I think that dermaroller treatment is one of the simplest and most effective ways to bring about a natural and long lasting rejuvenation of your skin, with minimal downtime and an excellent safety profile.

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A true liquid facelift can now be achieved with very few injection points. As the cannula is blunt, the chance of bruising is much reduced. Patients also say that they do feel much less pain.

So if you want to try dermal fillers but are worried about the pain, discomfort or possibility of bruising now could be the time to try this excellent innovation in filler injections. It works brilliantly with Radiesse and Belotero and can produce an instant liquid facelift.

Radiofrequency technology produces an electric current that generates heat in the deep part of the skin called the dermis. Although radiofrequency has been used for many years in surgery, it is only recently that it’s skin tightening effects have been recognised. The studies that were done have shown distinct improvements in the tightening of the skin around the nasolabial folds, marionette lines, upper neck, jowls and tightening of the skin around the eyes. It works best in people with mild to moderate skin laxity and most of the successful treatments have been in people under 65 years of age. Side effects of this kind of treatment are mild – transient (usually less than 24 hours) of mild facial swelling being the most common. No skin colour changes or scars have been seen in patients with all types of skin pigment levels. You will usually see results after one treatment, but more definite skin tightening is seen after two or three treatments.

So how does Pelleve skin tightening work to tighten your skin? It does this by kick-starting your own skin cells to produce new collagen and elastin fibres. These are the fundamental parts of your skin that make it look refreshed and young. So it’s a natural process that the Pelleve stimulates. That’s why it’s so long lasting.

Radiofrequency Pelleve treatment gives most people a subtle but definite skin tightening effect particularly around the neck, under the chin, jaw line, mouth, eyes and forehead. It’s not painful and there is no downtime. It only takes about half an hour and then you can get back to work.

How long does skin tightening with pelleve last? Most people who were treated with pelleve saw a skin tightening effect that lasted at least six months.  I would therefore recommend having two treatments in the first six to eight weeks to get a nice skin firming and tightening result and then once every six months or so to maintain that younger look.

The solution to nasolabial folds depends on a comprehensive approach to the face where volume is added in locations where it really is deficient, especially in the cheeks. This serves to lift up the cheek and help flatten out the nasolabial fold. Filling the fold itself does help, nevertheless the surrounding areas are just as crucial.

By reducing the nasolabial folds, you not only diminish the grooves, you get a facelift effect by removing the downward draw of dark shadows on the lower section of the face . I think Radiesse is an effective option for a filler for nasolabial folds since it provides a good volumising effect and it is long-lasting.

Treatment for nasolabial folds is generally safe, effective and long lasting. There are potential risks, which though rare, are serious. Treatment methods are not permanent, and patients need maintenance touch ups, probably every 6 months for hyaluronic acid fillers and around 12-18 months for radiesse. Fillers will most definitely improve the appearance of the nasolabial fold, but frequently the cheeks and lips also require treatment. Fillers may well not last as long in areas of increased movement such surrounding the mouth. Treatment can take approximately 45 minutes, and you can see the result immediately. Treatment can be done in patients of any skin type or colour.

Radiesse is a completely synthetic compound composed of micro-spheres of calcium hydroxylapatite, in addition to an aqueous gel. It is a calcium gel , which is also contained in bones , this is therefore more longlasting . Radiesse had FDA approval to be used as a dermal filler for specific applications.  It is thick enough to produce a beautiful improvement in even very deep folds and hollows. It is an ideal option for deep nasolabial folds, hollow cheeks and down-turned corners of one’s mouth. Radiesse is filler that has gained much popularity due to its longer lasting effects.

Sculptra is a replacement for a conventional filler solution for the nasiolabial folds. Sculptra is not a filler, but instead it stimulates your own tissue to cultivate. It is an appealing new treatment choice for patients seeking longer-lasting facial volumetric enhancement. It is used for restoring volume and improving facial contours. There are some downsides to Sculptra treatment, particularly the risk of nodule formation and granulomas, but for most people these are not a problem and can usually be avoided with skillful management and attention to detail.

