Non-Surgical Time Travel — Destination Youthful Visage

Aging is inevitable and the march of time is bound to leave its tracks on every face as a gentle reminder that human body is frail and crumbles with time. But the warriors of our race have long decided — they are not going to take it lying down at face value, so a war has been waged. Aging has been declared a medical disease — in the same spirit as we have triumphed over and vanquished many diseases which used to cause much havoc and claim lives in the past — aesthetic medical community is working hard to stop the carnage of time, find a cure and eradicate aging ultimately. As they say — “in heavens no one will age every soul will stay forever young”, here on earth we strive to achieve the ultimate — “heaven is a place on earth”.

While the gift of eternal youth might be waiting for us in the future we are currently busy fighting and preventing the visible signs of aging as they happen. Science has successfully unlocked the senescental algorithm — how skin, fat, muscles and bones change with time. In our arsenal against ravages of time we have one marvel of an intervention that packs a serious antiaging punch, medical aesthetic community loves it as — Silhouette Soft Non Surgical Lift. Lets get you up close and personal to this unique mode of face lift which can be achieved without invasive surgery and weeks of swelling, bruising and downtime.

Facial Aging At A Quick Glance

As we age, loss of collagen and elastin in our skin leads to reduced facial tone, sagging of contours and the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and creases. Losing these protein, combined with a natural thinning of the face through loss of fat and bone tissues, leads to hollowed eyes as well as sagging of upper cheeks and the much dreaded heaviness above the jaw line (jowls) and around the chin (marionette lines), all these changes make any face (supermodel or civilian) look tired and aged.

Silhouette Soft — One Stitch Facelift

SILHOUETTE SOFT® which has also been called a technological innovation of the twenty first century, offers women and men what no other antiaging treatment has ever provided in a very simple way — a redefined re-contoured face with restored volume and reduced wrinkles. To top it all, this antiaging miracle can be performed in less than a 30-minute treatment session with long lasting results up to 18 months.

The Procedure: After a small local anesthetic injection, the doctor inserts the suture under the skin to a depth of about 3-5mm. No incision or cut is required, as the suture is inserted using a fine needle. It is held in place with absorbable cones oriented in opposite directions (bidirectional).

Once the suture as been applied, the doctor performs slight compression of the tissue to reshape it by hand and to obtain the desired lifting effect. The non-inserted ends of the suture are cut off.

To lift different areas of the face one or more sutures may be applied, depending on the patient and facial sagging.

SILHOUETTE SOFT® Dual Challenge — Lifting & Regenerating

Combating the effects of ageing SILHOUETTE SOFT® works hard to restore smoother and more toned skin along with creating a more shapely face.

The lifting effect is immediate and discreet as it is the result of compressing and elevating tissue at the time of adjusting the sutures. After inserting the suture, the doctor applies slight pressure on the treated areas, reshaping and recontouring the face making it look visibly toned and lifted.

The regenerative effect is gradual and happens naturally in the next few months post treatment. Polylactic acid (PLA), the principal component of SILHOUETTE SOFT® is a polymer known in the medical field for many years (suture thread, orthopaedic pins, screws and nails for bone fractures are all made from PLA). This polymer is particularly biocompatible with human tissue, while being completely biodegradable. Once the suture is applied, the polylactic acid acts on the deeper layers of the skin and naturally stimulates the body so that it produces new collagen around the PLA cones. This action, which continues over time (2-3 months), helps increase the volume of sagging areas and restores shapeliness to the face gradually and naturally.

SILHOUETTE SOFT® is developed by Cindy Crawford's doctor Jean-Louis Sebagh, it is made in the United States and its development is based on years of experience in suture suspension with cones used in reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. It is FDA cleared and CE marked for the European market.

Here are some before afters:

 

Cystic Acne – A Burgeoning Problem For Women

Ladies if you are past 25 and still breaking out especially around the jaw-line, you’re akin to the sisterhood of adult/cystic acne. According to multiple statistical studies conducted over the last decade or so adult acne has been seen as a fait accompli on the rise and research has linked its prevalence with modern day living, lifestyle, stress and eating habits. Unlike teenage zits, acne cysts are a type of infection that forms deeper under the skin and doesn't heal easily with over-the-counter medicaments. For most women, cystic acne is linked to a hormonal imbalance. That’s why you're likely to experience cystic acne around your menstrual cycles targeting the lower portion of face and neck.

The Course Of Cystic Acne

I hate to break it to you, but cystic acne and its sequelae - post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) and scars can linger for weeks/months even years. In some cases the inflammation subsides but a brown discoloration persists of ever and annoying more. The darker your complexion, the longer it usually takes to subside since dark skin tones have a lot of melanin and a tendency to scar easy.

Victual Alert - Does Diet Affect Cystic Acne?

Studies have shown that it does - Starches/refined carbs, sugars and dairy have been implicated as acne and inflammation aggravators. You may want to slow down on eating too much chocolate, cheese or ice cream, as they may be the instigating culprits behind your cystic breakouts. To determine if your acne cysts are directly related to what you eat, cut dairy out of your diet for two weeks. If you don't develop any new cysts and you normally would have by now, then this might solve your problem. Slowly introduce dairy back into your diet, and if you start breaking out again, that's your body's tolerance level. Repeat the same experiment with other implicated food groups.

