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Pointe
Lift - before & after
Thermage
Skin Tightening - before & after
Pointe
Lift & Thermage - before & after
Thermage: Loose skin that has been
stretched by age and exposure has been treated
in the past with surgery. Traditional "face
lifts" undermine (separate) the skin
and then pull it towards the ears to make
it tighter. The excess skin is cut away and
the edges are sutured together. Permanent
scars in the hairline and in front of the
ears are necessary for this correction. Face
lifts are still common but don't do much for
thin skin and can look artificial and stretched.
A well done facelift can last ten years before
needing to be redone. It requires a number
of weeks to look normal enough to go into
public and facelifts that don't meet expectations
are still permanent.
Loose skin can now be treated
with a new medical technology called "Thermage".
This process tightens the skin using focused
energy (radio waves) that causes the collagen
and protein in the skin to shrink. This shrinking
tightens the skin and causes new collagen
to form making it stronger and more resilient.
The effects increase over time with maximum
results achieved a few months after treatment.
The face and neck are the
most common treatment areas and the procedure
can be performed over a lunch hour. There
is no down time for healing or recovery with
temporary redness lasting only an hour or
two. There can be brief numbness in the area
in a few people. Problems are very rare because
the device is under continuous computer control.
Clinical studies have shown remarkable results
after only one treatment and multiple treatments
are possible.
A special Thermage technique
called "vectoring" can produce results
similar to a face lift by tightening the skin
in any desired direction. This ability results
in a completely natural result, eliminating
the "pulled" look common to face
lifts.
About non-surgical lifts
Loose or wrinkled skin that has been stretched
by age and exposure has been treated in the
past with surgery. Traditional "face
lifts" undermine (separate) the skin
and then pull it towards the ears to make
it tighter. The excess skin is cut away and
the edges are sutured together. Permanent
scars in the hairline and in front of the
ears are necessary for this correction. A
well done facelift can last ten years before
needing to be redone. Surgical face lifts
are still common but don't do much for thin
skin and can look artificial and stretched.
It requires a number of weeks to look normal
enough to go into public and facelifts that
don't meet expectations or have complications
are still irreversible.
The first real breakthrough with any sort
of non-surgical face lift was the development
of "Aptos Threadlifting" in Russia
by a plastic surgeon named Sulamanidze. The
treatment was brought to the United States
just a few years ago under the name "Featherlift".
Surface was one of the first clinics in North
America to offer this treatment. However,
there is a drawback. With a Featherlift procedure,
the skin is attached or held in place by another
area of skin. Since skin is subject to stretching
and laxity, the correction is not as strong
as a surgical lift where the deep fascia laysers
are sutured in place.
The desire to have a truly non-surgical facelift
that offered dramatic results prompted the
development of Pointé Lift.
With Pointé Lifts,
the temporal area (forehead) face and neck
are the most common treatment areas. The procedure
is performed through a tiny needle hole hidden
in the hairline. The needle hole is so small
(about the thickness of a pencil lead) that
suturing is unnecessary to close it. The procedure
usually takes about an hour and the patient
is ready to go. There is no down time for
healing or recovery with temporary soreness
lasting two or three days. Patients describe
immediate post treatment feeling as wearing
a pony-tail that's too tight and experience
a tension headache for the first 24 hours
that can be treated with aspirin.
The results can be dramatic.
For more information, we suggest that you
come in for a free consultation or attend
one of our free siminars.
Question:
I'm a 55 y/o w/w in need of a facelift. I've
looked into many options and read a lot of
literature from Cosmetic Surgery Times. The
PS's I've seen all say I need the traditional
facelift and the less invasive one won't work
if you have too much loose skin which I do.
So my question is what do you do about loose
skin that a lot of middle aged woman have.
Can you explain how the point lift would work
for that?
Answer:
These are very common problems. At the root
of this problem is the natural loss of collagen
that women experience as they age. Women average
about a 1% loss of dermal or skin collagen
per year. This leads to looser skin with less
strength. The result is facial laxity or drooping
and wrinkles. Another problem is the fat pads
in the face also lose the battle with gravity
and start to slide under the skin. This deepens
the naso-labial fold that runs from the corner
of the nose to the lateral mouth area. The
cheek fat pad also descends and ends up sliding
under the jaw line and the result is a jowl.
Traditional face lifts involve separating
the skin of the face from the deeper tissues
and pulling it towards the ear. The excess
skin is cut off and sutured to the area from
the sideburn along the front of the ear and
then to the area behind the ear. Traditional
facelifts do not do anything for the skin
thinning issue. They actually worsen thinning
because they, in effect, stretch the skin
further.
Pointe’ lifts involve attaching a deep suture
to a natural structure under the hair above
and in front of the ear. This is then attached
to a structure near the sideburn area and
when tension is applied, the facial skin is
lifted. There are only needle holes behind
the hairline to heal and no skin sutures or
cutting is involved. The result looks very
natural and usually no one can tell a procedure
was performed. Another nice aspect of the
Pointe’ lift is its reversibility. The procedure
can be reversed by simply removing the suture.
The skin thinning problem is addressed using
various skin wounding technologies such as
Thermage. Thermage involves heating the skin
with a special RF device that caused the skin
to thicken and tighten. The effect can be
very pleasing and natural looking. Another
wounding treatment is pointe’ induction. This
involves creating micro-trauma to the skin
which causes collagen renewal. Both Thermage
and Pointe’ induction take up to 6 months
for the full effect to take place. This is
because the person’s body makes the collagen
thicken and tighten in response to the treatment.
Many people require both a tightening procedure
and a non-surgical lift to gain the greatest
benefit. This is usually discussed at the
consultation with our physicians. If a personal
consultation is unreasonable because of distance,
recent pictures can sometimes be used to assess
if these treatments would be of benefit before
a trip is planned.
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