Skin Treatment
Posted by: Laser Treatments MD In: Laser Clinic| Laser Treatment| Medical Spa ()
Skin Treatment for aging: Plastic surgeons are tossing out the old-school belief that gravity is the primary culprit for facial aging, but new skin treatments are arriving that promise help.
A study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery(R), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), reveals the human face is made up of distinct fat compartments that individually change with age and the degree to which our faces age is dependent, in part, on how these compartments change over time.
“Contrary to popular belief, the human face does not age uniformly,” said Joel Pessa, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and study lead author. “We thought facial fat was one confluent mass that eventually got weighed down by gravity, creating sagging skin. However, we were shocked to find not only is the face made up of individual fat compartments but these compartments gain and lose fat at different rates.”
According to Dr. Pessa, the face is a three-dimensional puzzle with fat partitioned into discrete units around the forehead, eye, cheek and mouth. A youthful face is characterized by a smooth transition between these compartments, but as we get older abrupt contour changes occur between these regions due to volume loss, volume gains, and repositioning of the compartments. These changes lead to tell-tale signs of facial aging such as sagging or hollowed skin and wrinkles.
With this breakthrough, plastic surgeons will be able to more accurately pinpoint trouble areas and use filler injections like Restylane, Juvaderm and Sculptra to add volume to individual sections of the face, creating a more effective skin treatments to turn back the clock.
According to the study, this discovery may also benefit cancer and trauma patients who require reconstructive plastic surgery. The authors uncovered that the individual fat compartments have boundaries between them that act like fences. These fences allow the face to maintain its blood supply should it become injured. This anatomical discovery may allow for better results for reconstructive plastic surgery patients. In addition, plastic surgeons can begin to use this new way of thinking to better understand facial deformities, such as cleft lips and vessel tumors.
“Much of facial anatomy remains a mystery,” said Dr. Pessa. “This discovery will undoubtedly play a role in how we view aging and how we approach facial reconstructive plastic surgery.”
So where can you get anti-aging skin treatments?
Medical spas & laser clinics are medical businesses that provide non-surgical cosmetic treatments and include laser clinics, medical spas and other medical centers that are operated with some form of physician oversight and differ from day spas in that offer medical treatments. (Skin clinics and med spas usually offer very high end skin care along with their laser treatments.)
The use of nonsurgical technology also differentiates medspas and laser clinics from traditional plastic surgery. Laser hair removal, IPL and laser treatments, Fraxel, Thermage, DeepFX, ActiveFX, Botox, Restylane and other popular cosmetic treatments are usually offered.
With the addition of nonsurgical technology solutions that don’t require surgery, cosmetic medicine is now being offered in a growing number of general medical practices.
Study from: American Society of Plastic Surgeons http://www.plasticsurgery.org
