5 Body Parts that Might Benefit from Dermal Fillers

As your skin ages, your skin loses collagen and fat and falls prey to other factors such as sun damage, smoking, poor diet and pollution. All of these things can take their toll on your anti-ageing wellness, causing your skin to appear wrinkly and saggy. However, dermal fillers are non-surgical injections that claim to restore youthfulness to your face, but how do they work? We spoke to celebrity cosmetic dermatologist Dr Shuba Dharmana, the Founder of Le’Jeune Medspa and winner of Woman Entrepreneur of the year 2012, to find out more.

 

According to Dr Dharmana, ‘Dermal fillers contain hyaluronic acid in a very purified form. This is used to build collagen that is lost from the ageing skin thus restoring volume, lifting sagging skin and plumping out the folds. The hyaluronic acid filler is injected in to the layers of skin, in the folds after numbing the skin with a local anaesthetic cream…These injections are not very painful when used with the numbing cream and you may feel only a slight discomfort. But the effects of the fillers last for 12-18 months and they help maintain younger looking skin.’ So which areas can be treated with dermal fillers?

 

1. Cheeks: ‘As we age, we lose volume in the cheeks,’ says Dr Dharmana. ‘This, in addition to the effects of gravity causes the underlying tissues and the skin to droop giving rise to laughter folds. This volume in the cheeks can be regained with thicker dermal fillers that not only create a fuller, youthful lift giving high cheek bones but also correct the laughter lines.’

 

2. Lips: Dr Dharmana explains, ‘The injections used in the lips will help accentuate the lip line, the cupid’s bow area, the smoker’s lines and to plump body of the lips. Depending on one’s pain threshold, they may choose to have this with a local anaesthetic cream or have a set of numbing injections called ‘dental blocks’ given into the gums inside the mouth prior to the procedure. These injections given inside the mouth are relatively painless and are similar to an injection from your dentist before a tooth removal.’

 

3. Décolletage: ‘We often overlook our décolletage, the most age revealing part of our bodies,’ Dr Dharmana laments. ‘It is the area comprising the neck, shoulders, cleavage. The skin around the cleavage is one of the first places women show their age. The skin is fine, thin and very delicate, and tends to show sunspots and lines easily with age. Women also tend to overlook this area when it comes to skincare, not realising they should be treating it with just as much care as their face. This area can be treated effectively with a slightly less viscous dermal filler like Juvederm Hydrate, Restylane Vital, Mesolis or IAL. You will have a series of tiny injections in the area after using a numbing cream and you will require three sessions and maintenance treatment once every three months.’

 

4. Nose: Dr Dharmana asks, ‘Don’t like the shape of your nose? You can correct it without surgery with this treatment. Fillers are used to non-surgically repair a crooked nose or build a higher nasal bridge. This non-surgical rhinoplasty performed with fillers lasts up to two years.’

 

5. Hands: ‘Hands, especially fingers show signs of ageing which can be corrected with the help of a filler that hydrates, lifts and plumps volume in to the sagging skin,’ notes Dr Dharmana.

 

But what about possible side-effects? Dr Dharmana adds, ‘Due to the use of needle, there is likely to be some bleeding and rarely some bruising at the injection site. Redness and swelling may occur after the injection and this reaction may last for two weeks. There is rarely any discolouration of the injection site, nodules. But if these develop, report them to the practitioner as soon as possible so they can advise on the best course of treatment.’

 

Categories: anaesthetic cream, Dermal Fillers, dr dharmana, Hyaluronic Acid, injection site, lips, local anaesthetic, nose, numbing cream, Sagging Skin, skin

Life Stresses Harming Your Skin? Here’s How to Fight Back!

Whether the stress of the job is making your skin wrinkle like a female Gordon Ramsay, or your recent insomnia has left your skin wellness a little dull and lifeless, there’s a lot of beauty issues that you chalk up to “ageing” when actually there are sneaky, secret causes that are hacking away at your wellbeing. However, for every beauty-damaging cause, there’s also an anti-ageing wellness solution, so here’s some of our favourite tips and tricks:

 

1. Job Stress and Wrinkles: Whether you’re gunning for a big promotion or just trying to hit your crazy deadlines on time, job stress can take its toll on your skin. This is because your telomeres – the little caps on the ends of your DNA that help protect and keep cells, including skin cells, young – are negatively impacted by stress, and are shortened by work-related exhaustion. Exercising for 40 minutes a day, three days a week, is just what the doctor ordered for work-related stress, but even doing a little but more movement can help you to keep stress at bay. For a beauty fix, Dr. Amy Wechsler, a New York City–based physician who is board-certified in both psychiatry and dermatology, recommends Botox, as research has shown a correlation between Botox and happiness. This may be because freezing your frowning muscles halts the negative emotions that accompany the movement. Wechsler adds, ‘A low dose of Botox will stop small lines from turning into full-blown wrinkles.’

 

2. Insomnia and Dullness: We’ve all looked a little worse-for-wear after a big night out, but too much sleep deprivation can make dull skin a staple occurrence. Wechsler notes, ‘Transepidermal water loss increases if you’re not sleeping.’ Or, in English, your skin can’t hang onto moisture, and your cell turnover also slows down. Wechsler insists, ‘No stressful TV before bed. You can’t turn off your brain after that.’ If you’re around air-conditioners and heaters all day, this may also be causing the moisture to evaporate from your skin, so run a humidifier at night to stay hydrated.

