Collagen Stimulation Treatments
Now is a great time to be thinking about improving your skin quality, texture, pore-size, tone, and overall appearance. In order to create true skin rejuvenation, collagen stimulation is a must. If you have the choice, you should begin doing this in your twenties to help prevent the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles before they really set in place. However, most of us do not even start thinking about our skin aging until the mid-thirties or later.
Collagen stimulation treatments are the key to keeping your skin young and backtracking the skin to a more youthful state. Many treatments can be used to stimulate the body’s natural repair mechanisms to produce new, more organized collagens, ie. more youthful, tighter, smoother, rejuvenated skin. In addition, these treatments are done for treating scars such as acne scars, stretch marks, or general scarring. The choice of treatment is based on your skin condition, hyperpigmentation, amount of aging and current biological age, health conditions, extent of lines and wrinkles, sun damage, scarring, downtime required, and other factors. These treatments should only be performed by a medical professional, like a physician, fully trained in aesthetics or dermatology, as this does affect the dermal layer of the skin; Estheticians can perform treatments to affect the outermost layer of the skin, the epidermis.
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Skin Photorejuvenation
IPL Skin Photorejuvenation is a great way to get a quick treatment with little to no down-time. This is a light treatment that stimulates collagen through a minor thermal injury to the dermis while also targeting hyperpigmentation like age spots or freckling and improving redness from dilated capillaries. This is safe for all skin types. The treatment takes 15 minutes or more, depending on the areas being done. Treatments can be done 2-4 weeks apart, and a series is best done for optimal results.
Chemical Peels, specifically talking about Medium Chemical Peels.
These peels need pre-treatment with retinoids and skin bleaching agents for several weeks before and after treatment. In addition, most benefit from a couple of Light Chemical Peels scheduled strategically to prepare the skin for the medium chemical peel process. The medium chemical peel penetrates the dermal layer of the skin, causing skin remodeling and collagen stimulation to occur. This does cause intense stinging during the procedure, but is well tolerated. Most require 10-14 days to fully heal from this type of peel. Absolutely no sun exposure for 6 months post-treatment.
Microneedling using SkinPen
The SkinPen is the first microneedling device in the world cleared by the U.S. FDA. It is a minimally invasive procedure with very little downtime. This procedure is safe for all skin colors and types and may require as little as 3-4 initial treatments, although some may require additional treatments for older skin or more extensive repair. You will have minimal discomfort during the treatment since numbing cream is used prior to beginning. The single-use sterile needle cartridge creates controlled micro-injuries to the dermis of the skin, stimulating the body’s natural wound healing process. The procedure takes 30 minutes - 1 hour to complete after numbing has been done, depending on the areas. Post procedure, the skin will be pink-red, similar to a mild to moderate sunburn. Dryness, tightness, itching, peeling, some tenderness or burning are common and resolve quickly. All healing is typically complete by 5-7 days.
Eclipse Skinfinity Radiofrequency
This therapy uses an innovative, customizable, fractionated ablative radiofrequency technology. It only affects fractions or pin-points within the treatment areas leaving other parts unaffected resulting in quicker healing with dramatic results instead of weeks of downtime. Risks using this treatment are also reduced compared to laser therapies. It produces microscopic thermal injuries in the dermis and skin resurfacing to stimulate self-healing and new production of healthy, young collagens to restore tone, elasticity, improve pore-size, acne or other scarring, and reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Previous technologies used laser energy to burn off the entire top layer of skin resulting in extended downtime and weeks of recovery. Healing time is 5-7 days for most.
Radiofrequency treatment
The Viora’s V-ST is another type of radiofrequency treatment used to treat loose and saggy skin. It improves wrinkles while creating new collagen to restore elasticity, providing a tighter, smoother skin appearance. This treatment is designed for small areas, such as eye area, mouth area, neck, or even around the knees. Multiple treatments are required for best results. No downtime is required.
For a full consultation for treatment, please call to schedule an appointment. I’d love to see you.
Check out our website for more details about skin conditions and treatments available: www.SHCAdvancedAesthetics.org
Shari J. Twigg, MD
Board Certified in Aesthetic Medicine
Advanced Aesthetics, a service of Sidney Health Center
406-742-5256