Laser For Neck Wrinckles

Vampire facials: painful but potent

A woman's neck and decolletage is one of the first areas to show signs of ageing, with crepe-like skin and cleavage wrinkles, and it's also one of the hardest areas to treat cosmetically.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy - also known as a "vampire facial" - is a relatively new treatment in cosmetic medicine.

Your own blood is drawn and then injected back into your neck and decolletage to make it look younger. Sounds creepy but there's science to back it up.

I arrive for the treatment and realise immediately it isn't going to be a feel-good facial. A clinical nurse specialist at All Saints Cosmedical, Claire O'Mara, performs the treatment under the guidance of the medical director, Dr Joseph Hkeik.

O'Mara explains to me: "It uses your own plasma to stimulate the body's healing process. Blood is extracted via a vein and then it... is spun in a centrifuge to separate platelet-rich cells, which are active in wound healing. When reinjected, it improves the quality of the tissue growing, rather than just hydrating damaged or aged skin."

That's right - they're going to suck my blood.

The treatment has star form, too. Tiger Woods has used platelet therapy to help him recover from knee surgery. ''PRP has been used in bone surgery, ligament repair and chronic leg-ulcer treatment for years,'' Hkeik says.

O'Mara combines PRP with fractional pearl laser, a treatment that affects the skin surface by producing thousands of microscopic columns that penetrate deep into the dermis.

"Combining these treatments works really well as we're affecting the skin cells that are still growing," she says. ''Any laser treatment is a controlled trauma to the skin; your body then reacts and says, 'Let's go fill it with collagen and elastin to heal it.'"

So I have it done. Yep, it hurts. I am red and bruised for a few days. After six weeks, I go back. I could see a slight improvement in plumpness and fine lines but I decide not to follow through with the prescribed three treatments.

O'Mara is disappointed. "Collagen production is a very slow process and can take months to show results," she says.

She shows me the before and after shots of the treatment performed on older women with sun-damaged skin and they are remarkable.

I would certainly do the full three treatments if I were concerned about my neck and decolletage looking old, so maybe in another five years or so.

Rising Popularity of Laser Therapy Information : Alternative ...

The Pursuing Story is brought to the public by cold laser therapy

There is this new laser therapy called Dermal Optical Thermolysis or DOT for short. I watched Dr. John Grossman, one of the top plastic surgeons in Denver, Colorado, explain the DOT Therapy as a medical assistant applied the laser to a patient. Dr. Grossman was on the Colorado Morning Show one day. The lady getting the therapy had DOT Therapy prior to this second session. Her face looked amazing. She was trying to get rid of the wrinkles on her forehead and around her eyes. I didn’t see any wrinkles so the laser therapy must work.

It looked like a very easy procedure to have done. The medical assistant moved the laser across the patient’s face and zap, zap, there was no blood or discomfort. From what I read about DOT Therapy, there is no down time. Your face will be red like you were out in the sun, but it will go back to normal in seven to ten days. After three days, you will be able to put makeup on. You should wear sunscreen at all times after having the treatment done. There will be a hydrating lotion that you’ll have to apply to keep your skin moist and promote healing.

Before having the DOT Therapy done, you should consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. It is a non-evasive procedure that can be done in the doctor’s office and does not require anesthesia. A topical anesthetic is applied to the patient’s face before the laser treatment. Your wrinkles and lines will become smooth, the texture of your skin will be improved and it tones up the skin.

DOT Therapy puts many microscopic holes in the patient’s skin. These holes stimulate collagen, which tightens your skin. Healthy tissue is the result of the tiny holes so recovery is quick. This therapy can be done on your neck, around the shoulders near your neck, hands and the eyes. This is great that it can be done on the eyes, because I’ve noticed the skin on my eyelids are a bit loose, I have bags under my eyes that I didn’t have in my twenties and sun spots on my left eye. It’s good to know that DOT Therapy can rid me of these aging changes.

The cosmetic procedure can be customized to get the results you want. DOT is replacing the earlier laser therapy methods. With DOT, your whole face can be done in about 20 minutes. Results can be achieved with one session.

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