What is anti-aging?
Anti-aging is a treatment used to slow or stop the aging process. There are many treatments that can help fight aging, through both surgical and non-surgical procedures. Damage caused by excessive sun exposure can take its toll and is responsible for most of the visible aging of the skin. In addition to photoaging, spending time in the sun repeatedly and without sunscreen can lead to both skin cancer and sunburn. There is no one treatment that treats all skin problems and achieves the same result for every person. A dermatologist can determine the best type of procedure and whether a combination of treatments is necessary.
Anti-aging is a treatment used to slow or stop the aging process.
What are the signs of aging?
Aging can take its toll in many different ways, such as:
- Expression lines and wrinkles.
- Loss of facial volume.
- Loss of bone structure.
- Loss of facial firmness.
- Sun damage: the worst enemy.
What are the different types of non-surgical anti-aging treatments?
There are treatments that can smooth and tighten the skin, add facial volume and reduce wrinkles. However, a non-surgical procedure provides the same results of a facelift as a surgery, it will make you look fresher and rejuvenated. The options are:
- Injectable fillers: Injection of filler materials into the skin can fill creases, wrinkles formed when smiling and create fuller lips and provide more volume in the cheeks and hollow eyes. This can be dermal fillers, collagen, hyaluronic acid, synthetic fillers and fat transfers.
- Botulinum toxin: When injected it temporarily paralyzes the muscles and prevents the skin from wrinkling and creating wrinkles.
- Liquid facelift: A combination of muscle relaxants, such as Botox and dermal fillers, is known as liquid facelift.
- “Facial melting”: The chemical deoxycholic acid found in our body can be injected into the body to reduce body fat in areas such as the double chin.
- Chemical peel: Glycolic, lactic or trichloroacetic acid is applied to the skin to exfoliate the top layer so that dead skin cells are peeled away. This helps reduce fine lines, small scars and sun-damaged skin.
- Dermal rolling: This is a cylinder covered with small needles that is rolled over the skin. The needles stimulate collagen production and the procedure treats scars, and lines and wrinkles caused by acne.
- Microdermabrasion: Usually performed in a spa, fine crystals or sand are used on the face to remove dead skin cells. The procedure is not as effective, but improves skin texture.
- Lasers: These are used for moderate lines and wrinkles and can improve skin tightness. There are many laser treatments available, such as ablative lasers that destroy tissue, which is replaced by new healthy tissue. Non-ablative lasers stimulate collagen and leave it intact.
- Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is a non-ablative technique that smoothes lines, wrinkles and can help fade some scars.
What are the different types of surgical anti-aging procedures?
Depending on the amount of change a patient wants to see, there are different surgical procedures such as:
- The traditional facelift: an incision is made in the hairline at the temples, continues around the ear and ends at the lower scalp. Fat can be sculpted or redistributed from the face, jowls and neck. The skin is placed over the raised contours.
- The limited incision facelift, also known as a “mini facelift,” is usually for patients with less skin relaxation as the results are not as rejuvenating as with a full facelift.
- A neck lift: A neck lift encompasses the jowls, neck skin and double chin. The procedure starts in front of the earlobe and wraps around the back of the ear ending at the back of the scalp behind the ear.