It seems like there is a new invention for nonsurgical facelifts every week. But what’s important to understand about nonsurgical facelifts is that most of these procedures work on the same principle: damaging the skin to produce a healing effect. The healing effect is what is supposed to trigger the production of additional collagen that helps restore the skin’s tightness.
However, whenever you damage the skin, there are risks that the healing won’t occur properly or other injuries will occur, resulting in unintended side effects or just diminished results. And you have to keep injuring the skin to maintain the results. You should consider the benefits of facial rejuvenation that doesn’t require skin injuries before you make a decision about which treatment is right for you.
Ways to Damage the Skin
There are many potential approaches to damaging the skin to attempt to create a healing response. There are three different approaches to damaging the skin: mechanical damage, chemical damage, and radiation damage.
Mechanical damage is anything that physically scrapes, pierces or cuts the skin. This includes dermabrasion, microdermabrasion, and skin needling. It also includes surgical facelifts, though in this case the physical damage is a side effect, not the central focus of the procedure. Mechanical damage is also a side effect of injectable treatments, though it is much more minor.
Chemical damage to the skin is caused by anything that chemically attacks the skin, typically facials and skin peels. These use acids of various strengths to eat away dead layers of the skin and damage the living layers to trigger a healing response.
Radiation damage is inflicted by lasers, radiotherapy, visible light, and ultraviolet treatments. Depending on the frequency of the radiation used, the damage may occur on the surface of the skin, burning it away, or may occur deeper in the skin or other tissue, causing damage below that surface with the intent of creating structural reconfigurations.
When the Skin Is Damaged
Any time your body suffers an injury, it triggers an inflammatory response. This is how our body heals. However, as we have come to understand, the inflammatory response is a double-edged sword, and there is reason to question the wisdom of regularly triggering an inflammatory response every few months to try to maintain the effects of these nonsurgical facelifts. The degree to which you might notice your inflammatory response depends on your personal healing response and the type of treatment used. You may experience localized redness without swelling, swelling without redness, or both redness and swelling.
And whenever the skin is damaged, there may be unintended consequences of the healing process. These may include:
- Scarring
- Discoloration
- Oozing blood or other fluid at the site of wound
- Sun damage
- Infection
Scarring from skin damage can either be a different colored area of skin, or it can be a recessed area. In more extreme cases, scarring can result in a raised area of skin that may extend beyond the original area of the wound. This is especially rare for nonsurgical procedures.
Skin discoloration with healing is considered more likely with radiation damage approaches that target the surface of the skin. However, it is also seen in more invasive chemical damage approaches, and sometimes even in simple mechanical damage approaches.
Oozing wounds are more likely with more invasive procedures, like deep needling, dermabrasion, and powerful laser treatments..
Your skin has multiple layers for a reason. The outer layers are intended to protect the inner layers from many environmental hazards, including the sun. Whenever your outer skin layers are removed, sun damage can occur. This can often be prevented with proper precautions.
Your skin is also supposed to protect you from infection. Whenever your skin is damaged, you are at risk of infection. However, this is a rare complication.
It’s important to remember that these nonsurgical procedures require regular repetition to maintain results. Even though the risk is small each time the procedure is performed, repetition increases your overall risk.
Rejuvenation without Skin Damage
Fortunately, there is a way to rejuvenate your facial appearance without damaging your skin. By treating your teeth, restoring them to their youthful proportions, you can restore volume and structural support lost from the lower third of the face. This will lead to a rejuvenation of your facial appearance without damaging your skin. And it can help you realize that you may not have as much “excess” or “sagging” skin as you thought.
To learn how much you might benefit from a nonsurgical facelift, please call (912) 234-8282 today for an appointment with a Savannah cosmetic dentist at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry.
