Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures for Younger Looking Skin
Healthy young skin is smooth, supple, and sometimes even glows. If only we could hold onto that type of skin for the rest of our lives. At some point, age creeps up. Our skin loses certain components that give it that sheen and luster. What used to be a radiant face begins to appear weathered and ruddy. This not only affects the way we look, but it can also cause our self-esteem to take a dive.
We’ve all heard of cosmetic surgeries like the facelift, but what if you’re not ready to commit to surgery? And what if you don’t want to have to contend with downtime or scars?
If anti-aging is on your mind and you want nothing more than to look back at the radiant skin you once had in the mirror, you’ll want to keep reading.
The following non-surgical cosmetic techniques are aimed at those of us who are getting older, and wiser, and who want to look just as good as we did in our younger years.
Read our article: Can Aging Skin Be Made to Look Younger?
The Effects of Aging Reversed
Scientists have identified seven signs of the aging process. Depending on the lifestyle you lead and your genetics, you are likely to experience the following effects of age to some degree as you grow older.
Skin Dullness
Young skin tends to renew itself every few weeks, while older skin renews at a much slower pace, usually every four to six weeks. This means that your glowing skin will slowly be replaced by a dull complexion due to the depletion of moisture on the upper layers of the skin.
Uneven Skin Tone
As we become older, our skin begins to harbor more melanin in places, leading to an uneven complexion. This unevenness can make your skin look older than it should, given your chronological years.
Fine Lines and Wrinkles
There will come a day when you look in the mirror and notice more fine lines on your face. Crow’s feet will begin to form around your eyes, and wrinkles will show up on your forehead, upper lip, and around your cheeks and chin. These effects are due to weakening elastin and collagen fibers, which are responsible for keeping your skin firm and taut. When elastin and collagen weaken, your skin becomes loose, causing fine lines and wrinkles to form.
Rough Skin
The older your skin, the more the texture can begin to change. Your skin may have once felt baby soft and smooth, but before long it becomes bumpy on the surface due to slower cell turnover amid layers of dead cells.
Blotchiness
Your skin becomes thinner with age, which can make blood vessels more apparent. Your skin may also develop liver spots or age spots, which can be reddish or brownish in color and are caused by an over-exposure to UV rays. This blotchy look can make you look older than you actually are.
Dry Skin
Young skin tends to hang onto moisture, giving it that dewy and radiant appearance. As the skin ages, the upper layers lose their ability to retain moisture, leading to a dry and dehydrated look.
Large Pores
Pores become enlarged the older you get due to a loss of skin elasticity and the effects of gravity.
These factors can become enhanced if you engage in lifestyle habits that exacerbate age, such as smoking, getting too much sun, not getting enough exercise, not sleeping enough, and drinking too much alcohol. Other factors that influence age include stress and chilly weather.
Non-Surgical Cosmetic Techniques for Reversing the Aging Process
Due to advancements in non-surgical cosmetic techniques, it is now possible to slow the effects of aging and improve your skin’s texture and tone. These procedures can give you more youthful-looking skin without incisions, stitches, scars, or downtime.
The following techniques are associated with high patient satisfaction and immediate results, while some procedures can take time for the full results to become apparent. These procedures are ideal for anyone who wants to stave off aging, from those in their late twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond.
Botox Cosmetic
Botulinum toxin (Botox) is a neuromodulator aimed at freezing facial movement. Botox is injected into strategic areas of the face, including the forehead, between the eyes, or around the outer-eye region).
Once injected, the muscles in that area become frozen, which smooths away fine lines and wrinkles. Despite myths surrounding this injectable cosmetic, you can still make facial expressions even after having a Botox injection. You’ll simply make the expressions while looking younger and more vibrant.
Botox can also be used in strategic locations for facial slimming. The effects last between three and four months, on average, before retreatments are required.
Dermal Fillers
Dermal fillers are also injected into strategic areas. Instead of freezing muscles, these non-toxic substances add volume and shape to areas affected by age. Common brand names you might be familiar with include Sculptra, Restylane, and Juvederm Voluma.
When injected into the dermal layer of skin, the fillers are able to correct severe facial folds and wrinkles. They can correct nasolabial folds and age-related mid-face contour deficiencies, and they can also be used to augment the cheeks. Some fillers are better used for lip augmentation, such as Restylane Silk and Krysse, and Juvederm Volbella. These fillers contain hyaluronic acid that can replace lost volume, augment thin lips, or enhance lips as needed.
The results given by dermal fillers can last between six and twelve months, depending on how much of each substance is used.
Read our article: Can injectable Fillers Prevent Aging?
Laser Resurfacing
If using lasers on your face makes you wary, don’t worry. Laser technology is more advanced than ever, making laser resurfacing safe and effective for anti-aging pursuits. Laser resurfacing works so well because it can delve down into the deeper layers of skin, further than other non-surgical techniques like chemical peels and microdermabrasion. Laser resurfacing also comes with very little downtime.
