Archive for the ‘Lip Enhancement’ Category
Facial cosmetic surgery is a very personal and monumental decision. Universally, all patients want the best outcomes. In today’s corporatized America, with heavily influential marketing spin, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, and even practitioners promote a less is more mentality to push products and services that often over promise and under deliver on the results. In no way can skin creams, injectables, or lasers deliver the types of results once can achieve with surgery. In a similar manner, minimally invasive sounding surgeries are in no way a substitute for time tested peer reviewed procedures that provide quality long lasting results.
Unfortunately not every person will achieve acceptable results with Botox or injectable fillers such as Juvederm, Restylane, and Radiesse. These products have their place in facial aesthetic practices, in properly selected patients, but in general should be viewed as temporary treatments with less impressive results when compared to surgery. Their primary advantage is that they have minimal social while providing a benefit. Botox is being used more and more as a preventative cosmetic medicine that delays wrinkle formation. Fillers camouflage initial signs of aging, but ultimately putting too much filler in a face, the liquid facelift, can alter ones appearance creating an artificial overinflated appearance. Using filler to augment facial structures can be useful to patients wanting to get a general idea of the appearance prior to permanent surgical procedures such as lip and cheek enhancements procedures. Creams reverse the signs of photo aging and contribute to collagen formation and production but are limited in their effectiveness. Lasers are an excellent option to delay the signs of aging and treat sun induced skin photoaging, but in no way can they tighten skin like facial cosmetic surgeries such as a facelift.
Surgical procedures are the best option for impressive endurable results. Rhinoplasty can dramatically affect ones facial appearance in a way that almost no other cosmetic surgery can. The nose can cause undue and unnecessary attention drawing attention away from other attractive facial features. Aging face surgery has many layers of effectiveness based on the surgical techniques used and how they are applied. In general, minimally invasive techniques can produce an artificial appearance and or short-term results. When considering aging face surgery most sophisticated patients are looking for surgeries that will last as long as possible with the most dramatic natural appearing results. There are no shortcuts to achieving optimal results and when applied, shortcut techniques frequently under deliver on the surgical results end.
Becoming an informed patient who understands the benefits of finding the right intervention or surgery for the right patient will ultimately save one time and money over the long haul. Getting things done right the first time is of paramount importance to achieving optimal outcomes with a high degree of patient satisfaction, while avoiding problems and bad outcomes.
Posted by: Benjamin C. Stong MD
The lips are the most sensual feature of the face. They are also one of the most common areas of the face to augment with facial filler material, particularly in younger patients. Lip enhancement can make the individual feel more sensual and desirable adding to ones self confidence. Many practitioners do not have a comfort level with surgery of the lip to offer permanent surgical lip enhancement procedures. Often, the rest have a single noninvasive technique to offer, most commonly a Gortex implant. These carry the same inherent risk of any foreign material implanted in the body with little ability to customize the results.
Gortex implants use tunnels created under the surface of each lip from corner to corner to create a precise pocket to receive the implant. Two procedures employ a similar technique, but use the body’s natural tissues to achieve the augmentation: dermal fat grafts and SMAS grafts. The dermal fat grafts can be performed in just about any patient and requires the grafts to be taken from the bikini line resulting in a small imperceptible incision. Often this can be camouflaged with a pre-existing c-section scar. SMAS lip grafts can only be performed at the same time as face lift surgery. It involves taking part of the layer tightened during a face lift and places it in the lips to achieve a more permanent lip augmentation. In general, when considering augmentation procedures in the face, it is better to use the body’s natural materials than a foreign substance to reduce the risk of infection and eliminate the risk of rejection.
Some practitioners advocate fat transfers or injections to the lips. The lips are one of the most dynamic areas of the face undergoing the forces associated with motion. It is commonly understood that the success of fat transfers to the face is dependent on the harvest technique as well as the degree of movement that particular area of the face is subject to. The success of fat transfers or injections to the lips is uniformly less successful than other areas of the face commonly injected, as such it runs a higher risk of failure than other lip augmentation methods. Additionally, the feel of the lip can be less natural with fat injections or transfers because of the inherent differences in the augmentation materials used.
The V to Y lip augmentation procedure is a customizable, surgical enhancement procedure that allows for permanent lip augmentation whith the ability to emphasize certain subunits of the lip. Very few practitioners have experience or training in the technique and finding ones that offer it can be difficult. The incisions are on the inside of the mouth resulting in no external incisions and the lip is rolled forward to give a fuller, sensual lip. Within reason, the surgeon and the patient can choose to emphasize certain subunits of the lip, customizing results. When performed properly the V to Y lip augmentation can provide amazing, permanent results.
