Meet Linda, age 72, one of our transformation models.
A funny thing happens as we get older… one day, we suddenly find that we’ve turned into little old ladies!
Linda’s goal was to freshen up and feel like her previous self from a few years ago.
When we look at Linda’s Before pictures, we can see that her skin has a lot of wrinkles everywhere.
The wrinkles are partly due to sun damage, and loss of collagen and elastin leading to laxity in the skin.
But they’re also due to sagging…
Her face has lost support, particularly at the outer edges, meaning cheekbones and jawline, and this has caused her skin to sag inwards and downwards.
What we did
Before. Angled lighting shows how deep her lines were on her forehead, and how much texture her skin had. This lighting shows the redness of cheeks and nose.
After. The forehead skin is much smoother and more radiant. Deep lines are softened. The redness is reduced in the cheeks and nose. Even the deep marionette lines in the chin are softened.
For Linda’s skin, the key treatment was the microneedling with exosomes to rejuvenate the skin. This treatment builds collagen and elastin for tightening, as well as regenerating some of the plumpness found in youthful skin.
We addressed the redness on her cheeks and nose with laser. We did a chemical peel to brighten up her complexion and reduced brown spots.
Botox
Linda Before, showing the lines in the forehead, glabellar area, crow’s feet and depressor muscles of mouth, that were treated with botox
Botox is a muscle relaxant. It is injected into the small muscles of the face that are causing wrinkles.
In Linda’s case, we treated the glabellar frown lines (also called the “11’s”), forehead lines, crow’s feet, the depressor muscles that pull down the corners of the mouth and platysmal bands in the neck.
When the wrinkles caused by active muscle movement are deeply ingrained, simply relaxing the muscles will not erase the wrinkles. The skin has to regrow the collagen damaged by the repeated muscle movement, in order to erase the wrinkles.
Normally, this process would take 6 to 9 months using Botox alone, for deep wrinkles. In Linda’s case, we increased the amount of improvement that occurred over a 2-week period with the microneedling treatment with exosomes.
Juvederm
Linda Before. Red Arrows indicate the direction of sagging due to loss of support at the outer edges of face. Purple arrows indicate lengthening of upper lip and shrinking of height of chin.
Linda After. The red arrows indicate the direction of lifting of the skin by the Juvederm injected along the outer parts of the cheeks. The purple arrows highlight the changes of proportion in the lower third of face, with the chin being lengthened.
So much research is being done on what happens to our faces as we age. Not only do the fat pads of the face shrink, but the bones actually shrink and change shape.
We now have great techniques for using Juvederm dermal filler replace lost fat and to increase the bony framework of the face and thus to increase the support of the skin.
In Linda’s case, Voluma and Volux, stiffer forms of Juvederm, were used injected to sit right on the bone at the cheekbones, and all along the outer edges of the mandible (jawbone), including the chin.
Before. The red lines highlight the receding chin and the deep sagging of the jowl.
After. The chin and jawline have been built up with Juvederm. Chin no longer recedes and jawline looks firmer. Jowl is reduced.
Voluma was also used around the nose to replace lost volume, and injected under the skin in the chin to reduce marionette lines.
A softer form of Juvederm, Volift was used in the hollows of the cheeks, injected as a fan shape under the skin. This serves 2 purposes: (1) injecting filler at the cheekbone and jawline levels can accentuate the hollowness of the cheeks, giving a gaunt look; and (2) adding volume to the hollows of the cheeks helps to pull the skin towards the ears, reducing sagging towards the mouth and at the jawline.
Linda had a total of 11 syringes of Juvederm.
All of the above treatments were done over a handful of days.
Linda experienced a minimum of downtime. She had a few bruises from the injections but they were easily covered with a bit of makeup.
The After photos were taken 2 weeks after the injections.
Linda after her transformation looking refreshed and happy. (Screenshot from her video.)
Linda was very happy with her freshen up.