There are 4 key ways to reduce wrinkles and relax lines
These include cosmetic injectables and skin resurfacing. The primary two categories of cosmetic injections or facial injections are wrinkle injections or dermal fillers.
Of the key ways to get your skin looking great, there are 5 primary treatment categories:
- Skin Resurfacing using light-based treatments, lasers and/or peels (from Fraxel to DOT Therapy to Deep Chemical Peels and more)
- Surgical interventions (which may smooth out (“tighten”) hanging skin, but don’t tend to work on skin texture)
- Dermal Fillers (these are injectable Volumisers that help replace lost facial volume, including cheek injections to elevate the cheekbones slightly to reduce eye bags, and jawline injections to improve the jawline contours or chin projection as well as temple fillers and other strategies
- Anti-Wrinkle Injections (injections that relax the muscles to reduce wrinkles or deep lines in certain areas of the face)
- Home-based Skin Care Regimes and Active Products
When is the best age to get injectables for wrinkles and lines?
It’s important to remember that each person – and face – is unique.
So, too, is how people age – and how quickly their face shows the sign of ageing. Ageing is often a combination of genetics, lifestyle exposures such as sun damage or pollutants, and how well you’ve taken care of your skin so far.
Are you a good candidate for injectables for lines and wrinkles?
The only way to understand which of these ways will help YOUR face look younger is to ask a professional clinician (a Senior Cosmetic Injector and/or a Dermal Clinician) which treatment will get you the results you’re seeking.
What are lines and wrinkles?
Lines and wrinkles are creases, folds or ridges in your skin that typically become more prominent or ingrained over time. Wrinkles can appear as you get older, but many people have wrinkles or lines around their eyes and mouths at younger ages due to dynamic expressions. Repeated expressions can ‘work’ the muscles around those areas (blinking, smiling, talking, eating, frowning) and ultimately impact the skin. So wrinkles and lines are an inevitable part of the natural ageing process and of making expressions.
As you become older, your skin also gets thinner, drier and less elastic. Your skin’s ability to protect itself from cellular damage is also reduced as you age. Eventually, wrinkles, creases and ever-deepening lines form on your skin.
7 Factors that can cause wrinkles and lines
1. Repeated Facial Expressions
- As above, the first wrinkles that appear on your face are often the result of your facial expressions (repeated over time).
- People who repeatedly smile, frown or squint will develop fine lines and wrinkles earlier than others who do not do these facial expressions as frequently.
- Each time we use a facial muscle a groove forms under the surface of the skin.
When you are young the skin springs back, but as you age your skin loses its flexibility making it harden the skin to spring back as frequently and resulting in more permanent grooves.
- A number of other factors may also cause wrinkles to develop prematurely.
- These include sun exposure, smoking, dehydration and certain medications. Your genetic makeup also influences your skin’s elasticity and ageing processes.
- Genetic, environment and behaviours combine to determine how many wrinkles you have — and where the wrinkles and lines will start to appear most visibly.
2. Smoking
Experts say that the link between regular smoking and the accelerated aging of skin is due to a reduced blood supply to the skin. Air pollution will also have a detrimental impact on your skin and other organs which impact your ageing processes.
3. Light Skin Tones
People with lighter skin tones tend to experience higher levels of sun damage as they have less protection from pigmentation. This usually results in higher incidents of sun burn (sun damage) and greatly accelerates the development of wrinkles.
4. Genetic Factors
If your parents developed wrinkles earlier than other people, your chances of also doing so are significantly higher than somebody whose parents developed wrinkles later than others.
5. Poor Sun Protection Habits (Clothes, Hats, Long Hair and Sun Screen)
People who tend to wear hats and long sleeves, or have usually develop wrinkles later in life compared to other people of the same skin type.
6. Outdoor occupations
People whose jobs expose them to more sunlight tend to become wrinkly earlier than others. Examples include airline pilots, fishermen, farmers, sailors, golfers and gardeners.
7. Exposure to UV (ultraviolet light)
People who spend considerable time out in the sun during their leisure hours are also more likely to develop wrinkles earlier.
What treatments are available to reduce or combat wrinkles?
Fortunately, you don’t have to live with deep lines and wrinkles. There are numerous options available to you to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and rejuvenate and refresh your appearance.
Your options may include:
Anti Wrinkle Injections
These injections are administered into specific facial muscles to prevent creasing of the skin during certain facial movements by blocking the chemical signals for muscle contraction. As a result, injection treatments give the skin a more relaxed and smoother appearance. This treatment can be effective for shallow lines on the forehead and lines that form between the eyes (frown lines), as well as crow’s feet (lines around the corners of the eyes). Treatments generally last about three to four months; repeated injections are required.
Dermal Fillers or Cosmetic Injections
These are injected into deeper facial wrinkles, plumping and smoothing them out, giving the skin more volume. Patients may sometimes experience swelling, redness and bruising in the treated areas for a short period. There are various types of dermal fillers available. They vary in longevity, consistency, reversibility and cost.
Combined Treatments with Anti-Wrinkle Injections and Dermal Volumisers
If you are wanting to reduce wrinkles and lines, your skin care team may suggest a combined treatment plan involving Injections and Facial Fillers or Dermal Volumisers.
Laser Rejuvenation
The latest Laser Treatments for cosmetic skin revitalisation and rejuvenation now offer better results with improved patient-safety options and less downtime. The Fraxel Restore DUAL system is particularly excellent for skin rejuvenation treatments to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Another option available is the Cutera Laser Genesis. This laser heats the deeper layers of the skin to promote collagen and elastin remodeling to effectively treat lines and wrinkles.
Chemical Skin Peels
A chemical solution is applied to wrinkly areas, causing dead skin to slough off and eventually peel off, hence the name. The regenerated skin is generally smoother and less wrinkled than the old skin. There are various types of chemical peels to suit different skin types and range from superficial, medium to deep penetration strengths.
Topical Retinoids
These ingredients help reduce fine wrinkles, some pigmentation and skin roughness. Topical retinoids are derived from vitamin A. Please note: topical retinoid medications can make the skin more susceptible to burning from sunlight exposure and patients are required to use an SPF daily.
Our Melbourne team’s most experienced practitioners for skin treatments are:
Sandra Wallace (RN) and Jessie Anderson (RN) both at the Hawthorn East Clinic in Melbourne.
If your eyelid area is also a concern, with sagging eyelid skin impacting your appearance or your vision, please ask to see our eyelid lift surgeon (Dr Benjamin Burt, FRANZCO/FACS, an Oculoplastic Surgeon) to assess if an eyelid lift is best for you.
