Are you noticing some signs of aging on your face? Is this affecting your self-confidence and changing the way you look at yourself? At the Institute of Aesthetic Surgery in Celebration, FL, our Sculptra treatments might be what you’re looking for. Here’s what you should know about this treatment.
How Does Sculptra Work?
The changes that you see in your skin as you get older can cause a lot of anxiety. While your skin used to look young, bright, and clear, you might start noticing more laxity in your skin, along with wrinkles and hollowness. Sculptra is an injectable filler designed to combat these aging concerns.
It uses poly-L-lactic Acid or PLLA. When it’s injected into your desired areas, this ingredient stimulates your body’s production of collagen. By doing this, it encourages your skin to stay elastic and firm, reducing the number of wrinkles you’re seeing and filling out any lost volume.
What You Need To Know About Wrinkling
Your skin contains certain chemicals that provide it with its structure, shape, and fullness. This includes chemicals like collagen, which is a protein you can find in other areas of your body as well. You’ll see much higher levels of these chemicals when you’re young.
But, as you get older, your skin stops being able to effectively produce these chemicals. That’s why you’ll start to see changes in your skin like wrinkling and sagging. There are two different types of wrinkles that you should know about: dynamic and static wrinkles.
Dynamic Wrinkles
When you contract the muscles under your skin by making facial expressions, speaking, or eating, you’ll likely notice creases appearing on your skin. These wrinkles are called dynamic wrinkles.
Dynamic wrinkles appear only when the muscles underneath are contacted. When they’re relaxed, the skin will smooth out. Over time, as your skin loses its elasticity and you make these repeated facial movements, these dynamic wrinkles will become permanent fixtures of your face, turning into static wrinkles.
Static Wrinkles
These are wrinkles that appear on your skin regardless of whether the muscles underneath are contracting or relaxed. It’s common to see them in various places like your chin and neck as you lose volume.
The more you make the same facial movements, the more dynamic wrinkles will also start to become static wrinkles. If you don’t like the way these wrinkles make you look, this product might be right for you.
What Does Poly-L-Lactic Acid Do?
When it’s injected into the skin, the poly-l-lactic acid in Sculptra does a couple of different tasks. First, it encourages your skin to produce more collagen which helps it stay elastic. It also fills in any lost space under your skin. These various effects make the overall appearance of your face much fuller and more youthful.
What Is the Treatment Process Like?
Before Your Appointment
To ensure that your treatment is as effective as possible, there are a few things we’ll need to do before we can apply the injections. First, we’ll sit down with you to discuss what exactly your goals are so we can help you set expectations and determine if this is the right treatment for you.
We’ll also tell you what you should be doing over the coming days to prepare for your injections. It’s important to avoid anything that could thin your blood and possibly cause bruising. This includes alcohol and tobacco as well as some medications like ibuprofen.
Your Treatment
When you arrive at our clinic, we’ll do everything we can to help you feel as comfortable as possible. Before we begin applying the product to your desired areas, we’ll clean your skin to remove any bacteria. We’ll also mark the areas where you’ll be getting the injections, and we can also apply a topical numbing cream to help keep you comfortable during the treatment.
We’ll inject small amounts of the Sculptra at a time. This helps us ensure accuracy with the treatment. The entire treatment process generally takes less than an hour. You can leave as soon as your treatment is done.
Your Recovery
Because this treatment is non-invasive, you don’t need to worry about taking any downtime or missing any work as your skin heals. The healing process itself will also be easy and painless.
There are just a few things you’ll need to keep in mind over the next few days. We’ll provide you with specific instructions to ensure that your injection sites heal properly. It’s important to understand that your skin will be more sensitive than normal, so stay away from direct sunlight as well as any strenuous activity that could cause sweating.
What Are the Benefits of Sculptra?
Get Rid of Smile Lines
When you smile or laugh, you’ll notice parallel lines forming between your nose and your mouth. Eventually, these lines will become permanent. These smile lines, also known as laugh lines or nasolabial folds, may be signs that you’ve smiled and laughed a lot in your life.
However, they’ll also drastically age your appearance. If you’re not happy with the way they make you look, then you can get this treatment to get rid of them and get an overall much younger appearance.
Reduce Marionette Lines
Have you noticed lines reaching from the outer corners of your mouth toward your chin? These marionette lines can have a huge effect on your overall appearance and make you look far older than you feel inside. They can be particularly frustrating lines to see.
They can also be tough to get rid of. But when you get this treatment, you’ll easily be able to fill in any lost volume here, helping to smooth these lines out. The product will also encourage your skin to make more collagen in the area, meaning it will stay more elastic.
Fill in Your Chin
As you get older, your entire face will lose volume. This volume loss will be more evident in some areas than in others. One of the most obvious places where you’re going to notice this is in your chin, which is a naturally fuller part of your face.
Losing volume and elasticity will result in your chin wrinkling as well as becoming weaker. You can get this injectable to help stimulate collagen and get rid of any wrinkling you’re seeing. By filling in the lost volume, this product will also help your chin look fuller and your jaw look more defined.
Off-Label Uses
You can use this filler to help your face look younger, but there are several off-label uses that you can enjoy when you get this filler as well. Off-label means that it hasn’t been clinically approved, but it can still offer safe and effective results.
You can use this injectable as a nonsurgical butt lift, helping you to accentuate your curves. It can also be used to help get rid of cellulite that you might have on areas like your arms or thighs. Some people also use it to help bulk up their appearances or look more muscular.
Long-Lasting Results
When you get a cosmetic treatment, you want it to last a long time. No injectable can provide permanent results, as your body will eventually completely absorb the product, but some injectables last longer than others.
Because this filler encourages your body to use its own natural processes to maintain young-looking skin, it’s incredibly long-lasting. Most people get to enjoy the results of their treatment for up to two years. Taking good care of your skin and leading an overall healthy lifestyle will help you keep your results as long as possible.
Fast Results
You may notice a change in your appearance as soon as this product is applied and takes up space under your skin. However, these will not be your full results. Your complete results will come on gradually as your skin begins to produce more collagen.
At around 6 weeks, you’ll see the extent of your results. Because your results will come on gradually, they’ll have a much more natural appearance, meaning you won’t have to worry about answering awkward questions from people about whether or not you’ve had any work done.
Book an Appointment Today
If you’re noticing side effects of aging that you don’t like and you’re ready for a solution, our team can help. We’ll be thrilled to provide you with Sculptra treatments and help you look and feel your best. Call us today at the Institute of Aesthetic Surgery in Celebration, FL.