We have heard the quote for decades that “Prevention is the best medicine” and for decades we have been trying to shift the pendulum of the art and practice of medicine toward prevention. The field of Aesthetic medicine is no different. As practitioners, our greatest satisfaction comes from helping our clients achieve the best results possible. Prevention when applied to the medicine of aging, also gives us our best results and most satisfied patients.
Educating Clients on The Aging Process
Increasingly our clients are coming to us to prevent or slow down the aging process. We always start by educating our patients about the different variables that commonly lead to aging: skin aging, volume loss, and loss of structural support of the facial structure.
Aging accelerators
We educate about the most common factors that lead to the acceleration of the aging process: smoking, unprotected sun exposure, and sometimes genetics. There are of course many others too, including lack of restful sleep, stress, and diets high in carbohydrates to name a few. Some of these factors are out of our hands, but there are many that we can help our clients with.
Aging process on the face begins earlier than we think
What is rarely known is that the aging process of the face in most people begins much earlier than we think. While our clients in their 20’s and 30’s come to us for aging prevention, we are actually already assessing and treating the early signs of the aging process. Loss of collagen, and elastin from the skin, loss of facial volume including fat and bone loss and bony remodelling have already begun.
Sun and light exposure
To prevent the damage caused by sun and light exposure, our first recommendations are always a good sunscreen and antioxidants used daily – not just when you are going outside on a sunny day. We then use methods to not only prevent collagen loss, but to promote its production. These include the use of topical retinoids and various treatments including lasers and chemical peels to stimulate the skin.
Stimulating collagen production
Another beautiful method to significantly stimulate the production of collagen within and under the skin is with the use of “biostimulators”. These include injectables such as Poly_L-Lactic Acid (Sculptra) or Calcium Hydroxyl-Appatite (Radiesse). The beauty of biostimulators lies in the fact that they allow volumization through the stimulation of your own natural collagen. This makes them a great treatment to prevent the loss of collagen and to safely and naturally stimulate further production.
Neuromodulators/wrinkle relaxers when lines are just beginning
Finally, while there are many advertisements and promotions touting the use of neuromodulators/wrinkle relaxers (Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, Nucieva) for prevention of aging, as with all medications they are actually used as an early treatment. We don’t use neuromodulators where no lines exist. We use them judiciously when lines are just beginning to appear and prevent the lines from deepening and worsening. This principle is applied with neuromodulators at all stages of the aging process. Really, it’s never too late to prevent the aging process from going further!
At AēstheteMD we are passionate about what we do. We love to teach our clients and to join them in their journey in being healthy and looking and feeling their best at all ages and stages of life. Come see us to learn more!
