Imagine looking better at each birthday…
Imagine looking younger than your younger sister or younger friends…
Volume loss is a fundamental component of facial ageing. Contributing factors include fat redistribution (we lose fat on our upper face and expand in our lower face, our fat pads move forwards and downwards), changes to our facial bones (it gets thinner and flatter) and other changes in tissue composition (e.g. skin, muscles and supporting ligaments becomes more loose).
This is mainly due to hormonal changes, genes, stress, lifestyle, environmental factors and typical changes that come with age. This can lead to sagging, looking more tired and drawn, maybe more like our mothers and looking less attractive than we once saw ourselves.
Best Treatments To Restore Youthful Features
There are a few treatments to address this volume loss and hyaluronic acid dermal fillers are one of the more established means of doing so. It is used to address volume loss, improve the saggy look, correct contour defects, restore balance and provide support and structure to the face. Done right, it can help you look less tired, more youthful and more attractive. Done wrong, it can give the overdone, pouty or pillow face look which many of my patients and even myself hate!
Hence why it is so important to:
1. Choose the right product that holds it’s shape but is still flexible on movement so it can support the tissues without the risk of being “hard” and feel like it’s not meant to be there.
2. Choose the right technique to achieve the best results with minimal downtime
3. Choose the right sequence to achieve the most natural results
What We Use At Dr Terry
In my clinic, I use hyaluronic acid dermal fillers which is a natural polysaccharide polymer present in the human dermis stabilised by cross-linking to increase it’s longevity. Due to its chemical structure, it is highly water soluble, maintaining hydration in the tissues and holding water up to 1000x times in weight. Due to it’s excellent bio-compatibility, it acts very closely to native tissue and allows good tissue integration.
There are different grades of hyaluronic acid dermal fillers designed to meet the specific anatomical needs of different facial regions. You have the most “thickest” dermal filler which gives the biggest lift and support e.g. Juvaderm Voluma which I love to the most “liquid” dermal filler which aims to boost the skin’s hydration e.g. Teosyal Redensity I. There are variations in between specifically to treat fine or deeper lines and wrinkles, folds, under eyes (tear troughs) or reshaping the lips to a more balanced and youthful shape e.g. Juvaderm Volift, Juvaderm Volbella, Teosyal Global Action, Teosyal RHA 1-4 and Teosyal Redensity II.
Each will have it’s unique level of mouldability and longevity.
Facial aesthetics medicine is constantly evolving, with the development of cutting-edge products and innovative new ways to use them. With almost endless treatment possibilities, it is essential that we understand how to achieve the best results.
I was recently invited to a 2-day injectable masterclass hosted by Allergan, creators of Botox and Juvaderm dermal fillers. I was fortunate to learn from one of the best aesthetic doctor in the world – Dr Mauricio De Maio, a reknown plastic surgeon from Brazil. Through his extensive travels, training doctors from all around the world and treating people from all walks of life and cultures, he found a sequence of facial codes (MD Codes™) which when respected and applied while treating the face with injectable dermal fillers can create a natural, gradual restoration of one’s youth without the overdone look or pillow face that patients and practitioners like myself dread.
How Do We Apply The MD Codes(™)
The face can be split into separate anatomical units (e.g. eyebrows, cheeks, lips, chin, eyes etc). The MD Codes™ are a a series of precise sites (or subunits) within each unit that are designed to guide injection. They are based on the principle that facial units have to be rebuilt, or treated in an architectural sequence or mode.
Each patient will have a specific sequence and may not need all of the MD codes™ in the anatomical unit hence why each patient is assessed and treated individually. Your ageing process may be different from someone else depending on your genes, lifestyle, environment and how you’ve looked after yourself all the years prior.
The face is a mechanical structure with hard and soft tissues that need support to cope with gravity. For instance, the treatment of the cheekbone area with volumnisers may improve the appearance of the nasolabial fold (laugh line from nose to mouth) and the lid-cheek junction (the line from under your eyes across your cheek). The codes can help you understand why improvement of a target area may be achieved by treating a neighbouring or distant area to get the most natural and balanced results.
These are just some of the MD Codes™ we can apply:
8-point face lift
3-point forehead reshape
2-point temple reshape
3-point eyebrow reshape
3-point tear trough reshape (shadow under the eyes)
5-point cheek reshape (the aim is to restore a youthful lift and avoid the golf ball cheek look)
8-point lip reshape
6-point chin reshape
5-point jaw reshape
3-point marionette lines reshape
Annual Rejuvenation Program
By using the MD Codes™, this will help me and my patient plan better for the year ahead, predicting potential volume loss and sag in the year to come and starting treatments early on to prevent it from going south.
By using the MD Codes™, I’m able to create an annual rejuvenation program for my patients with the aim of little adjustments in between 3-4 months time to achieve a natural youthful look that you can maintain for years to come. This will also help with financial planning, spreading the investment across a full year. If there is an important date that is coming up, we can also apply the MD Codes™ in one session (if budget allows) or a few sessions 1 month apart.
When Is The Best Time To Start?
I believe prevention is better than cure and the earlier you plan and treat the concern areas, I always find the results are better and financial planning is easier too.
I would say the best time to seek advice or potential treatment is when you start noticing signs of ageing e.g. fine lines or wrinkles, folds where there wasn’t before, droopiness of the corners of the mouth, dark circles under the eyes or “sagginess” of your skin.
If any of these concern you or if you are interested in just having a chat about an annual rejuvenation program so you look better at your next birthday, then I invite you to give my team a call on 0203 6338812 or email [email protected] to book a consultation with me to go through your options.
Hope you found this blog useful.
Until next time, stay beautiful and if there is anything else I can do to help you look your best at your next birthday, do let me know.
