Dr. Angela Says: How to Boost Your Skin Care Regimen
Focus on the eyes
The skin around the forehead, crowsfeet and between the brows can become softer with good skin care, particularly retinols or Retin-A. However, if we continue to repetitively make faces that accentuate those lines, they will continue to get deeper. You may be like most of us that look at computer screens for several hours a day, discipline kids or both, creating the “11’s” or vertical lines between the brows. Alternatively, you may be someone that raises your brows frequently or has a big, wonderful smile that extends those lines by your eyes a little farther down your cheeks than you would prefer. Obviously skin care isn’t going to prevent or correct these lines. Botox can be a great answer. It stops your muscles from making the frown or squint, therefore not making the lines. For this reason, this is a great preventative treatment. The best time to consider Botox is when these lines just start to bother you. That way the lines don’t become etched in there even when you aren’t making those faces. If that is already the case, Botox can help relax the muscles to make them less noticeable. So, combining the retinol/Retin-A with Botox to soften the muscles work synergistically to get a smoother forehead.
Lifting and Volumizing
Often I hear people and even cosmetic ads refer to the “parentheses” or nasolabial fold, meaning the fold between the nose and mouth. This becomes more noticeable as the cheeks descend with time. Unfortunately, we still don’t have the magic cream that lifts cheeks, jawlines and necks. If it happens, I will be the first to let everyone know! Until then, we have other options to improve this area. Keep your skin moisturized by drinking adequate water. The Institute of Medicine recommends at least 2.2 liters for women and 3 liters for men a day. A good moisturizer with ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or other natural oils, and that does not have silicone can help keep your skin plump and volumized. For deeper folds or lines, soft tissue fillers can be used to fill the low areas of the folds as soon as it is bothersome to you. Simply the act of injecting, stimulates collagen and patients frequently need less filler with time. However, keep in mind what the cause is rather than just filling what we see. So, I like to explore other ways to keep you looking youthful and like yourself. Other considerations are noninvasive skin tightening, which lifts the cheeks without incisions, anesthesia or substantial downtime. The other option is to replace volume in the midface with a long lasting filler, such as Voluma or Sculptra, or implants if you prefer a permanent option. Lifting the midface surgically rejuvenises not only the midface, but the jawline and can include the neck for a more global approach.
Skin care is important for maintaining the overall texture of the skin. Generally, you will see the effect of the products around 12 weeks, depending on the product. At this point you can evaluate your progress and see if you want to combine this with other options for maintaining a natural, healthy look.
photos courtesy of Dr. Angela Sturm
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