Everyone wants to look as good as they feel, but gravity—not to mention time—is not our friend. The good news is we live during a period of amazing technology, and technology can be very friendly. Read about the options and decide if some procedure, invasive or non, might just be your fountain of youth.
[cosmetic shelf life]
How long can we expect to keep the results of those cosmetic tweaks that help us look younger and better? The good news: most cosmetic surgeries last a good long time, and the way they ‘age’ varies from person to person.
breast implants
Breast augmentation surgery with either saline or silicone implants is safe and can be expected to last decades, says Dr. Michele Koo, a St. Louis board-certified plastic surgeon. “But the natural aging process affects the breasts as well as the rest of the body,” Koo says.
Dr. Judith Gurley of Dr. Judith Gurley Plastic Surgery and Medical Spa agrees. While augmentation is one of the most popular cosmetic procedures, implant surgery—whether elective or corrective, as in mastectomy cases—may need follow-up. “Extreme weight fluctuation or weight gain due to childbirth and aging naturally can increase the need for future procedures,” Gurley says. Those possibilities are discussed during the initial visit with a surgeon, so informed decisions can be made. “Choosing plastic surgery at the right time in your life can result in lifelong benefits. Breast implants are FDA- approved and are the safest and longest lasting they have ever been,” assures Gurley.
tummy tucks & breast reduction
Tummy tucks and breast reduction procedures have the potential to last a lifetime— but that is not a certainty. Many factors come into play, most important being weight fluctuation— either too much or too little. You can’t expect to keep the results of a slimmed-down body without a slimmed-down diet, the docs say. “Skin removed in a tummy tuck and breast reduction is permanent, as long as you don’t gain and/or lose a lot of weight,” confirms Gurley.
Weight loss can alter the effects of breast reduction, explains Koo. “Say a woman got breast reduction when she was young, and it enabled her to start exercising more. She might get so much lighter that her breasts can seem deflated,” she says. In that case, the patient may need an entirely different breast adjustment. “But there is no such thing as ‘permanent’ with the body,” says Koo. “Everything in life takes maintenance, so why not our bodies?” She points out that both natural and reconstructed breasts will show signs of aging, at which time women have decisions to make. “As long as the patient makes decisions with informed consent, she will understand what she’s in for. I cannot tell you how happy patients are after these surgeries. It’s empowering and it changes their lives.”
flabby arms & floppy arms
Have you always hated your arms? There is a fix for that, too. Loose arm skin can be removed, with scars somewhat hidden, but not completely. This procedure is usually recommended when the problem is loose skin, known as ‘batwings,’ rather than fat in the upper arms. There are a number of reasons women have this condition, including weight loss, aging and genetics. For fat in the arms, liposuction is usually the preferred process.
“The scar is a tradeoff, but for women who never could wear tank tops or those cute little dresses, well, they say it’s miraculous,” says Koo. She explains that the scar is hidden while the arms are down, giving patients much more freedom than when they had loose, wobbly skin.
[lashes & lips]
growth spurt
If you just didn’t get your fair share of lash hair, Latisse might help you even the playing field. Applied topically to lashes to increase growth, length and fullness, the product was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009, and it remains the only FDA-approved prescription eyelash treatment. “Latisse has been available for several years and has been shown to be effective and safe,” says Dr. William G. Hart of W.G. Hart Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery Institute.
Hart recommends the product to his patients, adding that minor side effects can appear in some. “In a small percentage of people, irises may darken or change color.” Between $50 and $300 per four-month bottle, Latisse is available only through trusted cosmetic providers and physicians. Its recommended use is once a day applied to the base of clean upper lashes using an applicator.
need it now?
If you’re looking for immediate results, Xtreme Lash extensions provide a quick, long-lasting, fix. Made of non-allergic, synthetic polyester, these are designed to imitate the shape, weight and texture of natural lashes. Autumn LaTour, licensed cosmetologist and owner of STLmakeup & Lash Studio, says the extensions are done lash by lash. “You still might have thin lashes, but it will help give the appearance of a fuller lash line because it’s darkening the lash line.”
After the initial treatment, which can cost between $250 and $600, patients usually come back every two to four weeks for new extensions as their lashes cycle and turn over. LaTour considers Xtreme Lashes a “great alternative” to applying strip-style false lashes every day.
fillers for fuller lips
What about Angelina Jolie lips? There are injectibles, implantable materials, surgical procedures and fat injections. “Hyaluronic acid injectibles such as Restylane, Juvederm and Voluma add suble volume when artfully used,” Hart says. Restylane lasts between three and five months, Juvederm can last up to seven months, and Voluma is being touted to last up to a year and a half,” Hart notes.
