Are you embarrassed about how bony your cheeks are? Do you wish you could tighten loose, sagging skin hanging down from your jawline? If you answered yes to any of the aforementioned questions, you may be excited to learn about the incredible benefits of Sculptra injected at the office of The Mack Cosmetic Center. Here’s what you need to know.
Where Sculptra Can Be Used
The Cheeks
One of the most common uses for Sculptra is augmenting the cheeks and softening the cheekbones. After losing a significant amount of weight due to diet and exercise or severe illness, the cheeks often become gaunt. Even without significant weight loss, the cheekbones can become sharper and more pronounced due to extensive collagen loss that occurs naturally with age.
Depending on the look you’re going for, you may benefit from injections between your cheekbones to augment the actual cheeks themselves. However, it can also be injected around the cheekbones if you don’t have a significant amount of volume loss in the cheeks but you’re still concerned about your cheekbones being too pronounced.
Around the Mouth
This treatment is also commonly used to treat moderate-to-severe marionette lines around the mouth. These lines are caused by collagen loss around the corners of your mouth, but age deepens these lines more than other lines caused by collagen loss. By the time you’re in your 40s, gravity is pulling the skin on your jawline down, making your marionette lines look far deeper and longer than similar lines on your face, like smile lines.
If you use this treatment to correct marionette lines, you may need to wait up to three months to see the final results of treatment. This treatment works by mimicking collagen and elastin, the proteins and fibers responsible for keeping your skin taut and wrinkle-free. If you opt for a lactic acid-based treatment, you will see the final results immediately after your session. Neurotoxin treatments can take up to 14 days to reveal your final results.
Around the Nose
Another area commonly targeted for treatment with this dermal filler is the moderate-to-severe folds around the nose. Known as the nasolabial folds, these deep lines may be caused by scrunching your nose regularly, such as when you blow your nose during cold or allergy season or you smell something foul. However, these deep lines can also be caused by collagen loss. If your nasolabial folds are caused by aging-related volume loss, this medication is appropriate.
If your deep folds are caused by overactive muscles and worsen when the muscles around your nose are used intentionally, you may be a better candidate for BOTOX® Cosmetic injections. BOTOX® Cosmetic is a medication featuring the active ingredient onabotulinumtoxinA. It is derived from such bacterium species as Clostridium botulinum and blocks electrical impulses trying to tell your muscles to activate when they shouldn’t.
The Jowls
This injectable medication is perfect for lifting sagging jowls if you are on blood thinners or other medications that would prevent you from being a good candidate for rhytidectomy. In fact, it is the most cost-effective solution to sagging jowls because it lasts so long. The great thing about using this medication to tighten the jowls is that it can be injected far deeper than other injectables that aren’t as effective and don’t last as long.
Most dermal fillers are injected just beneath the surface of the skin. This medication can be injected far beneath the skin’s surface, under the muscles around the jawline. The exciting thing about using this injectable to tighten and lift loose, sagging jowls is that it minimizes the appearance of marionette lines and makes the neck look thinner, tighter, and smoother without requiring injections directly into the neck.
The Temples
This injectable is also commonly used to treat hollow temples. Hollow temples used to be very difficult to treat because the condition is caused by bone loss rather than collagen loss. However, this injectable is so powerful that it can effectively fill in the hollow regions on the sides of the head. It is particularly important to consider treating hollow temples if you are augmenting your cheeks to fill in sunken cheeks or soften cheekbones.
When the midface is augmented, volume loss in the lateral face becomes far more pronounced and your face will end up looking disproportionate if the temples are ignored. We recommend treating your upper face first as you may find that your lower facelifts with your upper face and you only need to target your temples.
The Undereyes
As we age, our lower eyelids darken and dark circles or bags begin to show. This causes us to look far older and more tired than we feel and can cause people to look at us in a negative light. However, bags aren’t the only cosmetic conditions affecting the under-eye area. Particularly after weight loss that occurs in your 40s or 50s, you may experience your hollowing.
This treatment can quickly and effectively fill in hollows under the eyes to help you look young and healthy. If you’re also concerned about discoloration, we have a solution for that, too. An initial consultation will reveal the most effective treatment or treatments to help you correct cosmetic concerns around your lower eyelids.
