5 Minimally Invasive Ways to Improve Your Complexion

As you age, your entire body changes, including your skin, the body’s largest organ. Fine lines, wrinkles, creases, and sags develop, particularly on the face, which may make you look older than you are.

At 817 Surgical Arts, triple-board-certified facial and cosmetic surgeon Dr. Emily Johnson  offers surgical and nonsurgical treatments for improving your complexion. Here, she highlights five minimally invasive ways to get the job done.

5 minimally invasive ways to improve your complexion

If your skin woes aren’t that far advanced, there’s no reason to have surgery. These five minimally invasive options can get the job done.

1. Injectables

Injectables, more commonly called dermal fillers, are added just under the skin to replace lost volume. As you get older, your body produces less collagen, a structural protein that serves as a strong foundation for the skin and gives it strength and resilience. Without enough support, your skin sinks into the hollows created, forming wrinkles, lines, creases, and hollows.

The wrinkles formed in this way are called “static” wrinkles since they’re visible even when your face is at rest.

Dermal fillers add volume, make your features more symmetrical, smooth wrinkles, and plump up thinning lips and cheeks. The most common types of dermal fillers are hyaluronic acid (HA)-based. HA is a naturally occurring substance in skin and connective tissues that binds and holds in moisture.

Depending on the filler, your results can last 6-18 months.

2. Botox Cosmetic®, Dysport®, and Xeomin®

When you have lots of collagen and the related protein elastin in your youth, your skin snaps right back after you make a facial expression. However, over time and with the loss of protein stores, the skin no longer snaps back, and you’re left with a furrow over the muscle. These creases are the “dynamic” wrinkles the neurotoxins target. 

Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin are all derived from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The neurotoxins prevent nerves in your face from signaling the muscles to contract. Without contraction, the skin remains smooth, de-aging your appearance. Results last 3-4 months, after which you can repeat the treatment.

3. Chemical peels

Chemical peels vary in their invasiveness depending on the acid used and how long they’re left on your skin. A mild peel only removes the topmost layer of skin, which sheds the imperfections it contains as it sloughs off. A deep peel, a once-in-a-lifetime treatment, goes substantially deeper, addresses more deeply rooted problems, and comes with several weeks of downtime to heal.

At 817 Surgical Arts, we offer a variety of peels, from mild to deep. Which one we use depends on the nature and severity of your skin’s flaws.

4. Radiofrequency microneedling (RF microneedling)

Microneedling uses rows of ultra-thin needles that create micro punctures in the skin. In response, your body sends healing factors to those sites and jumpstarts new collagen production.

RF microneedling takes the process one step further. In addition to creating punctures, the needles release a burst of RF energy, fast-tracking new collagen production and smoothing out the skin above.

817 Surgical Arts uses SylfirmX, the world’s first FDA-approved dual-wave RF microneedling device. It offers all the benefits of the traditional continuous RF wave but adds a pulse wave mode, ideal for targeting pigment issues such as melasma, rosacea, and spider veins (telangiectasias).

5. Emface

Emface is a noninvasive treatment that combines HIFES (high-intensity facial electrical stimulation) and radiofrequency technology to increase facial muscle density and stimulate collagen and elastin production. It's the only device that addresses the two leading causes of visible aging — loss of facial muscle tone and loss of collagen.

Using an electromagnetic current, the HIFES contracts your forehead and cheek muscles to elevate and lift facial tissue; simultaneously, the RF technology uses heat energy to create a wound-healing response in your skin.

Emface lifts the skin, restores volume, and reduces fine lines. It also tones the underlying facial muscles, providing a refreshed, tighter, smoother complexion.

Compared to Botox and fillers, Emface comes out ahead. 

Fillers inject HA into the face to add volume and lift, while Emface strengthens the facial muscles (but doesn’t bulk them up) to create volume and lift, making the results subtler but more natural-looking. 

Botox paralyzes facial muscles to prevent wrinkle formation, while Emface uses RF heat to smooth lines and wrinkles on the forehead.

If you notice the signs of aging and want to reverse the process, 817 Surgical Arts can help. To learn more or to schedule a consultation with Dr. Johnson, call us at 817-241-5375 or book online today.