Two additional lip enhancement procedures that do not augment the size of the lip are the lip lift and lip reduction procedure. The lip lift uses an imperceptible incision placed under the base of the nose to shorten the white lip resulting in 2 to 3 mm of natural tooth show. Some patients have long lips naturally or as the result of aging. In either case the procedure can result in a small amount of attractive tooth show with mild improvement in the amount of red lip show. Lip reductions are for patients who have excessively large lips and involves a reduction in the overall size. Patients should not take the procedure lightly, as excessive reduction can preclude effective reconstruction augmentation procedures and result in dissatisfied patients.
When choosing to undergo surgical lip enhancement procedures patients, must understand the options available to them. There are certain indications for each procedure outlined above, and a certain amount of training required to deliver excellent results. The best practitioners have an understanding of all of the risks and benefits of the procedures and work collaboratively with the patient to develop a plan to reach the patient’s goals. Lip enhancement surgery is certainly not easy and requires the knowledge and intricacy of many techniques to deliver optimal outcomes.
Post provided by: Surgical Lip Enhancement Atlanta GA | Benjamin C. Stong MD
Loss of facial fat volume and skin elasticity is a natural part of aging. There are many different ways to address these problems keeping in mind the patients goals and concerns as well as the capability and versatility of the practitioner. Today there is a minimally invasive, no downtime revolution. Many patients do not have the time or patience to undergo more invasive, technically challenging, effective procedures. This phenomenon coupled with more and more practitioners with little to no surgical training and effective marketing strategies, has led to a boom in the facial filler industry. The primary purpose of facial filler therapy is repletion of lost volume in the face or to augment naturally thin or small structures. The allure for injectable facial filler therapy to both practitioners and patients is the temporary nature of the treatment. Initially patients seeking facial rejuvenation procedures typically like to “test the waters” and take comfort in the knowledge that the procedure is temporary. Similarly, practitioners with less advanced training take comfort in the idea that the changes they effect are not permanent.
Collagen was the initial, biocompatible, completely absorbable facial filler introduced to the cosmetic industry. It has since fallen out of favor due to the 100% biocompatibility and more natural feel of haluronic acid fillers. The two most common haluronic acid fillers on the market are Restylane and Juvederm. Juvederm has significantly increased its market share in recent years due to studies that claim a longer duration of action (approximately 6 to 9 months), due to slower absorption and a more natural feel, because of a less granular texture. Radiesse uses calcium hydroxyapatite, a component of bone, that has a significantly longer absorption rate compared to haluronic acid fillers, but is not as smooth after injection. Consequently, Radiesse is generally injected deeper under the skin, in larger folds, and in patients with thicker skin to avoid feeling the substance after injection. Sometimes it is layered deep to haluronic acid fillers to provide longer lasting, more natural feeling results. It is reported to last approximately 1 year following injection. Sculptra is an additional injectable facial filler that is composed of small fragments of a suture material called vicryl. It is reported to have a more permanent effect because it uses inflammation to stimulate collagen deposition. It is still not widely used by many practitioners because it is less precise and predictable than other facial fillers.
The “Liquid or Lunchtime Facelift” has become a popular marketing technique in many practices promising superior results with no down time. Anytime a patient is going to have a facial filler procedure the amount of skin laxity must be taken into account. To use a common analogy, not only does the face deflate like a balloon as we age, but the skin is permanently stretched, as such with more advanced aging, filling the face with various substances without tightening the skin or facial structures can result in an over-inflated look. When used earlier on in the aging process, facial fillers can camouflage the effects of aging temporarily resulting in a more youthful appearance. As the process advances additional procedures such as skin rejuvenation and face lift procedures become necessary to achieve a more natural, youthful look. The most common areas treated in the aging face are the nasolabial folds, the tear troughs under the eyes, and wrinkles around the mouth. Augmenting facial structures in both younger and older patients is a very useful procedure to accentuate attractive features. The most common area augmented with facial fillers is the lips to improve an individuals feeling of sensuality and gain an idea of the outcome from a permanent lip augmentation procedures. Additionally, adding volume over the cheek bones is common to sculpt the face into an attractive, youthful heart shape. Most recently the term ”nonsurgical rhinoplasty,” has come in vogue and uses various combinations of the facial fillers to sculpt the shape of the nose. Although commonly marketed as a surgical procedure, in no way are the above facial shaping/augmentation procedures considered permanent or a surgical procedure.
Facial fillers offer a minimally invasive, temporary solution to reverse the effects of aging. Proper selection of the injection material and the areas to be injected is critical to good outcomes and satisfied patients. Many practitioners offer facial fillers when skin rejuvenation and face lift procedures may be indicated for optimal outcomes. Some patients may be adverse to additional, more invasive, permanent procedures electing to undergo facial fillers to gain an understanding of the possible outcomes from surgery. Also, some patients may never choose to undergo additional surgical procedures, instead choosing to continue facial filler treatments. When beginning facial fillers it is necessary for the patient to understand what is and is not possible and determine their goals collaboratively with their facial plastic surgeon.
Post provided by: Facial Fillers Atlanta GA | Benjamin C. Stong MD