Do you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror or in a picture and dislike the signs of aging you see looking back at you? If you answered yes, you’re not alone. Signs of aging like deep wrinkles, folds and sunken areas of lost volume can be disheartening and discouraging, but you don’t have to live with it. Just because you’re aging doesn’t mean your appearance can’t match how young you feel inside. Call the skilled and expertly trained professionals at SKNCraft in Houston, TX to learn how Radiesse can help you turn back the hands of time.
What Is Radiesse?
Radiesse falls into the category of dermal filler, but it’s often referred to as a “volumizer” because of the difference in ingredients. Most dermal fillers are made of hyaluronic acid, a natural sugar made by our bodies to attract water and hold on to it, resulting in a supple and dewy look. Because these dermal fillers contain smooth gels that are easily absorbed into the soft tissue of our faces, they can be absorbed quickly, resulting in the need for frequent follow-up appointments.
Radiesse is an injectable substance made of Calcium Hydroxylapatite microspheres that are infused with tiny gel carriers. Calcium Hydroxylapatite is made of ions of calcium and phosphate, which naturally occur in the body. When Radiesse is injected into the middle layer of the skin, or dermis, it instantly adds volume to the area, diminishing lines and adding volume to hollow areas like the cheek, cheekbone and temporal regions.
The microspheres trigger your body’s natural production of collagen and act as a scaffold on which new cells can be regenerated. There are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen in the gel that mimic connective tissue, helping to form a stronger structure. Eventually, the microspheres will be absorbed back into your body naturally but will leave behind more collagen and continued results.
Your Skin’s Natural Structure
What this and all fillers are trying to do is fill the middle layer of the dermis where areas have fallen. So, why does this happen? In short, because we’re losing collagen. When we’re young, the protein collagen, which makes up one-third the protein in our body and 80% of our skin, is strong and in abundance. It is a fibrous protein, connecting cells together and anchoring them to the foundation of your skin.
This strong and healthy collagen gives your skin a strong middle layer for the surface to sit on, making it plump, voluminous and contoured. As we age, our collagen production slows and we have less to help that middle layer of skin remain strong. This allows small dips to form under the surface. Gravity does the rest by causing the skin to fall into those voids, creating moderate to severe wrinkles, folds, and hollow areas.
Radiesse settles into that middle layer of skin and creates a strong structure with its microspheres and the contents of the gel. But it doesn’t stop there. It then gets your body to kick-start a higher production of collagen, rebuilding that middle layer and filling in the voids that happen over time. Even when the microspheres are absorbed by your body, your skin will be left with a naturally strong foundation of collagen under the surface.
Where Can Radiesse Be Used?
Only your provider can make a recommendation for where the best area to use this treatment is. Its primary function is to restore lost volume, so your provider will conduct an examination of your skin to determine where you’ll receive the best outcome from this treatment.
Wrinkles, Lines, and Folds
One of the main areas people notice first as their faces age is the deep nasolabial folds that run from the corners of your nose to your mouth. Other common lines successfully treated are the marionette lines that run from the corners of your mouth down your chin and horizontal chin wrinkles that can distract from your smile.
Another often overlooked area where this treatment can get dramatic results are the corners of the mouth. Over time, and through repetitive expressions, the corners of our mouths can become permanently down-turned. This can give the appearance that we’re upset, angry or sad when we’re not. If used by a skilled professional, Radiesse can act like a sculptor’s tool, and the corners of the mouth can be upturned, giving you the happy, positive and friendly appearance of youth.
Lost Volume
Wrinkles aren’t the only place lost volume can appear on our faces. Age can rob us of the volume of the fat pads that give our cheekbones their definition and prominence. Over time, those areas flatten and our apple cheeks lose their contour. Radiesse can sculpt your cheekbones, raising them to their youthful position. If you were born with a weak bone structure, this treatment can give you the sculpture you’ve always wanted.
Another area where we lose volume is our chin area. Jowls form on either side of our chin because of volume loss, leading to our skin sagging. This treatment restores volume, diminishing the look of jowls and pre-jowls and reshaping our jawline to be more defined and appealing.
Hollow temples can throw the proportions of our face off, giving us a gaunt and asymmetrical appearance. This treatment can restore the overall shape of your face and bring back the youthful curve and volume of a full face.
