10 Medical Procedures to Reduce Wrinkles
The treatment options to reduce wrinkles are unique to different individuals depending on the skin type and personal preferences, and what is obtainable to the individual. These options could include the use of lasers, chemical peels, injectable medicine or surgery. In this post, we have detailed the safest medical procedures to reduce wrinkles.
Why You Need These Medical Procedures to Reduce Wrinkles
Even if you’re consistent with the best skincare routine, you can’t stop ageing from occurring. As you age, wrinkles happen, and when that happens, the skin loses its elasticity. So what do you do when your smooth youthful skin becomes saggy with deep wrinkles and fine lines? This is when you need some medical alternatives to help reduce those wrinkles.
We know regular use of moisturisers, serums, and sunscreens can keep your skin looking supple and soft with so much elasticity thereby delaying wrinkling processes. Eventually, severe wrinkles would result and that is when these deep wrinkle treatments become handy. Worst still, if you don’t use moisturising creams and sunscreen.
Don’t listen to anyone, severe wrinkles are treatable; but only if you know your onions. Get to know these pain-free and budget-friendly ways to restore your skin to a more youthful appeal.
We’ve detailed methods from the very popular Botox treatments to the novel surgical treatments, that can help reduce the appearance of already existing wrinkles & fine lines and prevent the occurrence of more wrinkles.
The Nonsurgical and Less Invasive Methods To Reduce Fine Lines and Wrinkles
1. Botox
For deep wrinkles, botox is the best treatment method. It is also the oldest and best-known path to take to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. Botox is also less expensive for treating deep wrinkles and you can easily find a health practitioner working in aesthetic medicine that can administer the Botox treatments.
Because Botox injections are designed to stop wrinkle-causing muscles from creating deeper wrinkles, the treatment does not last forever. It only lasts three to six months after which you’ll need to follow up treatment. This means you would need multiple treatments in a year. Botox doesn’t take time to get done and the side effects are quite minimal. There can be slight bruising at the spots where the injections were made but they do not take long to heal.
Injection therapy of medicines derived from Botulinum toxin type A such as Botox, Dysport, Juveau and Xeomin can help block the chemical signals that cause muscle contractions. These Neuromodulators or wrinkle-relaxing treatments are injected into the muscles that can cause wrinkles when they contract. These are the frown lines which is between your eyebrows and the crow’s feet – the lines that extend from the corners of the eyes,
2. Dermal Fillers
Fillers are forms of injectable gel-like substances used to treat wrinkles at their cause. The common sugar polymer that is injected during this treatment is Hyaluronic acid. When hyaluronic acid fillers are injected into prominent skin folds such as around the eyes, nose, mouth and chin, they help lift skin even if it has deep wrinkles.
What these injectables do when injected beneath the skin surface is that they replace the fat that was lost during the ageing process thus resulting in a smoother, younger appearance.
Just like Botox, they do not take time and with no recovery time; in contrast, they last longer, usually over six months. With quality comes a price, and as such injectables are a more expensive option than Botox. The benefit is that you are very likely to look five to ten years younger after using them.
Asides from dermal fillers made with hyaluronic acid (HA), there are also other fillers you can use. The key point is to inquire from a qualified practitioner about the right filler you should use based on your aesthetic goals and how long the dermal fillers would last.
3. Chemical Peels
These are chemical solutions used to dissolve skin imperfections on the topical skin layers. Chemical Peels are very effective for exfoliating the outer damaged skin layers and improving the regeneration of newer skin cells. Because the results from this method are immediate and the procedure less expensive, most persons choose this method for reducing wrinkles and treating skin discolouration or scars.
4. Laser Skin Resurfacing
Laser skin resurfacing can help reduce wrinkles and irregularities caused by sun damage or acne on the face. It also changes the appearance and texture of the skin by removing fine lines and wrinkles. A lot of people love this procedure because it reduces the appearance of deeper wrinkles that appear when the face is at rest and static wrinkles.
During the laser technique, short, pulsating beams of light are concentrated on the skin. These lasers penetrate the skin to boost collagen production. Collagen is a body protein that increases skin elasticity thus making the skin look fuller and younger. CO2 laser treatment often takes about 90 minutes for both the numbing and treatment processes. Redness may also occur for about two weeks. During this period you would need to use an aftercare kit containing some ointments.
Recovery time depends on the extent of the laser input and ranges from none to 10 days. Your practitioner may ask you to refrain from using makeup for some time after the CO2 Laser Treatment. When compared with other methods, they give immediate results but do not fix all deep wrinkles. The results gotten from this method is permanent but with age, you may need to repeat the procedure.