 

3. Junk Food and Acne: When you have a bad day, you instantly reach for junk food – after all, when was the last time you saw someone stress-eat a healthy salad? Dr. Josie Howard, a San Francisco psychiatrist and psychodermatologist who studies the relationship between mood disorders and skin, points out, ‘Emotions play a huge role in what, when, and how much we eat.’ However, if you’re eating comfort foods like dairy, white sugar, and fried foods, your insulin levels will rise and cause your skin to produce more oil, which triggers acne. Try to keep junk food out of sight so that you can more easily resist temptation. Washing anything that comes into contact with your face– e.g. makeup brushes, pillowcases and mobile phones – can also help prevent acne, as this stops you spreading bacteria.

 

4. Break Ups and Sagging: A study of twins has shown that women who went through a divorce looked two years older than their identical twins who hadn’t. The researchers surmised that this was because the drama of relationship break ups elevates your cortisol levels, and this stress hormone causes collagen – the protein that keeps skin plump – to deteriorate. However, meditation can help to lower your cortisol levels. Yoga instructor Kristin McGee asserts, ‘Even five minutes a day helps. Sit, close your eyes, and pay attention to your breathing. Don’t judge yourself—there’s no wrong way to meditate.’ Another way to keep skin plump and tight is to eat more kiwis. This anti-sag beauty food delivers more than a daily dose of vitamin C, which plays a key role in collagen synthesis.

Categories: cortisol levels, Food, job stress, junk food, Sagging Skin, skin, skin plump, Stress, wechsler, work related, Wrinkles

The Age of Embarrassment: Would You Try the Face Trainer?

When you first begin to think about anti-ageing wellness, you can feel a little bit embarrassed. However, while there’s no reason why you should be shy in keeping your skin young and being the most beautiful you that you can be, certain products don’t make it easy.

A new beauty product has emerged on the scene that promises to tone up your wrinkles and saggy skin conveniently in the privacy of your own home. While other anti-ageing products, like face masks, can give you a great excuse to get the girls round and have a evening of pampering, trust me, this isn’t the product for that! Made by the aptly-named beauty treatment company No!No!, the Face Trainer is a product which should remain between you and your mirror – and no one else.

So what is it about the Face Trainer that’s so embarrassing? Ever seen Star Wars? The product is a mask that looks like the love child of an Ewok and a Storm Trooper. No!No! claims that the Face Trainer provides resistance training to the muscles in your face, but it’s not just the sci-fi balaclava itself that’s so mortifying; there are actions involved too! The basic action is dubbed “The Surprised Puppy Dog”, and while the other actions don’t have quite so hilarious names, you still wouldn’t want another living soul to see you doing them.

However, though the whole thing looks ridiculous, there’s nothing silly about the anti-ageing effects the Face Trainer has on your wellbeing. No!No!’s magic mask performed well enough in clinical trials to be approved by the FDA, and The Daily Mail reported that ‘71% of users saw an reduction in sagging while 91% of participants said they would recommend the product to a friend.’ Of that 91%, I wonder how many participants just wanted to secretly film their friends wearing the Face Trainer…and then put it on YouTube.

If you do have a high threshold for embarrassment, The Face Trainer can be yours for a mere $199 plus shipping and handling. However, as the product does look like a ski mask that’s a size too small, it may be a cheaper option to buy one of those first and start practising your surprised puppy dog face.

Categories: Face Trainer, resistance exercises, Sagging Skin

The Age of Embarrassment: Would You Try the Face Trainer?

When you first begin to think about anti-ageing wellness, you can feel a little bit embarrassed. However, while there’s no reason why you should be shy in keeping your skin young and being the most beautiful you that you can be, certain products don’t make it easy.

A new beauty product has emerged on the scene that promises to tone up your wrinkles and saggy skin conveniently in the privacy of your own home. While other anti-ageing products, like face masks, can give you a great excuse to get the girls round and have a evening of pampering, trust me, this isn’t the product for that! Made by the aptly-named beauty treatment company No!No!, the Face Trainer is a product which should remain between you and your mirror – and no one else.

So what is it about the Face Trainer that’s so embarrassing? Ever seen Star Wars? The product is a mask that looks like the love child of an Ewok and a Storm Trooper. No!No! claims that the Face Trainer provides resistance training to the muscles in your face, but it’s not just the sci-fi balaclava itself that’s so mortifying; there are actions involved too! The basic action is dubbed “The Surprised Puppy Dog”, and while the other actions don’t have quite so hilarious names, you still wouldn’t want another living soul to see you doing them.

However, though the whole thing looks ridiculous, there’s nothing silly about the anti-ageing effects the Face Trainer has on your wellbeing. No!No!’s magic mask performed well enough in clinical trials to be approved by the FDA, and The Daily Mail reported that ‘71% of users saw an reduction in sagging while 91% of participants said they would recommend the product to a friend.’ Of that 91%, I wonder how many participants just wanted to secretly film their friends wearing the Face Trainer…and then put it on YouTube.

If you do have a high threshold for embarrassment, The Face Trainer can be yours for a mere $199 plus shipping and handling. However, as the product does look like a ski mask that’s a size too small, it may be a cheaper option to buy one of those first and start practising your surprised puppy dog face.

Categories: Face Trainer, resistance exercises, Sagging Skin