The Hands
An often-overlooked area of treatment, our hands can betray our age almost as quickly as our faces can. Aside from our faces and necks, our hands are not only the most visible parts of our body: they’re also the most exposed to the elements. When your hands are exposed to a lifetime of sun and everyday pollutants, their collagen will break down quickly and the already thinner skin on the back of your hands can appear thinner.
When you notice your veins and tendons more than before, it’s because you have pockets of lost volume, making your hands seem bony and less supple. This treatment can be injected into the back of your hands to restore the youthful look of smooth and soft hands without your tendons, veins and bones being so prominent.
What to Expect
Once you and your doctor have decided this is the best treatment for you, your areas of concern and your desired outcome, you won’t have preparation to do the way you would for a more invasive procedure. The only instruction may be to stop taking typical over-the-counter blood-thinning supplements like fish oil and Vitamin E along with medications like Aleve, Motrin, Advil and aspirin. Your provider will explain this is just to reduce the already low likelihood of bruising after your treatment.
To start your session, the treatment area will be cleaned of any makeup, oils or debris. Next, your provider may apply numbing cream or lotion to the treatment area so you’re as comfortable as possible throughout the entire appointment. A series of injections will be made to the mapped-out treatment area. Your doctor will see their progress as they go because results are immediate. This allows them to make any necessary adjustments as they go.
When your 15-30-minute session is over, you can resume your normal daily activities right away. For busier schedules, you can make these appointments during the workday so you can go right back to the office when you’re finished. Because this is non-surgical and minimally invasive, there is no downtime and no difficult after-care. You may be asked to stay out of direct sunlight and avoid direct heat procedures for a few days.
Results
You will walk into the office with moderate to deep wrinkles and folds or areas of fallen volume and walk out with a smoother and more contoured appearance. Where folds and lines made you look unhappy or tired, you’ll now look refreshed and vibrant. These immediate results are a big draw for this kind of treatment.
What’s great about this specific treatment is that even when the actual injected material is absorbed, you’ll still be left with a strong structure of new skin cells so you won’t lose your results as quickly as you might with other treatments. You can expect results from this treatment to last up to a year.
Your doctor will provide you with a recommendation for how often you should get follow-up appointments to maximize your results and keep them as continuous as possible. This injectable may just be one part of a comprehensive treatment plan to address your areas of concern. Even if your only concern is the appearance of wrinkles, not all wrinkles are created equal.
Neuromodulators
These are a family of injectables made from a purified protein that, when injected, block signals from the nerves reaching certain muscles. Why is this important? Because we have dynamic wrinkles, which are those wrinkles that are caused because of the repetitive motion of the muscles underneath the skin. The most notorious of these wrinkles are the frown lines between the eyebrows.
These lines can make you look angry, sad, or worried when you’re not because it looks like your brow is constantly furrowed. BOTOX was the first neuromodulator approved by the FDA to temporarily improve the appearance of moderate to severe frown lines and is also approved to do the same for crow’s feet in adults. When an expert hand injects BOTOX or its counterpart, Dysport, into specific muscles, their ability to move becomes diminished or temporarily halted.
Results
When the muscle relaxes, the skin and wrinkles over the muscles smooth out. Results can be seen in three to five days and last three to four months. If you follow your doctor’s recommendation for follow-up visits, you can enjoy continuously smooth and soft skin. Not only will this work on frown lines and crow’s feet, but it is successful in treating:
- Moderate to severe forehead lines
- Downturned corners of the mouth
- A “gummy smile”
- Sagging neck and undefined jawline
- Chin definition
- Bunny lines on the side of the nose
- Excessive underarm perspiration
Finding the Right Provider
The most important part of your journey to restoring a more youthful and vibrant appearance is to ensure you’re only trusting your appearance to the very best.
Call SKNCraft in Houston, TX for a consultation and take the first step in finding harmony and balance between how you feel and how you look. We believe our business is one-part science and one-part artistry. Each of our clients has their own natural beauty, and we partner with each of them to develop the treatment plan that will help them achieve their ultimate goals. We take your looks as seriously as you do and want to ensure you look as good and as young as you feel.