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Thermage
Skin Tightening - before & after
Facial lines and wrinkles
are caused by the thinning of the collagen
support layer underlying your skin. Topical
creams can moisturize or exfoliate the surface
of your skin, but they can't diminish the
lines or wrinkles that are caused by the loss
of the underlying collagen.
Collagen replacement is safe for most patients,
nonsurgical, and it smooths out facial lines,
wrinkles, and scars by replenishing the natural
collagen under your skin. Best of all, results
may be seen immediately.
What
Is Collagen?
Your skin is composed of two layers: the uppermost
layer , called the epidermis, is a protective
barrier. The epidermis controls the loss of
moisture and without it you would dehydrate.
Just beneath the epidermis is the dermis.
This layer is composed primarily of collagen.
Collagen provides a framework for the growth
of cells and blood vessels. As the main component
of the dermis, collagen is the supporting
layer of your skin.
Why
Do Lines Appear?
When your skin is young, the collagen is intact,
keeping your skin elastic. Young skin is resilient-meaning
that the facial lines that appear when you
smile or frown disappear when you stop smiling
or frowning. Over time, the collagen weakens
and your skin loses elasticity. Older skin
is less resilient, so the facial lines that
appear with a smile or frown don't disappear.
How
Does Collagen Replacement Work?
Collagen replacement replenishes the skin's
natural collagen, smoothing facial lines and
even some types of scars. Collagen replacement
is a nonsurgical treatment in which collagen
is injected just beneath the skin's surface,
where the body commonly accepts the collagen
as its own. Collagen replacement produces
an immediately visible change in your skin.
Just like natural collagen, injectable collagen
eventually wears down. Ongoing treatments
are required to maintain the improvements.
How
Do I Achieve Full Correction of Wrinkles?
It's important to understand that treatment
with collagen is highly individual. The amount
of collagen required for correction will depend
on your age, skin condition, and sun damage.
The amount of collagen and timing of maintenance
treatments also vary according to the individual.
We will recommend a treatment program that
meets your individual needs. Before beginning
a collagen replacement program, we perform
a simple test. If you do not have an adverse
reaction to the skin test, you can have collagen
injections.
Wrinkles that are not treatable with Botox
can still be treated with filler injections
of collagen or the semi-permanent fillers,
Radiance or Silikon. Micro-droplets of these
fillers are injected along the wrinkle and
"puff up" the skin from below, "filling
in" wrinkles and furrows.
Collagen materials were the first popular
fillers in the US and were made from bovine
(cow) collagen. Allergies were a problem and
the time period from testing for cow collagen
allergies to treatment could be two months.
The newest collagen is of human origin (not
from people) and doesn't require skin testing
since there are no allergies to worry about.
This material comes in several forms depending
on the area being treated. It is commonly
used to treat facial wrinkles and lips and
lasts from three to six months. Collagen fillers
can also be very helpful in "trying out"
the correction for individual wrinkles or
furrows before semi- permanent filler injections
are used.
Radiance and Silikon 1000
are the only two fillers currently approved
for use in the US. Both of these semi-permanent
fillers are made up of inert sugars and last
up to seven years. This length of time is
ideal since we can continue to treat these
wrinkles as they change over time rather than
using truly permanent fillers that can’t be
altered. Surface uses Radiance exclusively
due to its safety and clinical trial results.)
Wrinkles respond best to a combination of
surface and deep skin treatments. Botox, filler
injections, microdermabrasion, collagen lasers,
chemical peels, Thermage, and FotoFacials
all work together effectively. Consulting
a specialist will help you decide upon the
best treatment regimen for your individual
needs.
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