The Chin
If you’re concerned about the appearance of dimples and creases on your chin, this is the perfect cosmetic treatment for you. Again, this special chemical compound simultaneously mimics collagen and elastin, filling in both dimples and creases in your chin within just a few short months and the results are long-lasting. This is absolutely the most effective way to treat such cosmetic concerns.
The Jawline
The FDA has also given this injectable its seal of approval for defining the jawline. Even if you’re not concerned about sagging jowls or a dimpled, creased chin, you may think your jawline isn’t quite pronounced enough. You don’t need to undergo an extensive, unaffordable orthognathic procedure to reshape your jaw and chin. You can receive a few quick injections of poly-L-lactic acid to create a well-defined jawline that lasts for years.
What Can’t This Treatment Correct?
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this medication should not be used to augment the lips. If you are looking to augment your lips but you don’t want to implant plastic into your lips, you would benefit greatly from Restylane or JUVEDERM injections. While Sculptra is a poly-L-lactic acid-based dermal filler, Restylane and JUVEDERM are both hyaluronic acid-based dermal fillers. Certain formulas are FDA-approved to augment the lips.
If you’re looking to augment your lips subtly or dramatically or wish to correct asymmetry, Dr. Mack will discuss your augmentation goals with you and assess the current state of your lips to determine whether Restylane or JUVEDERM would be more appropriate and which specific Restylane or JUVEDERM formula would most effectively help you achieve your goals. You will also need alternative treatment if you wish to smooth eyelid wrinkles.
How Many Treatment Sessions You Will Need
If you’re looking to smooth wrinkles, folds, and lines that have recently appeared, you will probably only need a single treatment session to achieve your ideal results. If you have severe wrinkles that have remained untreated for years, you may need two treatment sessions to smooth your skin and erase decades of skin damage.
When it comes to cheek augmentation, you will probably need three treatment sessions to achieve the look you’re going for. If your volume loss is extremely severe, you may need up to six treatment sessions. However, you shouldn’t let the slight possibility that you will need six sessions discourage you from considering this incredibly powerful injectable. Most people only need between one and three sessions to replace the lost volume in the face.
How Often You Need to Get Treatment
If you need more than one session to achieve your desired results, you should space your sessions approximately a month apart. This gives the injectable medication plenty of time to work well enough that we can tell if you need another session. Remember, it can take up to three months to see the final results of this treatment.
However, we don’t need to see the final results to tell if your results are progressing enough to provide the look you want. Once you’ve achieved your desired results, you don’t need to think about a follow-up session for years. The durability of results depends on several factors including your age, the health of your skin, and how healthy your lifestyle is.
Typically, if you are between the ages of 25 and 35, this injectable can provide results that last around five years. If you are between the ages of 36 and 65, you will probably need treatment every other year.
The Durability of Results After Age 65
After the age of 65, if you are fairly healthy, you may be a better candidate for rhytidectomy (a facelift) or a similar procedure. After the age of 65, your skin produces collagen and elastin very slowly, and existing collagen and elastin are usually very weak.
If your skin isn’t very healthy, you may need a liquid facelift every 12 to 18 months. Contrastingly, the results of rhytidectomy could last between five and 15 years. Of course, whether you want a liquid facelift or actual facelift is up to you, the extent of the results you’re trying to achieve, the parts of your face that you are trying to target, and your overall health.
Rhytidectomies are usually performed under general anesthesia or a combination of local anesthesia and sedation. This requires a healthy heart and strong lungs. You may have no choice but to receive fairly regular liquid facelifts.
Good Candidates for This Treatment
According to the FDA, this injectable is safe for any adult with a healthy immune system who is concerned about severe facial folds caused by volume loss. During your initial consultation, Dr. Mark will review your medical history to ensure that you are a good candidate for this treatment.
Discover if This Injectable Is Right for You Today
If you’re concerned about collagen loss causing wrinkles, folds, sagging skin, or sharp bones, you may benefit greatly from Sculptra Tampa. To determine if this non-invasive anti-aging treatment is right for you, contact the office of The Mack Cosmetic Center right now to schedule an initial consultation.
If you don’t have time to drive to our conveniently located office, just let us know when you schedule your appointment. Dr Mack has offered Skype consultations to his clients for years and now offers the same opportunity to new clients. Regardless of whether you’d like to come into the office or have a virtual consultation, it’s crucial that Dr Mack can see your face so he can determine the appropriate anti-aging treatments for your unique needs.