Putting in the effort with good skin care practices, but not getting the results you’re after? There’s a treatment for that! When it’s time to step up your approach with an in-clinic aesthetic treatment, it’s hard to know where to start. ‘Game-changing’ advancements in appearance medicine are happening faster than ever, bringing with them more choice, particularly around the extent of the results you’re after. So what’s making waves right now? Botox and fillers are just the beginning!
Injectables get inventive
How long it’s been since you last got Botox or filler is practically water-cooler chat these days, injectable treatments now well and truly part of the beauty mainstream. What IS new, are the plethora of different ways experts are using them.
– Lifting the brows – Arch support is no longer a podiatrists domain! Lifting the shape of your eyebrows with targeted placement of botox can help you look fresher, and minimise the impact of hooded eyelids too.
– Liquid facelift – Specialists are using larger volumes of filler (3 or 4 syringes over more than one appointment) with carefully considered, personalised application to support and reshape the face and counteract sagging, particularly around the temples, chin and jawline.
– Lip flip – Rather than plumping with filler, this uses Botox in tiny quantities at the corners of the mouth and near the Cupid’s bow to encourage the upper lip to relax and unfurl outwards slightly, making thin lips appear fuller.
– Minimise scarring – A miniscule amount of filler is used beneath skin to smooth the effects of significant acne and other scarring.
– Chin enhancement – Used to balance out a profile, particularly a wider face or prominent nose, by defining the tip of the chin.
Save your collagen for a rainy day
It’s not quite that simple, but ‘collagen banking’ is the trending term that’s applied to treatments designed to superpower your skin’s collagen production in its most abundant years. The idea is to mitigate future loss as natural collagen stores drop significantly (1-2% a year) after the age of 30, and even more so around menopause. Keeping that lovely, springy firm appearance to skin is obviously ideal and given the beauty IQ of millennials is now sky-high, it’s no wonder they’re big fans of a proactive approach, calling on procedures like Ulfit (high-intensity focused ultrasound), microneedling and LED, known to significantly stimulate strong, healthy collagen production. The good news is, that it’s never too late to start, with these options helping to boost the current state of your own collagen regardless of age.
Hitch up your face with threads
Given traditional surgical facelifts require commitment and downtime and come with a higher price tag, the use of thread lifts to address facial laxity – or sagging – is skyrocketing. They won’t offer the full-face pick-me-up that their surgical relatives will, but the significant appeal of the latest thread lifts is that they are now done with fully dissolvable materials, rather than the permanent sutures of old, and so offer a long-lasting (1-2 years) but non-permanent result. Absorbable, fine-barbed threads are passed underneath the skin with a large needle. The barbs – sort of like miniscule velcro – grab onto skin and pull it upward, stimulating collagen and tightening and lifting the skin. Gwynneth Paltrow’s Goop was a recent proponent, and the development of localised single placement, for example lifting the upper lip, is boosting the
approach’s popularity
Your moisturiser now comes in a needle
Non-volumising dermal fillers are increasingly being used to increase hydration within the skin, delivering a dewy, glowing, appearance without any visible plumpness that can be a sign that ‘I’ve just had work done’. Multi-needled handpieces that inject moisturising hyaluronan gel into the skin’s surface to enhance skin hydration and improve collagen production and skin elasticity are already popular, sometimes combined with a miniscule amount of Botox known as a ‘Photofinish treatment’, but other advancements are quickly gaining attention Dr Catherine Stone of The Face Place in Auckland is about to begin NZ trials of Profhilo, a new hyaluronic acid treatment rapidly being adopted internationally since its European launch in 2015.
“‘Biorevitalisation’ is the key term associated with Profhilo, explains Dr Stone in a recent blog. “While it is an injectable HA product, it is completely different to HA fillers. It is stabilised differently, works differently in the tissues, and is injected quite differently, with just 5 injections each side of the face or neck. “It is the consistency of ‘runny honey’, so we can inject it into 5 specific areas, and within minutes to hours it spreads through the tissues of the face or neck. While there is an immediate small volume effect, it takes days to weeks to see the biorevitalisation changes in the tissues, and a treatment course includes two treatments spaced a month apart. “ Over 2-3 months, the skin starts to glow, the face gently lifts and a naturally more youthful look develops, without the risk of looking ‘over full’.”
Get an Instagram worthy #filterfree face
It doesn’t take an aesthetic expert to explain the reason skin’s texture has come into stark focus. Smooth, plump and poreless skin is a mainstay of social media imagery, and if you haven’t got it, well, there’s a filter to oblige. If you want the effects to last IRL, skin clinics are happy to oblige, a plethora of options beginning with gentle peels, to microdermabrasion and extending to microneedling and laser, all dedicated to the pursuit of achieving an eggshell-smooth visage.
Don’t forget: Seek out trained doctors and nurses working from accredited appearance medicine clinics. You can check if your doctor is a member of NZSCM, the NZ Society of Cosmetic Medicine, which trains and regulates cosmetic doctors.
Words: Megan Bedford Images: Pinterest