Dermal Fillers
Erase years from your face with dermal fillers
By Isabel Banuchi
Cosmetic Dermatologist and Inventor
Medical Director, Banucci Institute
Unhappy with your lines and wrinkles? Relax. You can fight those signs of aging without going under the knife. Injectable treatments such as fillers and BOTOX® are the new weapon against those creases that make you look old and tired. Botox is the injection of choice to smooth out the lines around the brow and eye area. It is made from the Botulin toxin type A, and its primary function is to help relax the muscles and prevent them form contracting. When muscles don't contract, the skin over and around them remains smooth, making wrinkles disappear.
Botox has been used on the brow for horizontal lines that occur when you lift your eyebrows, for the " worry lines" between the eyebrows and for the "crow's feet" that appear on the outside of your eyes when you smile. With a few quick applications on the key spots, those wrinkles start to fade right away, and they stay away for months.
But there's some exiting news about Botox; it's not just for wrinkles anymore. Recent studies have discovered that Botox can also be used to create a brow lift. By applying this substance carefully in selected areas, the outside corners of your eyebrows will actually lift, creating a fresher and more youthful look. It's an instant facelift without the surgery.
The most requested treatments for the lower face involve lines around the lips, the lines from your nose to your mouth and the ones that goes from the mouth to the jaw line. Most of the fillers for this area are made from hyaluronic acid. Among them are JUVÉDERM®, Perlane and Restylane. While there are minor chemical differences among them, they all work basically the same way. They are hydrophilic or "water-loving" compounds that provide volume and fullness to the skin when injected just below the surface. They are used to help refill the areas that have receded due to age and have become wrinkles. These fillers can last up to six months, depending on the patient.
There's a new exciting alternative, RADIESSE®. It is also filler for lines and wrinkles. However, its chemical composition is calcium based, not hyaluronic acid. It is delivered in what they call "microsphere technology" and studies indicate the Radiesse actually helps the body produce new collagen in the treated areas. This means that Radiesse can actually rejuvenate your skin, not only by filling out the lines, but by boosting its natural regeneration processes.
You don't need plastic surgery to get rid of your lines and wrinkles. Just fill them in and you'll erase years from your face.