Fat injections, using small amounts of excess pudge harvested from the buttocks or thigh area, also can be added to the lips to increase volume. “All of these can be done in the doctor’s office under a local block,” Hart says.
more lasting lips
If you’re looking for a permanent result, an implant should be considered. “Both Gortex and implantable soft silicone can be used, but the soft silicone are more well-tolerated,” Hart says. And if drooping lips are an issue, a lip-lift can excise skin between the upper lip and the nose, moving the skin upward. “A similar but more effective procedure, a V-Y advancement, is done along the junction of the wet and dry lip mucosa, resulting in a significant increase in volume in the upper and lower lips,” Hart explains.
for stubborn wrinkles
Here, laser resurfacing may be the best choice. “It uses light energy to injure the skin,” Hart explains. Newer techniques use a fractionated beam of laser energy. Fractora, which combines radio frequency energy with needles, is another option. “The energy is delivered through fine needles insulated with silicone,” says Hart. “There are up to 120 needles in a postage stamp-sized pattern. They injure the dermis while protecting the overlying skin and epidermis. The results are very effective, with less downtime than other options.”
[fat busters]
We all have them: stubborn problem areas that no amount of exercise or dieting seems to help. Whether it’s love handles that are too much to handle or saddlebags we don’t want to be saddled with anymore, today’s technology usually can help.
the latest in lipo
Liposuction is one of the most popular procedures used today for ‘perfecting’ the body, says Dr. Richard Moore, medical director of The Lifestyle Center and Hair Restoration in Clayton. In his practice, he recommends Tickle lipo. “It breaks up fat in a much more selective way,” Moore notes. He also calls it 80 to 90 percent less traumatic than traditional liposuction, since it uses an ultrasonic wand waved in a “whisk kind of manner” rather than the usual ‘tunneling’ motion used in traditional liposuction.
“For an outpatient procedure, I think it’s the most comfortable form of liposuction with the least amount of trauma and the highest volume of fat removal,” Moore says. “It does very well in areas that are really fibrous, like the upper abdomen and upper back.” As for traditional liposuction, Moore says it tends to yield a more uneven result than some of the more advanced technologies. “It’s less selective than other procedures, so you get more tissue damage,” he explains.
freezing, heating & zapping
Noninvasive procedures may not take care of all the fat, all the time, but they can help make headway in our fight against fat. Moore prefers Body FX, “because you can transition zones and get some skin tightening with it, while destroying the fat,” he says. Body FX uses radio frequency waves to destroy about 30 to 35 percent of targeted fat cells, he explains. “It’s not as much as you’re going to get with liposuction, but for someone who wants a noninvasive treatment, that’s pretty nice.”
CoolSculpting, which freezes fat, is thought to destroy between 25 and 27 percent of fat cells. Moore says because this process treats only limited areas at a time, “People typically have to come back three or four times.” Vanquish, another option, uses radio frequency waves to heat and disrupt fat cells, supposedly abolishing 30 to 35 percent of targeted fat cells, and results in good skin tightening, says Moore, but Body FX “has been around longer.”
not as easy as you think
But despite the array of fat-busting options available, there is no magic wand when it comes to fat removal, cautions dermatologist Dr. Joseph Muccini of MidAmerica Skin Health & Vitality Center. “Saddlebags on the thighs, jiggly upper arms, back fat, that paunch hanging over your belt—in these cases, treatments such as lipo, injections, radio frequency, ultrasound, cold laser or combinations thereof may be what you need.” But, “If you need to lose 50 or 60 pounds, none of them will work for you,” he points out. “They target only the fat that accumulates between the skin and muscle. If you’re overweight
or obese, you’ve got visceral fat around your organs. That’s a completely different issue, and you need to get it under control before you consider lipo or anything else.”
Even relatively fit individuals need to approach fat-busting technology with realistic expectations. “Always ask your doctor, ‘Does this procedure actually destroy and remove the fat cells, or does it simply cause a reduction in fat?’” Procedures such as lipo, CoolSculpting, radio frequency waves and ultrasound can actually kill cells; a cold laser such as i-Lipo merely breaks down stored fat and releases it through the cell membranes, he explains. “Either way, if you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll regain the fat—and if you regain it after you’ve had a cell-destroying procedure, the fat can come back in funny places, or be unevenly distributed.”
[credentials, credentials, credentials]
Both physicians stress the importance of using trained professionals. Every practice is different, and doctors specializing in fat reduction can vary greatly in their credentials; in some cases technicians in their office routinely perform some of the procedures. In any instance, patients should ask who will be doing their procedure, what that person’s credentials are, and most important, how many such procedures they have performed in the past.
By Dorothy Weiner, Tony Di Martino, Gregory Katski
