Fillers: Quick Fix vs. Long Term Results

Via Total Beauty:

“All of us are looking for a quick fix that’ll make us look and feel better,” says board-certified cosmetic surgeon Dr. Fardad Forouzanpour of Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgical Group. “But quick fixes often come with risks.”

Fillers like Juvederm and Restylane help plump up your lips, get rid of your laugh lines, and fill in your cheekbones. “These are quick fixes,” says Forouzanpour. However, you have to make sure that the doctor you’re going to is respectable and can guarantee the quality of the injections.

Forouzanpour says that when people try to get fillers on the cheap, there’s a good chance of things going wrong. He points to one case where doctors in Florida were injecting animal products from China because they were cheaper, and injected too much — so much that the client ended up in the hospital. He notes another horror story, where a woman who went to Mexico to get Juvederm fillers “got injected with who knows what and she ended up with scars, lumps, and bumps,” he says. “And you can’t correct something like that, because we don’t know what the injection was.”

The better option: Exilis
Forouzanpour recommends a nonsurgical procedure like Exilis, an FDA-approved radio frequency treatment that helps tighten the skin through heat. The collagen in the skin becomes tighter, thereby reducing fine lines and wrinkles. “It’s nothing like surgery,” he says. “While it doesn’t give you the same result, it does give a nice, refreshing look to the skin. And there aren’t side effects.”

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The even better option:  Acupuncture

Facial Acupuncture uses tiny intra-dermal needles to create micro traumas that can facilitate the production of collagen and elastin.  The needles are inserted inside the wrinkle or crease to bring increased nutrients, via the blood and energy, to that specific area.

Collagen is a protein produced by our bodies that is responsible for our skin’s durability and resilience. Elastin is responsible for the elasticity of our skin. Sun exposure and aging degrade and decrease the production of our collagen and elastin. Acupuncture helps to stimulate the body’s natural processes of cell reproduction and growth. Needles are also placed in the muscle motor points to re-educate the muscles back to their original placement, thus the face looks more sculpted, more youthful and lifted.

How long does Facial Acupuncture last?  It’s kind of like a snowball, the more you do it the better it looks – this is particularly true in the beginning.  This is why most Facial Acupuncturists usually require a patient to commit to 10-12 sessions in order to see results.  The side effects of Facial Acupuncture?  Many patients report decreased stress, better sleep, improved digestion, decreased depression and/or anxiety, reduced hot flashes, and increased energy.

For more information email:  integrating beauty@gmail.com

Courtesy Marisa Belger