The Importance Of Skincare In Cystic Acne Prone Skin

Maintaining a healthy skincare routine is paramount in treating cystic acne. Heavy moisturizers or makeup applied to dirty skin can trap in the oils and dirt blocking pores, you need to make sure your skin is thoroughly exfoliated and cleaned before moisturizing or putting on any makeup. People with oily acne-prone skin should also be more diligent about keeping their skin well hydrated as the oily skin specific cleansers and scrubs strip skin of its natural oils making skin overtly dry, logic dictates you need to replace the moisture back into skin with oil free moisturizers to keep skin hydrated, calm and healthy. While treating oily skin I put my faith in oil-free moisturizers with Amino Acids or Hyaluronic Acid as they are gentle on skin don’t cause pore blockage and give naturally subtle hydration. Another on-point skincare tip is applying regular oil free sunscreen to avoid any PIH sunburns or UV related skin damage.

Treatment Options

Mild to moderate acne can be controlled with hormone balancing, diet control and proper skincare. Using retinoid creams, glycolic acid products and BPO helps to prevent pore blockage and bacterial proliferation.

People who suffer from aggressive acne I’d advice them to see a dermatologist ASAP to avoid long term skin damage and scarring. They need medical treatment focused on balancing hormones and reducing the size of oil glands e.g, Yasmin or Diane 35 pills along with Isotretinoin (Curacne) or cyproterone acetate (Androcur).

Last bit of preventative practical tips:

·      Don’t touch your skin unnecessarily or pick on the cysts.

·      While sitting don’t rest or cradle your face with your hands as mechanical rubbing promotes cystic acne too.

·      Clean your phone frequently and while having it pressed against your face.

Pay attention, take care and your skin will respond.

What’s New On Aesthetic Horizons? — Permanent Eye Color Change

Not up for wearing contact lenses and yet craving baby blue eyes, now modern medicine can do that for you. Yup, a few 20 second treatments with a special laser can sweep the brown pigment out of your iris revealing piercing blue eyes in just under two weeks. The big catch is - the procedure is relatively new, side effects not widely studied and the results are irreversible and permanent. It will take few years to get the safety studies conducted and published, but despite all that it’s a major break through in aesthetic medicine and a remarkable choice to have — permanently blue eyed, oh boy!

The anatomical reality of our peepers is that under every brown eye there is a blue hidden, the only difference between a brown eye and a blue eye is a very thin layer of pigment on the surface. If we take that pigment away, then the light as it enters the stroma and gets scattered, it’d only reflect back the shortest of wavelengths and that's the blue end of the spectrum — just like the ocean.

Clinical Trials

A California-based company Strōma Medical is investigating this melanin-targeting laser technology to break down pigment on the outer layers of the iris to deliver permanent blue eyes. So far, just 17 patients in Mexico and 20 in Costa Rica have undergone the treatment with on long term side effects reported. Clinical trials are being conducted outside USA as FDA clearance is still pending.

In Spain NewEyes Laser of EYECOS has been offering the procedure to the public for two years now. They claim that the laser treatment for rinsing eye color is a safe treatment and has been performed in more than 300 cases of people from more than 30 countries worldwide.

One unique factor that separates NewEyes Laser from Strōma Laser is that New Eyes in Spain has been offering its clientele a choice of hazel and green in addition to the blue color to choose from, while Stroma is only promising the bluest of the blue.

How Does The Treatment Work?

The basic idea has been borrowed from aesthetic doctors who use lasers to remove excess pigmentation from the skin. In the case of changing eye color, simply removing the brown pigment is enough to do the trick because as we know now that blue eyes are not blue at all, just as the sea is not full of blue water — it’s a trick of perception caused by scattered light. A blue iris is simply an iris without color.

What’s Stopping The Procedure To Be Worldwide?

Safety Concerns obviously, the effectiveness of the procedure, which is likely to be irreversible, seems to be proven however, the jury is still out as to whether it will pass the safety tests. Once it gets the FDA safety approval, then major safety questions would be answered and the medical community will have more faith in the procedure to back it up.

So far ophthalmologists have voiced glaucoma and cataracts as a risk factors with such a treatment. The laser companies working on the pre-clinical trial and early clinical trials are confident so far that such lasers will not do harm because of the low energy used and the fine particle size of the broken up pigment but, when it comes to one's eyesight, there is no room for assumptions.

The biggest concern raised by most ophthalmologists has been breaking the pigment and releasing pigment inside the eye — the pigment potentially can clog up the normal drainage channels which can in turn cause the pressure inside the eye to rise up. If that happens significantly enough, for long enough, you can develop glaucoma after such an intervention. To answer this concern Stroma Medical has claimed that the particles released by the process are too fine to cause glaucoma and that any complications were likely to be short-term and easily remedied — but a risk still remains. Theory has some sense to it, but without seeing long-term outcomes and without seeing a big cohort of patients that have been treated in this way most ophthalmologists are sitting on the fence and are not backing the laser generated blue eyes yet.

Just in case you were wondering how much does it cost to turn those brown eyes into that piercing blue gaze, Stroma Medical is currently charging around $5,000 (£3,120) for the procedure. NewEyes Laser is offering it for €2,000.

Only 17% of the world population has blue eyes — question is would to like to increase that number if all safety questions are answers to the authorities satisfaction?