Stay Young and Beautiful

Created on 25th September 2008

Lisa Jennings looks at a new treatment from Botox manufacturers Allergan that offers a gentle way to restore your natural beauty

Everyone wants to have young looking skin but all too often, pollution, stress and lack of sleep can leave you looking old before your time.

Now, a new dermal gel filler has been created to provide the solution, helping you to restore your youthful good looks. Created by the makers of Botox, Juvéderm® ULTRA offers a relatively pain-free option for the 472,000 people who seek noninvasive cosmetic procedures every year.

And it's no great surprise that an increasing amount of people are opting for cosmetic procedures. Women in the UK feel under more pressure to look good than any other women in the world. Fifty-nine per cent of UK women feel there is pressure on them to look attractive compared to 48 per cent of American women and only 30 per cent of Italian women - perhaps reflecting their attitude towards the ‘bella figura' which is as much about attitude as outward appearances.

Avoiding the knife
Many people are nervous about undertaking cosmetic treatments because they're worried that it might be painful. However, Juvéderm® ULTRA is unique in containing an anaesthetic which means the procedure entails only a ‘gentle injection experience': in tests on 60 women, 81 per cent felt only slight discomfort or none at all.

"For the majority of people seeking treatments such as Juvéderm® ULTRA, it's about looking the best they possibly can. The main feedback that I hear from people who have tried Juvéderm® ULTRA is that the results are natural, instant and without the discomfort often associated with other dermal filler products.

The whole injection experience is a lot more comfortable and they are delighted with the results. My patients leave feeling rejuvenated and also knowing that the effects will last for a considerable period of time," said Dr Hilary Allan, cosmetic dermatologist at Woodford Medical Aesthetics in London.

And the side effects with Juvéderm® ULTRA are minimal too: they may include the typical injection side effects such as swelling of the skin around the injection site, redness, bruising (which may be increased if you are taking blood thinners), bumps, and skin irritation. However, these should pass within a week and are nothing compared to the side effects of a traditional face lift.

Natural beauty
But it's not just about having a less painful alternative to traditional surgery. Allergen commissioned a global survey that found that most women don't want to remove all traces of aging to look ‘perfect'.

Eight out of ten women across Europe and the United States said they wanted to look good for their age and as natural as possible to reflect their personality, expressions and emotional well-being, as opposed to just looking younger. To achieve this, they would rather target specific wrinkles such as frown lines than opt for a traditional ‘stretched skin' look.

Sharman Mcallister, 56-yearold software company director from Maidenhead: "I was always very self conscious of the creases that ran from the sides of my nose down to my mouth and felt they dragged my face down. I was happy to look into aesthetic treatment options but the idea of an injection did worry me.

"When my physician recommended I try Juvéderm® ULTRA, as it promised to be a more gentle experience, I jumped at the chance. I hardly felt a thing during the treatment and the results were immediate and fantastic. The great thing is I look better, but not different - I can actually look at myself in the mirror quite happily now."

Similarly, some women feel uncomfortable about having a foreign substance injected into their bodies but unlike some fillers, Juvéderm® ULTRA is made from hyaluronic acid which is a naturally occurring, biodegradable complex sugar found in the human body and in all living animals. One of the benefits of hyaluronic acid is that patients don't require any allergy testing before use which speeds up the process as you don't have to wait to discover whether the treatment is for you.

How it works
As we age we naturally lose hyaluronic acid from the skin. This leads to the development of wrinkles and deep facial lines. Juvéderm® ULTRA is injected into the skin using a fine needle to replenish the skin's natural fullness and vitality and gives a smooth, long-lasting and natural look. The hydrating effects of hyaluronic acid stem from its ability to retain water and absorb more than 1,000 times its weight.

Juvéderm® ULTRA can also be used to target specific facial wrinkles and folds, such as frown lines or crow's feet, and its formulation offers optimal results with a single treatment in the majority of patients with results lasting up to a year.

"Juvéderm® ULTRA offers my patients a gentle, longlasting answer to facial folds and wrinkles with minimal discomfort. The fine needle, smooth consistency and the fact it contains a local anaesthetic means that I feel confident in the results Juvederm® ULTRA offers, and that my patients will leave my clinic feeling satisfied," said Dr Hilary Allan.

There are three different formulations for Juvéderm® ULTRA available: Juvéderm® ULTRA 2, for the subtle correction of facial lines; Juvéderm® ULTRA 3, for contouring and volumising facial lines and nasolabial folds; and Juvéderm® ULTRA 4, a more robust formulation for volumising and correction of deeper folds and wrinkles, including the cheeks and chin. It is the thickest of the gels in the range and is injected into the deep dermis to fill deep wrinkles, to create cheek bones and lip volume and for facial contouring.

Your cosmetic doctor will be able to suggest the right formulation for you. Despite the treatment being quick and nontraumatic, Allergan recommends that consumers considering treatment with Juvéderm® ULTRA only see an appropriately qualified and trained healthcare professional.

When it comes down to it, we all want to look as good for our age as possible, and with Juvéderm® ULTRA, that option is now available quickly, naturally and effectively. CSMUK