When you’re young and don’t care much about such things, your skin is plump, well-hydrated, and mostly blemish-free. Unfortunately, as you get older, your facial skin tends to be one of the first places you notice the passage of time.
You develop fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes and on your forehead, your lips and cheeks hollow out, and you develop a rash of age spots (aka sun spots, freckles, and solar lentigines). The person staring back from the mirror doesn’t look nearly as young as you feel.
At Eterna Vein & Medical Aesthetics, our team of master aestheticians in Puyallup, Washington, understands your desire to turn back the clock, which is why they offer a wide range of anti-aging treatments to rejuvenate and replenish your skin. Here, they discuss three highly effective options: Botox® and fillers, RF microneedling, and CO2 laser resurfacing.
Understanding wrinkles and blemishes
You can thank two fibrous proteins, collagen and elastin, for your youthful skin. Together, they give your skin strength, an even tone, and resilience.
However, by mid-20s, your body starts producing less of these proteins. And what’s left is subject to damage from the sun’s UV rays, smoking, and other environmental toxins. Without enough protein to support your skin’s structure, your face and hands lose volume, leading to hollows, fine lines, and wrinkles. These are known as “static” wrinkles resulting from volume loss.
At the same time, you develop “dynamic” wrinkles, which come from repeated facial expressions. Everytime you smile, frown, or squint your eyes, your facial muscles tug on the skin above. Over time, the skin doesn’t rebound as easily, causing furrows to form.
If you spend time in the sun, you’re also subject to areas of hyperpigmentation, referred to as sun spots or age spots. These clumps of the pigment melanin can form on any exposed surface, but they’re most common on the face and hands.
Three treatments to rejuvenate your skin
Eterna Vein & Medical Aesthetics offers a number of anti-aging treatment options; which one(s) we use depends on your specific complaint, overall health, and aesthetic goals. Here are three to consider:
1. Botox® and fillers
If you’re dealing with the early stages of fine lines and wrinkles, Botox® and dermal fillers can provide a short-term solution.
Botox is an injectable neurotoxin that temporarily prevents the muscles on your face from contracting; in that way, it can address dynamic wrinkles. A treatment lasts 3-4 months, after which you can repeat it.
Dermal fillers, on the other hand, address the volume loss of static wrinkles. These injectable gel-like compounds plump up your lips, cheeks, and hands, and attract moisture to smooth out deep creases like nasolabial folds.
We use popular lines like Juvéderm® and Restylane®, made from moisture-absorbing hyaluronic acid, and Radiesse®, made from the mineral calcium hydroxylapatite. Depending on the product, results can last from 6-12 months.
2. Radio frequency (RF) microneedling
Microneedling uses rows of small needles to create micro injuries in the skin tissue. Your body responds by increasing collagen and elastin production to fill in creases and replace damaged skin layers. Our aestheticians often use this process to treat fine lines and wrinkles, mild scars (including acne), and large pores.
Radiofrequency (RF) microneedling bumps the process to a new level. Using the Scarlet SRF™ (short pulse radio frequency) microneedling system, we deliver the RF energy through the needles into the dermal (middle) layer of the skin where collagen and elastin reside. That energy triggers new collagen production and restructures elastin.
This layer is also where clumps of melanin are found, and the energy breaks them up. The result is smoother, blemish-free skin.
RF microneedling produces more dramatic results than either microneedling or RF treatments by themselves because the combination produces a synergistic effect.
3. CO2 laser resurfacing
CO2 resurfacing is an ablative treatment, meaning the laser removes the outer skin layers. The advantage of ablation is you require fewer treatments compared with non-ablative options.
CO2 laser resurfacing, like RF microneedling, also heats the middle skin layer, producing more collagen and elastin that fill in fine lines, wrinkles, and scars.
If you’re dealing with visible signs of aging and want to turn back the clock, contact the master aestheticians at Eterna Vein & Medical Aesthetics to schedule a consultation. Give us a call at 253-268-3400 or book an appointment online today.