If you are ready to be more aggressive in the fight against Father Time, there are several procedures that fix the common woes of aging that still don’t go as far as a facelift. While facelift techniques have come far in the past decades, it is still a major surgery with commensurate recovery and expense.

[If you’re not quite ready for anything but minimally invasive options, our post on those is here.]

We spoke with our clients at Hunstad Kortesis Bharti Plastic Surgery Centers about the non-surgical procedures you can do to address the biggest issues we face cosmetically as we age. We’re going to talk through some options here that you may not know about, but you can read more on familiar procedures like Coolsculpting on the H/K/B website.

CO2RE® , The New Fractional CO2 Resurfacing System for Complete Facial Rejuvenation in 1 Treatment

This is not the Fractional Laser of days gone by, thank goodness. What used to require you to be in the operating room under general anesthesia now takes about 30 minutes in the doctor’s office with a topical numbing agent.

CO2RE® improves significantly your skin tone & texture, and helps minimize age spots and fine lines & wrinkles. Patients see marked improvement after only one treatment. This is one of the advantages of CO2RE vs. other minimally invasive options, most of which require at least 3 treatments.  In addition, the durability of of CO2RE results approach that of surgical procedures, meaning it lasts for quite some time. CO2RE also has up to 7 treatment modes to treat a variety of skin issues, and the technician can adjust the approach depending on what’s needed and how aggressive you want the treatment to be. This flexibility allows the technician to precisely target and effectively treat the skin’s surface, middle and deep dermal levels in addition to performing traditional CO2 resurfacing. 

You can expect significant redness after the treatment for several days or longer depending on how aggressive your treatment. Most patients experience little discomfort during the treatment and itching and mild discomfort for a day or two after. No makeup or sun for about one week, and a light layer of Aquaphor at all times for a week as well, so you do not want to have any public appearances during that time.

Blepharoplasty: upper and/or lower eye lifts

The eyes are often the first to show your age, with hooded & heavy lids, bags, puffiness or sunken circles under your eyes, and the delicate skin wrinkles so easily. An eye lift can make your entire face look younger even though the work has only been done on your eyes. At the same time, the effect of an eyelift is not so obvious, and people may not even know you’ve had work done. 

Both upper blepharoplasty and lower blepharoplasty can be performed on an outpatient basis using local anesthesia and sedation. Upper eyelid lifts can often be performed with just an injection of anesthetic. The recovery time from an upper or lower blepharoplasty (or combination) is 1-2 weeks and there will be some bruising and swelling. For most patients, the results last 5-9 years.

For the upper eyelids, the incision typically begins within the natural crease of the eye’s inside corner and extends slightly beyond the outside corner into the crow’s feet or laugh lines. The incision line follows the natural contour of the upper eyelid and is camouflaged when healed.

For the lower eyelids, the incision is typically concealed just below the lower lashes. Excess skin, muscle, and fat are removed to create a more youthful appearance. The fat beneath the eye can be redistributed to remove puffiness or bulges. In some patients, the underlying muscle will be tightened, and in some the doctor will inject some of the patient’s own fat into the lower eye area to fill out the hollows which accentuate dark circles.

NeoGraft™ for Hair Loss

Approximately 21 million women suffer from male/female pattern baldness or thinning hair.  For many the traditional “strip method” of hair replacement doesn’t appeal, because of the slow recovery time, the loss of feeling at the incision site, the tiny linear scar on the back of the head, and/or the amount of post-operative pain involved.

H/K/B uses the NeoGraft™ Automated Hair Transplantation device for the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) method of hair transplantation. FUE removes individual hair follicles from the scalp in their naturally occurring groupings of about 1-4 hairs and then places in the areas of the scalp where balding has occurred. This is the least invasive procedure for hair transplantation and offers successful results with.

• Little to no discomfort.  No scalpel incision, no staples, no linear scar.
• Quick Recovery Time – Typically back to work the next day.
• Fewer activity restrictions than traditional strip methods.

Profound® for Tightening The Skin at Your Jawline and Neck

Profound® laser is clinically proven to create 3 vital skin elements that keep your face & skin looking youthful and supple: elastin, collagen and hyaluronic acid. Good candidates for the Profound procedure are people who have sagging skin, especially in the cheeks or jowls, wrinkles along the cheeks and loss of volume around the mouth and cheeks.  Looseness and laxity around the jawline and sagging, wrinkled skin on the neck is one of the most common complaints of women in their 50s and beyond. Profound treats this particular problem effectively with a vigorous wound healing response which results in a significant increase in elastin and collagen. 

Profound generates this new dermal volume by creating a natural healing process following a carefully controlled thermal impact in the dermis. For patients who prefer not to use fillers or neurotoxins, and /or don’t want to get a lower facelift, studies have shown that the Profound procedure produces about one-third the effect of a surgical face-lift.

You will have numbing injections pre-procedure and, since this is a “vigorous wounding” you can expect bruising, swelling and redness after for a week or more. You will also likely have tiny dot marks on the treated area and up to a week of some minor shedding of the skin. You definitely will not want to be out in public much for at least the first week afterward. But keep in mind, alternatives to Profound would be a combination of tissue tightening, neck liposuction and fillers or a lower face-lift.

Kybella™ to Remove a Double Chin

The dreaded double chin. For some it is an inherited physical feature, but for many it starts to show up in your 50s. Technically known as submental fullness, the double chin is a common yet under treated condition. Kybella™ is the newest non-surgical procedure to address the issue effectively. 

Kybella™ destroys fat cells when injected into the fat beneath your chin and is administered in a series of injections during 15-20 minute in-office treatment sessions.  Each person’s treatment is customized to achieve their needed treatment goals, and once the aesthetic goal is achieved, re-treatment is not expected. Many patients treated with Kybella™ experience visible contouring of their chin profile in 2 to 4 treatments (spaced at least one month apart). Some people require up to 6 treatments in order to achieve results.

The most common side effects of Kybella™ include swelling, bruising, pain, numbness, redness, and areas of hardness in the treatment area. For most patients, downtime was minimal and occurred most commonly after the first treatment session.

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When scheduling any of these treatments above, keep your social plans and work commitments in mind. The general rule of thumb you need to consider is that the more significant the result desired, the more significant the impact of the treatment required, so the more significant the downtime. It just makes sense. With Botox and Fillers, you are looking at hours or maybe a day’s recovery. As you step up the impact, you will step up the recovery.

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The Scoop on Turning 50 is Brought to You by Charlotte Radiology Breast Centers

Charlotte Radiology is one of the nation’s largest radiology practices and has been serving the greater Charlotte area for nearly 50 years. The professionals at Charlotte Radiology believe the key to beating and detecting breast cancer early is quality mammograms starting at age 40 and continuing annually in to your 50s and beyond.

The two biggest risk factors for getting breast cancer are being a woman and getting older. In fact, the cancer incidence rate increases with age, making annual mammography even more important to women ages 50+. Of the breast cancers detected using mammography, over 28 percent were found in women between ages 40-49.

The bottom line is that early detection is the key to beating breast cancer. Annual screening results in lower call-back rates than does biennial screening and finds cancer at the earliest stage – providing a more favorable prognosis.