Some treatments like YAG laser resurfacing, CO2 laser resurfacing, dermabrasion and deeper chemical peels, although effective, can have quite a long recovery period, alterations in skin colour, infection and significant risks of scarring. Intense pulsed light is really a super treatment which, when correctly tailored for your particular skin type and rejuvenation needs, is very effective but doesn’t have a high risk of downtime or harmful effects. The main downsides of IPL are a temporary mild crusting lasting one to three days after treatment in 1 in 5 clients. Redness for more than 4 hours occurs in 1 in 6 clients. Mild bruising occurs in 1 in 15 clients and all of these usually go away within 1-5 days without subsequent hyperpigmentation. Mild facial swelling for 1-3 days occur in about 1 in 6 people treated with IPL. It’s very important that you are treated with intense pulsed light by a well trained and experienced operator. These are definitely powerful devices and in the wrong hands, these machines are capable of significant harm with risks of permanent scarring.

Just how much can this cost? Well, for your full face, neck and chest treatment the price is £150 per session or £600 for five sessions booked and purchased before hand. I would personally normally recommend five sessions at monthly intervals if you have significant sun damage. The rejuvenating effect with this is normally extremely striking and lasts for years.

Some of these fillers have now been used on patients for around ten years and so there is a growing body of literature about their long term effects. As more and more patients are treated more information is also becoming available about potential unwanted effects.

The most common unwanted effects of the fillers are those that you would expect from any injection, particularly bruising where the filler has been injected. Redness and swelling are also quite common after filler injection and will usually settle down after a day or two.

Much less common (less than 1% in experienced and well trained hands) but potentially more problematic are the following problems:

1. Early infection. Any procedure that breaks the skin can lead to infection of the skin. This is more likely to occur if you have an existing skin infection, so don’t have your filler if there is any evidence of active skin infection. The symptoms of infection are what you would expect – pain, swelling, redness and possibly feverishness too.

2. Late infection. When you have a filler injected your body now has foreign material present within the tissues. This could become the focus of an infection at a later point in time, so seek medical advice if you get swelling or pain in the days, weeks or months later in the area where your filler has been injected. Such infection is usually amenable to antibiotic treatment but occasionally the filler needs to be dissolved (this is possible with the hyaluronic acid fillers) or surgically removed.

3. Allergic reactions. Again, these can occur at an early stage or later on. They can manifest with redness, swelling and lumpiness in the area that has been filled. Unlike the usual swelling and redness that most people get to a mild degree in the day or two immediately after dermal filler treatment, allergic reactions will result in either more severe or longer lasting swelling or both. It is quite difficult to differentiate these kinds of allergic reactions from infections and most practitioners will consider antibiotic treatment as well as anti-allergic treatment in these circumstances.

4. Inflammatory nodule formation. This is a usually a kind of late allergic reaction, where the filler provokes a reaction from the surrounding skin tissue that results in the formation of lumps in the skin. These can sometimes respond to steroid injections and anti-allergic treatments, but if cosmetically significant they may require surgical removal. Sometimes they can be caused by infection in which case antibiotic treatment can be of help but again they may need to be dissolved with a hyaluronidase injection where possible or surgically removed.

5. Lumps in your skin. This can be due to the filler being injected too superficially, or a deep filler like calcium hydroyapatite has been used in a superficial place where it shouldn’t be used like in the lips. Again, if one of the hyaluronic acid fillers has been used and is causing a problem they can be dissolved with a hyaluronidase injection. The fillers can also pull in quite a lot of water which can result in swelling. This can be very obvious if the filler has been given too superficially (for example around the eye).

6. Vascular problems. These are among the most infrequent but also among the most severe complications. If the filler is inadvertently injected into an artery that artery can become blocked and the area of skin that is supplies can die. Your skin will quickly become white, painful and later on it may break down. This is more of a problem if the artery that is injected is an end-artery, that is it is the only artery that is supplying that area of skin. This applies to the lip artery and the artery that supplies the skin around your nose. If you are having filler around the “tear trough” of your eye there is a theoretical risk of blindness if you have the filler injected into one of the arteries that is linked to your retinal artery. If you are having filler injected into the area between your eyebrows there is a risk of the blood supply to your skin in that area being compromised if too much filler is injected there. This is due to the pressure of the filler itself on the blood vessels rather than the blood vessel becoming occluded by filler. There are a variety of emergency treatments for blood vessel compromise which must be put into place quickly if the skin is to be saved.

7. Neurological problems and cardiac problems. If the filler is accidentally injected into a blood vessel there is the potential for the filler to work its way round to more distant blood vessels leading to blockage of blood vessels that affect the brain or the heart. This could give you a stroke or heart attack.

Please note the above is for information only and should not be considered as constituting medical advice. If you have any concerns about dermal filler treatment, please speak to your dermal filler provider.