The ideal patient for this method is anyone that wants to correct brown spots; fine lines or wrinkles around the eyes, forehead, or mouth; acne scars and other complexion issues. Don’t use this method yet if you have active acne on your skin. Also, the technique is better suited for fair-skinned persons as reports have been made in the past about how Laser resurfacing resulted in hyperpigmentation of persons with dark skin colour.
5. Express Lift
Express Lift uses radio frequency to boost collagen production, reduce fat production, and tighten the skin. This procedure gives results that are comparable to surgical procedures even when it’s not. Plus, they are less expensive than surgeries. The procedure is minimally invasive and nonsurgical hence recovery lasts just a few days, though some minor bruising can persist for a week or two. After full recovery, you can go back to your routine tasks no matter how busy your schedule is.
6. Retinoids
Retinoids such as adapalene, retinal aldehyde (Retin-A), retinol, retinyl esters, tazarotene and tretinoin are Vitamin A-derived chemicals that help to reduce lines and wrinkles on the skin. They also help improve the skin’s texture at pigmentation and hydration levels. Retinols are over-the-counter skin care products and are easily available anywhere. They penetrate the skin to activate collagen and elastin, which are structural proteins that help improve elasticity and prevent wrinkles.
The direction for use of retinoids is just like you would for any other lotion or moisturizer. To be in a safe spot, Check with your healthcare provider for the retinoids that would be suitable for you.
7. Micro-needling – RF (Radio Frequency) Microneedling
Micro-needling (skin needling) involves using a device with lots of tiny needles to poke the top layers of the skin. As the wounds heal, new collagen and elastin are formed hence reducing wrinkles or fine lines on the skin and giving a full facial rejuvenation.
8. Dermabrasion
Dermabrasion involves scraping away layers of the skin to reveal smoother youthful-looking skin. Microdermabrasion is a gentle removal of uneven skin layers that may have resulted from scarring, stretch marks, skin discolouration or sun damage. Microdermabrasion is less invasive than Dermabrasion for reducing wrinkles and irregular skin depressions.
Surgical Procedures To Correct Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Surgical procedures are more effective than nonsurgical options, however, they are more expensive and can result in more adverse side effects than their latter counterparts. Before going for surgical options, keep in mind that they are more invasive. Meaning that the post-op recovery time is longer, but when complete, the results are long-lasting.
These are some of the most popular surgical procedures for minimizing wrinkles
9. Facelift
A facelift is a surgical procedure used to remove excess skin, recontours and fat from the lower two-thirds of the face and around the neck area. This procedure addresses deep wrinkles and drooping skin by tightening the muscle and connective tissue layers. It is very effective for reducing the appearance of wrinkles and delivering a smoother skin look.
10. Brow/Forehead Lift
For the upper third of the face, a brow or forehead lift can be done to reduce wrinkles and sagging in those areas. Horizontal and vertical lines on the forehead and brows can be treated using this procedure.
Why Does Fine Lines and Wrinkles Appear
Now we’ve seen the different medical procedures to reduce wrinkles, let’s highlight some of the factors that can result in skin wrinkling:
1. Ageing
As one grows older, the skin gets thinner because it has lost some of its elasticity to a reduction in collagen and elastin production. During this period, the skin loses some of its moisture retention capacities thereby resulting in pale-looking skin.
2. Facial muscle contractions
This is one of the major causes of wrinkles and fine lines. Facial expressions such as smiling, squinting, and even frowning, can cause fine lines to appear.
3. Loss of fullness
Loss in bone density and fat tissue cells in the inner layers of the face can cause sagging and visible folds to appear on the skin.
4. Sun damage
Too much exposure to sun rays without the use of sunscreen can cause fine lines and wrinkles to present themselves prematurely
5. Excessive Smoking
This can also result in less defined wrinkles and may increase the pace of the ageing processes of the skin.
Is There a Permanent Treatment For Wrinkles?
Most of the procedures listed above are not permanent but they offer temporary cosmetic changes to remove wrinkles, giving you a more youthful appearance. You can use the same procedure multiple times to maintain your results. Nevertheless, Dermabrasion is one of the commonest treatment options available to permanently remove wrinkles from your skin.
Conclusion – Choosing the Right Procedure For You
While you may be contemplating the best procedure to choose to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, you must see a board-certified facial plastic surgeon first to recommend the best possible results. A high level of expertise is needed before facial procedures are carried out, to achieve an impressive, natural-looking result.
