Facial Rejuvenation

Our approach to skin renewal, is based on the four "Rs" of facial rejuvenation.
Basically it involves the relaxation, refilling, resurfacing and redraping of the aging face. 

Relaxation encompasses the temporary smoothing of the wrinkles caused by the muscles of facial expression.  Our relaxing agent, Botox® is a simple, painless, office-based treatment that can offer improvement for frown lines, forehead wrinkles, crows feet, bunny and lipstick lines.  It takes approximately ten minutes and can last 3-4 months.  Botox® can even be used to provide a mini 'brow-lift' and complements many of the other treatments we offer.  There is no down-time and normal activities can be resumed almost immediately.  Without relaxing the muscles that are producing wrinkles, other treatments such as fillers and lasers will be less effective and less durable.

Refilling the aging face makes dramatic improvements in appearance with minimal down-time.  As we age, we lose volume in our faces due to the loss of fat, collagen, and bone.  This volume loss causes exaggeration of wrinkles, sagging and jowling, and sunken cheeks.  A quick look at a young person's face will demonstrate the effect of full cheeks and brows on appearance.  Volume loss and sagging causes the inverted triangle of the younger face to be replaced by a flipped triangle of the older face as we see below.

Fillers are substances that we inject into the skin to help restore some of this lost volume and soften wrinkles and furrows. There are basically two types of fillers: the hyaluronic acid gels and the stimulatory fillers.

 Restylane®, Perlane® and Juvederm™ are hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers that are a natural component of our skin. HA is basically a sugar that is a component of the extracellular matrix throughout our bodies. They are injected into the deeper layers of skin to soften wrinkles and increase volume.  They are commonly used to treat the laugh lines (nasolabial), marionette lines (oral commisures), and to reshape and replump the lips.  They are injected under local anesthesia and can last 6-12 months.  They differ in their consistency and prices.  They are sold by the syringe and several syringes may be necessary to produce the desired results.  They provide volume  until they are naturally degraded by the body.

The stimulatory fillers include Radiesse®.   These fillers provide immediate correction like the HAs, but then also stimulate natural collagen production to give longer-lasting results.  Radiesse® is made of unique calcium-based microspheres that are suspended in a natural gel that is injected into the skin through a simple, safe and minimally invasive procedure.  Though your body will absorb the gel carrier over time, collagen will start to grow and infiltrate the area in the meantime, thus replacing the gel with your own collagen. Radiesse® continues to stimulate the body to produce new collagen until the microspheres are also safely and naturally absorbed into your body..  It can be used in virtually all the same locations as the HA fillers except lips.  It is thicker and offers more correction than the HA fillers and as a result may require less product for the same effect. Due to it's different composition, it can last 12-16 months.  We now have advanced injection techniques utuilizing Radiesse, that minimizes trauma to the skin and provides increased anesthesia.  Radiesse® is our filler of choice to sculpt the face and restore volume.
Resurfacing is an important part of facial rejuvenation.  Photoaging is the contribution of sun exposure to the aging face.  It is manifested by rough skin texture, fine and coarse wrinkles, light and dark spots, and the appearance of small veins and skin growths.  We treat these processes by resurfacing the skin.  We offer chemical peels, microdermabrasion, photofacials, and the Obagi skin care line, to perform various degrese of resurfacing.  Our newest and most advanced resurfacing treatment, is the Smartxide Fractional CO2 laser (DOT therapy).  DOT therapy offers results previously only seen in the operating room but uses local anesthesia and offers minimal downtime.

Our photofacials are provided by our Photoderm Vasculight and Syneron Aurora systems.  These machines utilize a full spectrum intense pulse light (IPL).  A photofacial uses IPL treatments to reverse photoaging.   It involves the principle of selective photothermolysis, the goal of which is raise the temperature of the pigment high enough to shatter the pigment without damaging the surrounding skin.  This results in the destruction of dark spots (hyperpigmentation), redness (rosacea), skin growths, and small blood vessels.  It will produce skin that is smoother, brighter, and more even toned.  It has minimal discomfort and down-time and will usually require several treatments to provide optimal results.  Please call us for a free photofacial consult!

We offer a full menu of chemical peels that are designed to remove targeted layers of the skin.  Results and downtime depend on the depth of the peel.  A consultation with our aesthetician is necessary to the determine the right peel for your skin.  Our Megapeel microdermabrasion machine offers a quick and painless exfoliation of your skin using a stream of fine crystals that are vacumed up along with dead skin cells.

Complementary to all the services we offer is the Obagi Medical skin care system (Nu-Derm).  This is a physician-prescribed line of products is designed to increase cellular turnover and improve damage in the layers of the skin.  It reduces wrinkles, reduces mottled pigmentation, evens skin tone, and makes the skin look more resilient, supple and healthy-looking.  The system offers all the products you will need and requires only a few minutes every morning and night.  You are guaranteed to see dramatic results within 4-6 weeks of use.  The system can be used before your photofacial to enhance the treatment and afterwards to maintain the effects.

As the face further ages, rejuvenation takes the shape of redraping procedures.  We offer minimally-invasive treatments that are designed to lift the sagging skin of the aging face.  Thread-lifts utilize barbed sutures that are inserted under the skin using local anesthesia.  The sagging skin is lifted and draped over the suture which suspends it a new 'lifted' location.  They can be used to lift the brow, reshape the jaw lines, and resuspend a sagging neck.  There is minimal pain and short down-time.  Thread-lifts can be combined with our other services for unbelievable results!  The DOT CO2 laser and Cool Touch laser heat the deeper layers of the skin to induce new collagen development and skin tightening! Our SmartLipo laser can be used to tighten the chin,neck and lower face in the same manner but from the inside!  These lasers are the future of noninvasive skin tightening.

As you can see, we offer a full menu of both noninvasive and minimally invasive procedures to rejuvenate you skin.  Please call 246-2639 or 342-1911 for a free consultation so we can construct a treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.