Special offers for facial rejuvenation are ideal for helping you reduce wrinkles and sagging skin while keeping your facelift results looking their best. Contact the office of double board certified Atlanta plastic surgeon, Dr. John LeRoy today!
Looking younger is one of the top cosmetic concerns for men and women alike. As a double board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in facial rejuvenation, I spend most of my time working toward this goal for my patients. In over twenty years as a plastic surgeon, I’ve heard just about every question you can imagine about facial rejuvenation. Chances are that you have some of the same questions my past patients have had, so to help you learn more about your options, I’ve compiled and answered some of the most common questions I hear about aging.
What’s the best age for a facelift?
Some patients expect that there’s a general age at which most people are ready for a facelift. In reality, everyone ages at a different pace, so the number on your driver’s license has nothing to do with determining which cosmetic procedure will best suit your needs. Instead, it depends on the unique signs of aging you have and how severe they are.
Many patients who first come to me haven’t yet aged enough to warrant a traditional facelift. For these patients, my specialized Band Aid Mini Facelift can offer natural-looking results with half the recovery time, minimal scarring and swelling, and gentle numbing rather than general anesthesia.
Does Botox® really freeze your face?
Botox® and Dysport® does reduce wrinkles by relaxing the muscles that have become tensed and wrinkled by repeated facial expressions. However, if it’s injected by a board-certified plastic surgeon with a skilled technique, Botox® and Dysport® can reduce your wrinkles while letting you still feel like you can make natural facial expressions. When either is administered well, you’ll look younger and more refreshed but no one will recognize why.
Will a facelift get rid of age spots?
Facelifts address the shape of your skin, but age spots (or liver spots, which are caused by sun damage) are formed by excess pigment within the skin. As a result, a facelift doesn’t remove age spots. If you want to reduce sagging skin as well as age spots, I typically recommend a facelift followed by Band Aid Laser Skin Resurfacing. It’s a minimally invasive treatment that breaks down the excess pigment in age spots while also reducing fine lines, wrinkles, in addition to tightening the skin and rebuilding collagen.
Why does it seem like I have extra skin as I age? Is my body producing more skin?
The amount of skin you have doesn’t increase as you age. Instead, your skin becomes thinner and starts to sag. If you take a ball of dough and hold it up by just the top, the lower part will get longer and thinner. This is the same thing that happens to your skin as you age. A facelift removes the sagging skin and lifts the remaining skin and other tissue to a more youthful position and shape.
Can Botox® or Dysport® prevent wrinkles?
There’s a growing trend of preventative Botox® or Dysport®. These injections don’t just relax wrinkled muscles like those that form crow’s feet, frown lines, and forehead wrinkles. They also keep those muscles from continuing to tense and to form worsening wrinkles. In this way, starting Botox® injections in the early stages of aging can keep wrinkles to a minimum.
Will taking collagen supplements make my skin firmer?
Collagen is the protein that keeps your skin young and firm. However, in order to make your skin look younger, there are specific ways to cause your body to produce more collagen within the skin. Some companies sell supplements and even beverages that contain collagen, but this will not rejuvenate your skin.
While you can’t stop time, you can control the way your body responds to it. By taking preventative measures and learning about all your options for looking younger, you can remain your most confident and beautiful self for years to come. If you want to reduce aging that has already appeared, schedule an appointment with me, Dr. John L. LeRoy. For more facial rejuvenation tips, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Special offers for facial rejuvenation are the perfect way to reduce wrinkles and sagging skin, keep your facelift results looking their best, or enhance the results of a recent face lift. Contact the office of double board certified Atlanta plastic surgeon, Dr. John LeRoy today!
Special offers for facial rejuvenation are the perfect way to reduce wrinkles and sagging skin, keep your facelift results looking their best, or enhance the results of a recent face lift. Contact the office of double board certified Atlanta plastic surgeon, Dr. John LeRoy today!
Researchers in the field of cosmetic medicine have created so many new products, treatments and techniques lately that it’s challenging to even keep up. For a patient, this seems like a dream come true because there are a variety of choices to treat nearly any cosmetic concern. However, it’s important not to get swept up in the excitement of all the new developments. One procedure I often hear questions about is Kybella®, a non-surgical alternative to liposuction for the “double chin.” Today, I’m discussing the procedure in more detail and examining how it compares to liposuction.
Fat Reduction Injections vs. Liposuction: How Do They Work?
Both of these treatments are rather simple. During liposuction, I use a small, narrow tube to break up and remove unwanted fat from precise areas, contouring the area based on your desired results. The surgery only requires a few tiny incisions. In some cases (and for most of my patients who are receiving liposuction for the “double chin”), I can perform the procedure in-office using gentle numbing rather than local anesthesia, which dramatically reduces the recovery time as well as the cost.
Kybella® injections, on the other hand, use a material called deoxycholic acid. Deoxycholic acid is a natural substance your body uses to digest dietary fats. When it’s injected into stored fat (like excess fat under your chin), it breaks down a percentage of the fat cells and allows your body to remove them over the course of several weeks. Ultimately, this reduces the fat in the area for a slimmer look. There are other non-surgical fat reduction treatments as well, and while they each use different methods, they all find ways to break down a certain percentage of fat cells and wait for your body to gradually remove them.
Why I Choose Only Liposuction in My Plastic Surgery Practice
The primary advantage that attracts patients to Kybella® is that it’s non-surgical. Most people assume that there is a dramatic difference between the experience they’ll have with a non-surgical series of injections compared to a surgery. However, based on my 24 years as a double board-certified plastic surgeon, I stand behind liposuction for a number of reasons.
Non-surgical fat reduction does reduce the overall amount of fat in the area, but the results vary from patient to patient. Liposuction produces much more predictable results because a knowledgeable, experienced surgeon has the ability to directly control which fat cells are removed and to contour the area strategically.
Another issue few patients consider is how long it takes to see results from non-surgical methods. Kybella® and other non-surgical fat reduction treatments rely on your body’s natural healing process to remove the fat, so it can take several weeks or months before the full results are visible. It’s also important to note that for many patients, the skin of the “double chin” doesn’t retract fully after the fat is reduced, leaving some sagging skin. This means that you may need cosmetic surgery regardless to get the results you want, and if you choose liposuction instead, the liposuction and skin lift can be performed at the same time.
Finally, few patients realize how brief and mild the recovery from liposuction under the chin actually is. Most of my patients who want to treat this area are candidates for my Band Aid Liposuction – the unique in-office surgery I developed. Patients are typically back to work just a few days after this procedure.
New advancements in medicine and technology have allowed countless patients to achieve the look they want with less recovery time. But it’s important to remember that “new” isn’t always “better.” Ultimately, my goal is to give every patient the best way to achieve the look they want and become their most confident, beautiful self, and this is why I stand behind surgical liposuction. To find out if you’re a candidate, schedule a liposuction consultation with me, Dr. John L. LeRoy. For more helpful cosmetic surgery information, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.