Top 5 Anti-Aging Skin Treatments By Awarding Winning Blogger, Barbie's Beauty Bits
Mark Twain once said wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. While a cute quote and all, many would rather be without them or at least minimize their wrinkles.
Although we can't stop the aging process, there are some things we can do to delay it, using anti-aging skincare, along with some facial rejuvenation treatments.
But what are these Anti-aging treatments we are talking about? While there are far more than five anti-aging treatments, we will share some of the most popular ones, suited for most skin types.
And as always, beauties, this article is not intended as medical advice but rather to give you an understanding of available primary anti-aging skin care and anti-wrinkle treatments.
Facial Rejuvenation Treatments For The Skin
Facial rejuvenation treatments are a great way to fall in love with the face in the mirror and put some pep back in your step.
Facial rejuvenation refers to any combination of cosmetic procedures to restore your skin's youthful appearance, and we are sharing some of the top ones below.
Injectable Dermal Fillers
Did you know that volume loss is the culprit behind many visible signs of aging? With age, lines become etched around the nose, mouth, and cheeks.
It is here that dermal fillers can help since they can help replace lost volume and smooth wrinkles, plump, and restore a more youthful look.
Injectors and cosmetic surgeons utilize many fillers, including the RHA Collection, the only FDA-approved fillers that treat dynamic facial wrinkles.
A filler is generally classified according to its composition. Popular choices like Juvéderm and Restylane are made from hyaluronic acid, resulting in temporary results that last 6 to 12 months or longer before the body gradually and naturally absorbs them.
While dermal fillers are casually known as "wrinkle fillers," they can do much more than smooth out wrinkles, although they are excellent at this too! Here are a few pros and cons of dermal fillers:
Pros Of Dermal Fillers
They offer an alternative with results that decades ago were only possible with plastic surgery. The effects are noticeable in around six weeks.
- Stimulate Collagen: Dermal fillers such as mineral-like compound calcium hydroxylapatite and polylactic acid stimulate collagen production.
- Hyaluronic acid filler can be reversed with hyaluronidase, an enzyme that breaks it down.
- Non-Surgical Procedure: Those who want to experience the anti-aging effects of an eye lift, brow lift, facelift, or neck lift, but don't want to undergo surgery, can turn to fillers and injectables.
- Create Youthful Appearance: can smooth wrinkles and fine lines, add contour to cheeks, fill in hollows under the eyes, plump lips, reduce hand wrinkles, and firm the neck.
Cons Of Dermal Fillers
- All dermal fillers have the potential to cause bruising after injection into the dermal and surrounding tissues, and this can be worse when threading or fanning techniques are used.
- Swelling of the skin is normal and occurs with all dermal fillers. One needs to avoid anti-inflammatory medications (aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.), fish oil, Vitamin E supplements, St John's Wort, garlic tablets, Ginkgo Biloba, and ginseng when being treated, as this increases the risk of bruising.
- Potential Allergens: Dermal fillers are essentially foreign bodies being injected into the skin, and some patients may develop allergies, which can be mild hypersensitivity to dangerous angioedema, i.e., swelling of lips, tongue, and surrounding skin.
Botox® Cosmetic
Botox® was initially developed as a medication to manage facial tics. Fast forward to BOTOX® Cosmetic; it is one of the most popular anti-aging treatments and has been used for cosmetics for nearly two decades.
When injected in very small, controlled doses, it prevents muscle contractions in the facial muscles.
As a cosmetic treatment, it's incredibly effective at fading what are known as "dynamic wrinkles." These wrinkles are caused by repetitive facial movements, such as crow's feet, forehead lines, and frown lines. With age, the skin slows down its production of proteins like collagen and elastin that allow it to bounce back after specific movements.
By actually preventing some of that movement in the first place, Botox keeps the skin looking smooth and helps the face appear more serene and youthful for about 3-6 months.
The FDA has only approved Botox® for use around the eyes and on the forehead for cosmetic purposes. However, it is used to soften lip lines, nose crinkles, neck bands, and other wrinkles on the lower half of the face.
Botox is also a major drug used in medicine for various other purposes, such as overactive bladders and migraines, and can even help psoriasis.
Pros Of Botox Cosmetic
- Smooth crow's feet, forehead furrows, frown lines, lip lines and bunny lines.
- No downtime
- Quick results showing within 7-10 days
- Not permanent and will wear off in a couple of months
- Very few risks
- Customizable treatments
Cons Of Botox Cosmetics
- It can take several treatments to work
- Risk of bruising
- Botox treatment won't improve deep, static wrinkles that remain visible despite movements of the face
- Headache or mild flu-like symptoms (these are relatively rare but not dangerous)
- If not appropriately injected can cause that frozen face botox look
- Poor quality injectors out there that lack experience in understanding facial asymmetry leading to severe issues
Laser Skin Resurfacing For Younger-Looking Skin
Lasers treatments direct concentrated, short, pulsating light beams at irregular skin, removing layers of the skin precisely, layer by layer. This process causes micro-injuries to the lower layers of skin, which trigger the body's healing process.
As collagen and elastin regenerate, the skin's tone and texture improve. As a result, the skin feels and looks suppler and more firm, reducing the appearance of lines and wrinkles.
Laser skin resurfacing comes in two forms: ablative and non-ablative.
During ablative laser skin resurfacing, the damaged top layer of the skin is removed, revealing the fresh, healthy underlying layer. In addition to improving fine lines, skin texture, dark spots, ablation lasers stimulate collagen production.
