.”

One such comprehensive treatment protocol that has been effective in my practice has been the replacement of volume to reduce skin laxity arisen from weakened support. I employ a full face approach involving the use of Radiesse dermal filler to effect facial contouring that encompasses both skin surplus reduction and structural enhancement.

While we need to take a total face approach to recontouring, we can divide the face zones as a way to better understand how the face works and how skin laxity in different zones impacts each the other.

These are:

• the central zone involving the mouth and nose areas (relatively immobile),
• the paramedial zone involving the nasolabial folds and malar fat compartments (highest mobility),
• the lateral zone involving mainly the preauricular fossa (minimal mobility), and
• the zone of the ear concha (anchoring point).

Each zone is treated individual to achieve the best overall results for the whole face.

The baby boomer generation may be well into their 50s and 60s, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to concede their looks just yet. In fact, many “boomers” are determined to maintain their once-youthful appearance.

According to a recent survey by the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, anti-aging procedures such as facelifts and blepharoplasty (eyelid lifts) are on the rise. Botox procedures and the use of fillers are also increasing. The bottom line is that baby boomers are aging but they don’t want their looks to do the same.

“The baby boomers are getting older but they still feel young and they want to look that way too,” said AACS President Mark Berman, MD. “With anti-aging procedures, people tend to feel much better about themselves afterward.”

Facelifts rose 44 percent from 2008 to 2009 in procedures by AACS members, totaling 34,455 in 2009. Blepharoplasty procedures went up 42 percent, from 42,602 to 60,507. Similarly, non-invasive anti-aging procedures such as Botox (up 157 percent) and fillers (up 245 percent) rose exponentially.

In procedures performed by AACS members, the average age of facelift patients is 54.1 years. The average age for blepharoplasty is 52.3 years. In addition, the average age of patients receiving Botox is 46.6 and fillers is 46.8.

“I think this might come as a surprise to the public when they see just how many baby boomers are trying to slow down the aging process,” Berman said. “As a surgeon, these numbers aren’t surprising because we see older patients all the time.”

With the economic crunch causing people across the country to tighten up their belts, it’s not surprising that at-home treatments are growing in popularity as people try to avoid the additional cost of visiting a physician. While people may accomplish a lower price point, they also run a significant risk of harm to themselves.

Injectables such as Botox, Dysport, and Juvederm, as well as dermatological treatments such as chemical peels require special training for proper use, as several women have found out. More and more horror stories are popping up in the media and through my colleagues.

I hear about paramedics, who think that they can handle giving themselves dermal injections since they use needles daily. They use products that claim to be a facial filler to plump up wrinkles. They inject these products under the eyes and near the mouth. They feel fine at first, but the next morning they wake up with huge bags under the eyes and a large pustule on the cheeks.

This DIY practice is extremely dangerous: a few millimeters off, you can puncture your eyeball or hit a blood vessel, possibly causing blindness.

I hear about people buying dermal filler products from some websites that may look legitimate, but are not authorized to dispense prescription drugs. These websites state that the products they sell are similar to Dysport, Botox and other injectables. Customers are instructed to watch a video and start injecting themselves away.

FYI, both Dysport and Botox carry a black-box label, meaning they have a risk of serious side effects. While the risk is low, there is concern that the toxin can spread and cause severe and even deadly respiratory problems. Both products belong only in the hands of trained professionals. Generic products are not approved by FDA, and may contain harmful substances. Beware of  the illegal sale of prescription drugs online, and please do not inject yourself.

Schedule a free consultation to discuss your needs and the options we can offer. Our charges are very competitive and you will have a peace of mind that the procedure is done correctly and by a physician.

I’ve seen and heard about medical estheticians, medical assistants and even front desk staff administering Botox injections.

It’s not legal, as this story on the prosecution of a medical assistant clearly shows.

Betty Guerra’s months long nightmare is over.

The 45-year-old former medical assistant learned today from her attorney that the 10 felony counts against her on allegations of “unlawful practice of medicine” will be dismissed, she said.

“I always believed things would work out the right way,” she said tearfully. “I cannot be punished for something I didn’t do.”

Guerra’s July arrest sparked controversy over what medical assistants can and cannot do. Specifically, there was confusion over whether they are able to give shots.

Guerra was accused of unlawfully administering cosmetic injections, an act commonly performed by medical assistants throughout Nevada.

The state attorney general’s office did not specifically say charges against Guerra would be dropped but indicated it won’t be pursuing the case.