Powered by carbon dioxide (CO2), laser resurfacing aims to correct aging and discolored skin. By focusing the laser on problem areas, the technique can treat wrinkles, acne, acne scars, regular scars, large pores, and other imperfections.
The laser is precise, meaning it does not affect the surrounding tissues. The problem areas are heated by the laser, which activates the skin’s normal healing process. The layers of the skin treated by the laser are vaporized. Those layers will then be replaced with fresh skin that is free of defects.
The procedure requires anesthesia to eliminate discomfort and is outpatient, which means you can go home the same day. The entire treatment takes only a few minutes. Afterward, you might feel as though you have a mild sunburn, but otherwise there are no aftereffects. The results make your skin tighter, brighter, and younger, with fewer fine lines, wrinkles, and defects.
Renuvion Skin Rejuvenation
Renuvion uses J-Plasma technology to rejuvenate the face and neck. The combination of hot and cold energy treats jowls, wrinkles, age lines, acne scarring, melasma (brown or blue-gray freckle-like spots or patches), and uneven pigmentation. In addition, the technique contracts the tissues underneath the skin, leaving the treatment area taught and radiant.
Following the treatment, you might feel mild discomfort, bruising, and swelling for the first two to five days. While results are visible immediately after the treatment, the final results take around two full weeks or longer to manifest.
Renuvion is a fairly recent technology that only requires a single session to achieve dramatic results.
Read our article: How Renuvion Rejuvenates Your Skin Compared to Laser Treatments
Non-Surgical Facelift
Silhouette InstaLift is an FDA-approved alternative to the surgical facelift. The results contour the face and give you a more youthful appearance. The treatment is non-invasive and uses innovative thread technology to target the underlying layers of the skin to stimulate the production of new collagen. The technique can be used on the forehead, jawline, cheeks, and neck. Dissolvable sutures with bidirectional cones are used to lift the skin without incisions, stitches, or scarring of any kind.
Silhouette InstaLift can help with lost volume, wrinkles, jowls, and sagging skin. The procedure takes around 45 minutes to complete and uses a local anesthetic. The results are immediate and improve over time. There is no downtime, but you may feel slight discomfort and experience bruising and swelling in the days following the procedure. Results can be maintained with ongoing injectable maintenance throughout the year with up to three or four sessions required annually.
IPL Skin Rejuvenation
Some have called this non-surgical skin treatment the ‘fountain of youth’ due to its ability to give you clear, blemish-free skin. Lumecca IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) technology targets problem areas and visibly reduces age spots and other skin irregularities.
Using bright pulses of light, the handheld Lumecca device resurfaces the upper layers of the skin, giving you dramatic improvements with only a single treatment. The technology Lumecca relies on is known as photorejuvenation, which uses flashes of intense light to restore the skin without affecting the surrounding tissues. The treatment is comfortable thanks to the handheld device’s sapphire cooling tip, and there is very little downtime.
Skin Renovation and Scar Treatment
Fractora is a non-surgical procedure that uses an array of pin electrodes and fractional lasers to penetrate deep into the skin. The lasers create micro-lesion zones that both ablate and coagulate tissue, which gives you clearer, tighter skin. The results will leave you with fewer wrinkles and blemishes, along with healthy and radiant skin.
Morpheus8
This new microneedling treatment is more effective than competing microneedles and gives you dramatic results. The Morpheus8 device uses a combination of microneedling and radiofrequency. The microneedles penetrate into the skin, which provokes the skin’s natural healing response. This helps to promote fresh collagen production. When radiofrequency energy is added, the tissue becomes thicker and tighter. The results help to improve mild sagging and jowling on the face and neck, acne scars, regular scars, sun damage, stretch marks, large pores, and deep lines and creases. Morpheus8 is also effective at treating uneven or rough skin and excess fat on the face and neck.
The treatment uses a local anesthetic to ensure your comfort and results are immediate, though the true results may take time to show through. Multiple sessions may be required to achieve the intended aesthetics.
Microneedling
ProCell is another microneedling treatment that activates your skin’s natural healing response. This simple procedure eliminates wrinkles and corrects aesthetic imperfections like large pores, acne scars, regular scarring, and discolored skin.
The tiny pinpricks used in the microneedling device trick your body into turning on its healing process. This helps to produce new collagen and elastin, improving your skin’s texture, tone, and appearance. All it takes is a single treatment to see dramatic results.
Looking for Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures Near You?
If you live in the Los Angeles area, you are fortunate to have this entire line of non-surgical cosmetic techniques at your fingertips. Simply call to schedule a consultation with board-certified cosmetic surgeon Dr. Babak Moein of Moein Surgical Arts.
Read our article: Dr. Babak Moeinolmolki – 15 Qualities That Make Him One of L.A.’s Best body Contouring Surgeons
Along with his professional staff, Dr. Moein can help you stave off age for just a little bit longer. These techniques are safe and effective, but all procedures come with risks. During your consultation, Dr. Moein will discuss your aesthetic goals, the benefits of each procedure, the risks, as well as information regarding fees and financing. Read Dr. Moein’s testimonials, then get in touch to choose a time for your initial meeting that works best for you. Dial .