Using non-ablative laser skin resurfacing, pigment, redness, and broken blood vessels are addressed in the deeper layers of the skin.
With laser skin resurfacing, you can:
- Reduce wrinkles
- Minimize scars
- Even out skin tone
- Tightens the skin
- Stimulates new collagen
- Treat acne scars
- Treat sun damage
- Eliminate brown or age spots
- Reduce oversized pores
This procedure has several names, including lasabrasion, laser peel, or laser vaporization.
Pros Of Laser Skin Resurfacing
We answered these with the benefits. However, it depends on the specific laser technology used. But laser skin resurfacing is the best way to tighten and smooth your skin without incisions.
You can achieve long-lasting results without worrying about surgery scars or long-term recovery.
Cons Of Laser Skin Resurfacing
Laser skin resurfacing does have some drawbacks - most notably, the risks of treatment, which increase if the practitioner needs to be qualified or experienced.
Side effects like
- Permanent lightening or darkening of the skin
- Scarring
- Recovery period where patients experience skin redness, which may worsen before it improves.
Microdermabrasion Anti-aging Treatment
So what the heck is Microdermabrasion? Microdermabrasion is a popular machine-aided skin exfoliation treatment. If you want healthy, glowing skin, you should be exfoliating! You see as we age our cellular turnover slows down, meaning that our body is slower to shed dead skin cells and produce new ones.
This buildup of dead skin cells can have a negative impact on our skin leaving it looking dry and dull, or worse this accumulation can result in excess oil production and clogged pores, which could lead to problematic skin.
Hence with this treatment, the superficial layer of skin is gently removed using a crystal diamond-tipped wand, revealing fresh new skin.
Microdermabrasion works by causing a small amount of trauma to the skin. Your skin reacts to this "controlled trauma" that the device delivers, reducing fine lines, wrinkles, and acne scars
Because microdermabrasion operates only on the skin's surface layers, it is most effective at treating fine lines, sun spots, and acne damage. (it is like plaque removal but for your skin).
Pros Of Microdermabrasion
There are various benefits of microdermabrasion facial.
- Noninvasive
- Improves skin texture
- Smoothens skin
- It evens out skin tone
- Removes fine lines and superficial wrinkles
- Minimizes the appearance of large pores
- Boosts collagen
Cons Of Microdermabrasion
- Since your skin regenerates every 30 days, you will need to repeat microdermabrasion every 2-4 weeks to see continual improvement.
- This isn't a one-time treatment. You will need 6 to 12 treatments to achieve significant results.
- Only removes superficial wrinkles.
- Effectiveness decreases as age increases
No-Tox® technology (short for "non-toxin-based wrinkle reducing serum") came out of (Professor and MD) Dr. Sharad's world-leading skin research lab.
A fundamental principle of Dr. Sharad's approach is that one cannot have good skin and bad health.
This skin care product is designed in New Zealand and contains copper, lysine, and proline, which help assemble collagen in the skin. It also contains hyaluronic acid, which keeps your skin hydrated.
Currently, there is no other 30-day anti-wrinkle elixir on the market that is non-toxic and has been independently evaluated by dermatologists in clinical trials on actual people.
Clinical Studies Of No-Tox
Participants in this study applied the anti-aging product serum to one of three areas: forehead/ glabellar region, upper lip, and eye region (crow's feet or under-eye region), and results were measured independently using a scanner.
All areas showed statistically significant improvement. Results were better around the mouth and eyelids when compared to frown lines of the forehead.
Pros Of No-Tox Skin Smoothing Elixir
- It is pain-free, does not require needles,
- It is non-toxic based; therefore, there is no risk of bruising, bleeding, or pigmentation.
- The wrinkle-reducing activity of No-Tox® is maintained and improves progressively over 6 and 8 weeks and beyond.
- Proven in a clinical study, which is uncommon for a cosmeceutical.
Cons Of No-Tox Skin Smoothing Elixir
- It acts slower than injectables.
- There is only one clinical study thus far, although the lab has indicated that a new study will soon be underway comparing the effects of No-Tox® against medical-grade retinol.
Make Sure You Are Visiting A Qualified Facility
Sadly, not all plastic surgeons, aestheticians, medical injectors, etc., are ethical or even qualified. Some will prey on people’s insecurities and see it as an easy way to make money from them while promising life-changing results.
That’s why it’s crucial to find a qualified, licensed, certified person, like a board-certified dermatologist and the American society of plastic surgeons. And don’t just take their word for it or go by the framed certificate on the wall, do your research!
This includes:
- Looking at their qualifications as some certifications are different.
- Look at their online presence, like social media.
- Do they have an up-to-date website?
- Always ask for before and after photos.
- What type of reviews do they have?
- More importantly, if you have a trusted friend who has gone to one, ask them about their experience.
Another place I highly suggest is going to the RealSelf community. This online site reveals the real story of each procedure. It provides everything from before and after photos and stories posted by real people who've undergone treatment to forum discussions, beauty tips, and doctor answers to your questions.
Bottom line, like anything we do in life, you need to do your research, especially concerning your body.
Sum It Up
To sum it up, it's easy to get discouraged by our changing appearance as we age, as life isn't always kind to our skin. Fortunately, advances in technology and skincare have given us a lot of options for improving our appearance and skin health.
Putting some pep back in your step is easier with some of the anti-aging treatments Barbie's Beauty Bits has shared above.