“The complaint against Betty Guerra submitted to the Attorney General’s Office by the Board of Medical Examiners has been contradicted by the subsequent actions by the Board,” Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement. “Therefore, it is fair for us to conclude that it would be difficult to prosecute this case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Guerra’s attorney, Jason Weiner, said this evening that the attorney general’s office had sent him a copy of an unfiled motion dismissing the case earlier in the day. He would not be able to provide the Review-Journal with a copy of that motion until Wednesday, he said.

After Guerra’s arrest, physicians became concerned about what duties their medical assistants could perform.

Former medical board director Louis Ling said that upon reading a 30-year-old law, he concluded that the assistants could not give shots. With flu season coming on, he then attempted to draft emergency regulations that would allow them to give flu shots, but not Botox or other cosmetic injections.

However, that effort was shot down when a judge recently ruled that the board, in considering the regulations, had violated the open meeting law.

The board later reversed its position, determining that state law allows medical assistants to administer everything from flu shots to Botox. Medical assistants could give shots as long as they are under the “direct supervision” of a physician. Most health officials and doctors take that to mean the physician is on premises.

Ling resigned on Friday.

Guerra, a mother of three who was a physician in her native Peru, said she has been under incredible stress since her arrest and lost her job because of the publicity surrounding her case.

“It was a nightmare. I could not even sleep or eat all this time, wondering what was going to happen.”

Still, she said she harbors no anger.

“Now, I start all over. But it’s just another experience in my life.”

And there’s rarely a true need for a surgical face lift! We have amazing new technologies that help us achieve remarkable results without the excessive trauma of surgery. These solutions are effective, minimally invasive and affordable. Our three laser modalities (Nd YAG, the Erbium and Lipotherm) can be used for 90% of all popular and highly effective procedures to turn back the clock and make anybody look younger for months if not years.

The non ablative 1064nm YAG laser is used to painlessly remove hair, sunspots, age spots, Rosacea, pigmented lesions, spider veins, treat active acne, and to rejuvenate, plump up and tighten the skin around the eyes, face and neck – all with little or no down time. Using this laser every 4 weeks for 3 to 4 sessions will yield outstanding results.

The Erbium laser is used for laser peels of variable depths. The laser resurfacing removes the aged and abused superficial layers of the skin while stimulating growth of new, younger and healthier skin. The smooth new skin is free of lesions, scars and wrinkles.

The two laser can be used together to provide a Bi-Modal Facial Restoration. The combination of these lasers stimulates epidermal tone and texture while improving collagen remodeling. The new skin is free of all those conditions that age the skin such as sun and age spots, wrinkles and acne scars. The treatment is simple, safe and efficacious.

The Lipotherm laser is used to model the chin, neck, jowls and cheeks by melting the excess fat and tightening the skin in the lower and mid face.

Facial wrinkles appear because as we age we lose our subcutaneous fat which in turn causes marionette lines, pronounced nasolabial folds, smoker’s lines and wrinkles around the eyes. These wrinkles can be eliminated by using injectable dermal fillers such as Radiesse, Restylane, Evolence or your own fat – the best natural filler. These fillers last from 6 months (for Restylane), 18 months (for Radiesse) and the fat transfer can last a year or longer. The beauty of fat transfer is that it is your own, natural, readily available, cheaper and limitless.

These procedures will help your body rejuvenate and repair itself and they are available at Rinnova Med-Surgical and Laser Institute.

Either Restylane or Perlane can be used to restore volume and fullness to the skin and to correct moderate to severe facial wrinkles and folds, such as the lines from your nose to the corners of your mouth (nasolabial folds).

The use of injectable dermal fillers into the face has become common practice by many physicians offering cosmetic improvements.

The names of the products are well-emblazoned in the vocabulary of most Americans. Recently, there has been an addition of some newer products to the list of FDA-approved fillers. Radiesse dermal filler is a unique product; it contains tiny calcium microspheres that are suspended in a gel. When the combination is injected just underneath the skin surface, it stimulates the body to produce its own natural collagen and it is the building of that additional collagen which helps plump and fill the depressions particularly around the mouth and chin.

Another product that has received a lot of attention is Sculptra. This is a synthetic material that originally was used to treat the aggressive facial fat loss in HIV patients. It showed its stuff and has been approved for use to fill the face for cosmetic purposes. It is particularly helpful for those patients who are seeing a shrinkage of the tissue of the cheeks and particularly those who have lost large amounts of weight. It can also be used to plump up the tissue over the cheekbones simulating larger cheekbones. It has worked nicely in the nasolabial crease, the parenthesis-like depressions that demarcate the upper lip from the cheek. It has had a ten-year run in Europe and the doctors there are still very happy with the results. Read the rest of this entry »