The Super Bowl is undoubtably the greatest sporting event in the world. It is known for many things including the second biggest day of the year for at home parties, a Tiffany trophy of sterling silver that weighs 7 lbs, and the origin of the Gatorade bath for the winning coach. This year is also a first, being the first time the game has been hosted and played in Indianapolis. But the Super Bowl also occurs as the next big event after New Year’s Eve. Its prelude and eventually the game truly signals that it is a beginning of another year for more than just a new football world champion.
As the Super Bowl leads the way into a new year, it is also the time to think about becoming a Super You. The winter season is always a good time to undergo elective plastic surgery for a variety of scheduling and recovery reasons. But the past year has also brought with it new advances in surgical and non-surgical treatments that will go a long way to helping both look and feel better any time of the year.
Getting rid of unwanted fat is an around the year concern but takes precedence after the holiday feasting and the upcoming spring and summer. Liposuction still remains as a very effective method of spot fat removal and new technologic advancements, such as Smartlipo, makes it more effective. Using a fiberoptic laser probe to introduce heat into various body rolls, it results in better fat reduction and less bruising and pain afterwards. While it is still surgery, it has a better destructive effect on heat-sensitive fat cells.
For those not desiring surgery, and provided their fat rolls are not too big, is the new Exilis treatment. Using radiofrequency energy, fat can be broken down and the overlying skin tightened. Whether it is love handles or the appearance of jowls and sagging neck skin, Exilis offers a non-invasive treatment for those that don’t have time or the desire for surgery. Done as a series of in-office treatments that take just 30 or 40 minutes, one can resume normal activities immediately afterwards with no pain or swelling.
New advances in skin rejuvenation allow for improvement in skin texture, pore size, wrinkles and age spots on the face better than ever before. Chemical peels, while traditionally used as either light refreshing skin treatments or deep peels that have significant recovery, now come in blended formulations. Mixing in a little phenol with traditional peeling agents such as TCA, AHA and vitamins A and C make for a new type of intermediate depth peel that is remarkably comfortable to apply. Known by a variety of commercial names, such as the Perfect Peel and the Vi Peel, the substantial sloughing of skin a few days late confirms that this is more just a spa facial treatment. Just a few years ago such chemical peels required some form of anesthesia to tolerate their application.
For deeper wrinkles and more radical skin texture changes, laser resurfacing still remains ideal. But the use of computerized methods of beam delivery, such as fractional techniques, allow for deeper skin penetration with less recovery. Profractional laser resurfacing is the only effective treatment that I have seen for stubborn wrinkles such as vertical lip lines and crow’s feet. A series of lighter profractional treatments done over time can create nearly the same effect as one deeper laser treatment without the associated weeks of recovery.
Botox and injectable fillers still remain the mainstay in non-surgical facial rejuvenation. New competitive analogues to Botox have appeared, including Dysport and Xeomin, but they have unfortunately not presented any improved benefits. They all last about the same time of around four months and cumulative treatments do not generally lead to a lesser or greater effect. The one thing that competition has done is to help drive down the cost of these neuromuscular modulators. Through discounts, coupons and many other forms of specials, the growing number of injector providers has done more for lowering their cost than anything the manufacturers have done. But for reducing unflattering frown lines and crow’s feet, there is no substitute for their simplicity and effectiveness.
The number of injectable fillers, in contrast, has burgeoned to over a dozen commercial types. And some of them have real substantial differences as reflected in how long they last and how much they cost. Lip enhancement, nasolabial fold reduction and the addition of volume in the cheeks and sides of the face are immediately possible without any recovery. Mixing these fillers with Botox and some laser resurfacing or chemical peels can make for a more rejuvenated and fresher look in under an hour…walking out with back to work the next day in most cases.
Wedged between non-surgical injections and skin resurfacing and complete surgical facial rejuvenation surgery (e.g., facelifts) are a number of minimally-invasive facial surgeries. While they are still surgery, they primarily use smaller incisions and less tissue dissection to create their rejuvenative facial effects. These include ‘mini-facelift’ variations and endoscopic facial techniques. Limited or scaled back versions of facelifts has exploded in names over the past decade. While the names may be different, their techniques in how they are done are not. Known as short scar facelifts, MACS lift and other monikers that imply a quick recovery, they work best for sagging jowls and a little bit of neck sagging. Less surgery equals a more rapid recovery and some may be able to be done under local or IV sedation.
Endoscopic facial rejuvenation methods offer ways to lift the brows and sagging cheeks through small scalp and/or intraoral incisions. Using small tissue tunnels and suspension sutures, moderate lifting effects can be created that can change the arc of the brow or put tissues back up onto the cheek bones. They are particularly useful in the upper and midface arfea which are noit easily approaches through any form of direct incision.
Just as the Super Bowl crowns a new sports champion, become a Super You by taking advantage of the non-surgical, surgical and minimally invasive techniques that are available in today’s plastic surgery.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana