New Treatments Combat Aging, Rejuvenate Skin

Surgeon Alan S. Harmatz has seen a steady increase in recent years in the number of people seeking Botox® injections, fillers and a variety of other rejuvenating, nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.

“Part of it’s because people are realizing that these things are very safe and work well, and they’re just much more accepting of cosmetic enhancements in our society now,” says Harmatz. He and his six partners work with the Skin Solutions from Plastic & Hand team to provide a host of nonsurgical procedures aimed at improving appearance.

The road to improvement has the same starting point for everyone. “The first step is a skin consultation,” explains lead medical aesthetician Kathy Leighton. “We take a comprehensive history, examine their skin and customize what we do for each person. By the time they leave, they have a recommended skincare plan.”

The visit routinely includes recommending skincare products, which range from cleansers to moisturizing sunscreens to makeup.

“The products are very effective and can make a huge impact on our patients’ appearance,” says Leighton, who has been with Plastic & Hand since 1993. “And we like to keep it as simple as possible so that it’s easy for people to actually use the products.”

The skincare lineup has two new additions that Leighton is excited to offer.

One, Anthelios SX, is the first sunscreen approved by the FDA in 18 years. It contains mexoryl, which blocks short UVA rays that are most responsible for skin aging/pigmentation and cancers. The other: a just-introduced line of TRUE Cosmetics, which include a highly touted antioxidant called idebenone.

As Skin Solutions is a plastic surgeon-directed center, this gives Kathy and her team the unique ability to offer a wider variety of products and treatments than is available through “day spa” type centers. In addition to more specialized skincare products, Kathy and the team can recommend newer, high-tech treatments to address scars, sun damage, dehydrated skin, premature aging, rosacea, unwanted freckles, pigmentation problems, broken and dilated capillaries, age spots, wrinkles, excess facial or body hair or something else bothersome.

These treatments include: the exciting skincare breakthrough Fraxel® Laser, facials, chemical peels, microdermabrasion, Intense Pulsed Light, photorejuvenation, corrective makeup, facial waxing, brow tinting and laser hair reduction. Semipermanent makeup and lash extensions are also available from another member of the team, Judy, who has trained and certified to perform these enhancements. Leighton explains some of the treatments:

• Fraxel® Laser Treatment improves appearance by affecting only a fraction of the skin at a time with thousands of tiny microscopic laser spots. This "fractional" treatment allows the skin to heal much faster than if the entire area were treated at once, using the body's natural healing process to create new, healthy, tighter tissue to replace skin imperfections. Fraxel benefits include improving skin texture and pore size, erasing unwanted brown spots, smoothing wrinkles around the eyes and acne scars. Fraxel can also be used to rejuvenate the neck, chest and hands, areas that were not previously easily and safely treated with other lasers

• Microdermabrasion, which treats age lines, rough skin, blackheads, acne scarring and more. The skin is prepared by using an at-home exfoliating agent two weeks before. Then, in typically a series of 10 weekly treatments, a state-of-the-art machine exfoliates the skin.

“We use a crystal-free treatment system that mechanically exfoliates the outer layer of skin, leaving the skin fresher, smoother and softer,” says Leighton.

• Botox treatments temporarily relax muscles that cause some wrinkles. Injections of the purified protein derived from botulinum toxin are typically given between the eyes and on the forehead. Treatments typically last about three or four months.

Harmatz offers this: “I’ve been injecting Botox since 1999 and it’s well studied. It was a quantum leap forward in injectables. It has a predictable outcome and is very safe. There is minimal discomfort with the injections, which are done here only by plastic surgeons. We use a tiny amount, and it stays where it is put. And the beauty of it is that if you don’t like it, it goes away.”

Harmatz notes that Botox initially was used to control muscle spasms in kids with spastic cerebral palsy, a condition Harmatz’ own brother has. Periodic Botox injections have made “an enormous difference for my brother,” says Harmatz, who uses Botox to treat other problems as well, such as excessive sweating from the underarms or palms. These are some of the happiest patients we have.

•The long-lasting injectable filler Juvéderm can be used to fill in smile lines, hollows below the eye, fine lines above the lips and even to subtlety enhance the lips and other areas. It is typically injected (by the plastic surgeon) with a small amount of local anesthetic to numb the area and diminish discomfort. The injections typically take 15 to 30 minutes to perform. Depending on the location and amount injected, there may be a day or two of mild swelling.

Michéle Smith, Plastic & Hand’s physician assistant, has been using injectables for about 15 years. She started with collagen injections in the smile lines by her mouth while working for a plastic surgeon in New York, then switched to Restylane a few years ago.

“I had no apprehension because I have tremendous respect for the doctor. That’s important,” says Smith, 54. “When you fill in those lines, it just softens everything. It did make me look younger and less tired.”

Smith agreed to try the newest filler in December. “I’m a willing guinea pig, I guess because I’ve been around plastic surgeons for so many years. And the Juvéderm is fantastic. It fills in more and lasts longer.”

• Intense Pulsed Light treatments dramatically reduce redness and pigmentation in the skin. In addition, the treatments decrease pore size and stimulate collagen in the living layer of the skin. The patient achieves a softer, more even skin tone and a glow to their skin.

“It can dramatically reduce age spots or help someone who is red all the time with rosacea,” offers Leighton. “It’s a fabulous treatment for pigmentation problems, and also gives a nice glow.”

• Laser hair reduction is done using the “best machine on the market. We use a pigment-oriented laser that targets the melanin in the hair to dramatically reduce (typically by 80%) a patient’s hair growth.”

Advancements occur rapidly in the cosmetic enhancement field, but Skin Solutions only embraces ones that prove their worth. One such example is the practice’s revolutionary new Fraxel laser, which dramatically reduces the downtime patients have from laser procedures.

“It’s an amazing field to work in,” says Leighton. “It’s gratifying because these treatments can really make a difference in people’s lives.”