Are you tired of looking tired? Do you think you look older than you are, or, more importantly, older than you feel? Have you been considering a facelift to smooth out those lines and wrinkles and make your outer appearance match your inner energy?
While a facelift might certainly do the trick, it’s still major surgery, with a long recovery time and a hefty price tag. These days, there are alternatives to surgery that can give you spectacular results.
One popular alternative to the traditional facelift is the use of injectable dermal fillers . This treatment is often referred to as “collagen injections,” though today there is a wide variety of injectables available to meet your specific goals and needs.
What’s So Important About Collagen?
Collagen makes up 70-80% of the dermis—the inner layer of the skin—providing support to the outer layer, or epidermis, and keeping it toned and smooth.
As we age, though, collagen breaks down, causing lines, wrinkles, and even sagging skin. Smoking, sun exposure, and even uncontrollable factors such as genetics and hormonal fluctuations can accelerate this process.
This is where injectable fillers come in. In a simple, quick procedure, a synthetic or naturally sourced collagen replacement, or dermal filler, is injected under the skin. These fillers can be administered under local anesthesia, and produce almost instant results in most cases. The dermal fillers replace the collagen that your body has sacrificed to aging, filling in lines and wrinkles—even deeper lines and wrinkles—changing facial contours, filling out flabby skin and even virtually erasing scars, especially acne scarring.
Advantages to Injectable Fillers
Treatment with injectable fillers offers several advantages over the traditional facelift. Among these are:
- Instant results.In most cases, results can be seen as soon as you walk out of the doctor’s office.
- Little to no recovery time.Because dermal filler injections are a simple, non-invasive procedure, very little time is required to recover after the procedure.
- Lower cost.Since collagen injections don’t involve major surgery, they’re much less expensive than surgical face lifts.
- Long-lasting.The effects of collagen injections can last six months to a year, helping you look your best long-term.
What Kinds of Treatments are Available?
Today’s market offers a variety of dermal fillers. Two relatively new and innovative options are Evolence® and Radiesse®.
Evolence is made of natural collagen, and its structure mimics that of your own collagen, allowing Evolence to provide extensive, effective support to your skin. Since there’s no need for pre-testing for allergic reactions, results can often be achieved in a single office visit, and can last six months or longer. Evolence works well on medium to deep lines, including those bothersome “smile lines” that can develop from the nose to the corner of the mouth.
Another innovative dermal filler is Radiesse. While Radiesse is a synthetic filler, it also has an extremely low incidence of allergic reaction, and does not require pre-testing. It’s made of tiny spheres of calcium—the same substance that makes up your bones—suspended in a biocompatible gel. Because of its unique structure Radiesse not only substitutes for lost collagen, but can stimulate the body to produce more natural collagen, thus producing even longer-lasting, more natural-looking results. Treatments using Radiesse can last up to a year, making frequent re-treatments unnecessary.
How Can I Find Out More?
Whether you’ve been considering collagen treatments for a long time, or have only recently decided to look into your options, you’ll want to talk to someone who can answer all your questions and be sure your treatments deliver exactly the results you want. If you live in the Chicago, IL, area, please visit the website of Dr. Otto Placik, M.D., at Associated Plastic Surgeons in Chicago or Arlington Heights for more information or to schedule a consultation. We’ll do everything we can to give you a new, youthful look that will last.
