Turn Up the Volume

By: Katharine Griffiths
Created on 25th March 2010

Dr Ayoubi of the London Medical & Aesthetic Clinic believes that wonder product Sculptra really does provide a non-surgical facelift and here he explains how

Our preoccupation with the body beautiful means that we are increasingly body conscious and determined to stay fit and healthy for longer but while losing weight can be good for our waistband it isn't so good for our face.

The pattern to losing weight is that you first lose it from your face, then your breasts and lastly the buttocks but when you put it back on the very last place you put it back on is your face and that lost plumpness can age you quicker than anything else. I'm not advocating that you should start eating junk food but people with plumper faces tend to have fewer lines generally than thinner people.

This is compounded by the collagen levels in our skin depleting as we age. It is collagen that gives that glow and soft plumpness we associate with youth. From about the age of forty, collagen goes into sharp decline.

I perceive that there are three routes of treatment to tackle the signs of ageing in the face.

Invasive facial surgery

This is actually contraindicated for those who've lost a lot of fat or collagen as facelifts will actually make the problem worse. Incisions are made either in front or behind the ear and then the skin is drawn back so you're actually losing tissue in the area where it needs more - the mid-face. Facelifts are really great for people who have excessive skin or droopiness due to gravity.

Dermal fillers
Mainly based on hyaluronic acid, dermal fillers give instant results, are very safe and improve the area you're treating in predictable ways. But the disadvantages are that they only last for six to nine months maximum and they only improve the area that they are injected in - they don't have any effect on the rest of the face.

Injectable volumiser
Scupltra is an injection with a difference; it is based on lactic acid which is a natural product found in our muscles. When you exercise you produce lactic acid which produces inflammation - this inflammation is the body's way of telling you to slow down. When it is injected in the face this inflammation has been found to stimulate your production of collagen.

It is suitable for use all over the face except the forehead or upper lip. The technique is totally different to fillers which are injected superficially into the area you're treating - the depth depends on the fold being filled - whereas Sculptra is injected very deeply underneath the dermis into the facial muscles.

It also differs from dermal fillers because there are no instant results - in the first day or two after the treatment there is a plumping effect due to the fluid which has been injected but this dissolves over the next two or three days. This is when Sculptra starts to work.

The magic of Sculptra
Sculptra falls in the class of a stimulatory product that creates its effect through encouraging neocollagenesis when injected. It differs from traditional static fillers such as hyaluronic acid and collagen, because as a stimulatory product it causes the growth of fibrous tissue or collagen within the body, which then results in volume restoration gradually.

The Sculptra particles show signs of breaking down around six to nine months and are gone by nine to twelve months but the results can last up to five years if you are a non-smoker - it lasts about three years for smokers.

Both the natural method of volume restoration and the persistence of results of up to five years mean that this product is taking the cosmetic clinic to a different level because you can offer the patient such an advanced treatment with long-lasting results in a safe environment.

Ageing across the decades
In your 20s:
Collagen production slows down and then becomes dormant. This is an ideal time to start Sculptra to keep the collagen reserves active and for skin tightening.
In your 30s and 40s:
Sculptra is ideal for long lasting line and wrinkle correction and enhances cheek volume and stimulates collagen in a natural way.
In your 50s and onward:
Sculptra is ideal to restore facial contours and volume and correct facial laxity and improve the jaw line and other areas and patients can achieve full facelifting without the need for aggressive surgery with the results lasting up to five years.