Aging Skin
Your skin, including the fatty layer between the surface and deep layers, is the largest organ in your body. It serves as a protective barrier between you and the dry atmosphere, chemicals and pollutants in the air. Your skin has the ability to fight infection and regulate core temperature, allowing your body to function optimally. Perspiration and blood flow to our skin’s surface are critical to our survival.
Skin aging is due to a vast number of internal and external factors. Environmental exposure, genetics, eating unhealthy foods, drinking alcohol, and smoking all contribute to the degenerative process. Stress, lack of exercise, and not adhering to an effective skin care regimen can speed up this deterioration.
As we age, the skin’s layers become thinner, less collagen is produced, and elastic fibers wear out. This weakens the skin’s support structures causing progressive wrinkling and sagging. The loss of facial fat volume further accelerates the process.
A common example of aging is drooping of the upper eyelids as skin loses its strength and elasticity. Fine lines and wrinkles appear. Skin becomes thinner and dark spots due to sun damage are noticeable. When these changes become significant enough to appreciate, the individual must make a choice to accept these changes or to seek correction. Textural and clarity improvements, restoration of facial volume, and lifting of sagging tissues are the guiding principles of aesthetic improvement.
Revitalization of the skin involves:
- Shedding old skin cells to be replaced with fresh, healthy cells
- Targeted healing within the skin to stimulate collagen and elastin production, promoting strengthening and lifting of skin structures
- Activation of important growth factors (aka exosomes) in the skin to encourage cell growth, repair and tissue regeneration.
Wound Healing
Wound healing is a complex process where the skin and underlying structures repair themselves after the skin has been damaged, either acutely or through chronic abuse. The response that allows our body to restore damaged structures is through a process called “inflammation”. Inflammation increases blood flow to an injured area, fights infection, and most importantly, promotes the release of growth factors. Exosomes send a message to stem cells, as well as stimulating the local healing response. Fibroblasts in turn produce new healthy collagen and elastin structures as early healing is completed.
Stem cells are the most basic cells in our body. They can differentiate into any kind of human cell – such as bone, muscle, nervous tissue, and skin. This remarkable transformation, along with the body communicating on a cellular level with exosomes is the hallmark of the body’s healing response. Targeting the healing response is key to restoring and repairing aging skin.
Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative medicine is a relatively new, and rapidly evolving field. Practitioners use a patient’s own cells and/or donor tissue to supplement the body’s natural healing process. Delivering concentrated forms of these cells to damaged or aging tissue encourages its repair and rejuvenation. Restorative treatment options are focused on the outward, visible signs of aging. Skin can be returned to a healthier, and many times, younger state. Boulder Plastic Surgery is proud to be one of the few practices on the Front Range to offer regenerative aesthetics to their patients.
Regenerative cells that can be used:
- PRP (platelet rich plasma) is obtained from a patient’s own blood. PRP releases growth factors which attract stem cells to a treatment area.
- Stem cells can be collected from:
- Bone marrow, which is difficult and painful to obtain
- Umbilical cord blood, available in the US only as a topical preparation
- Fatty (subcutaneous) tissue. Fat tissue has the highest concentration of stem cells. Luckily for us, the richest source of stem cells lies right below the skin’s surface
Boulder Plastic Surgery and IV Seasons Skin Care offer:
- Treatment options to improve skin texture and clarity
- Topical products – prescription and non-prescription
- Facials and chemical peels of varying depths
- PRX-T33 (WiQu) – the “lifting peel”
- Photo-rejuvenation – BBL
- Forever Young – IPL
- Skin Pen and Skin Pen with Radiofrequency
- Micro-laser Peel
- Halo laser
- Profractional Laser
- Plasma Pen
- Tissue volume enhancements
- Off the shelf filler – Juvederm® or Restylane®, with or without PRP
- Fat and Nano Fat grafting with or without PRP or Stem Cells
- Surgical lifting and repositioning
- Face, brow, eyelid, neck lifting
- Breast and/or body lifting and contouring
- Breast cancer (Mastectomy) reconstruction
Any successful skin rejuvenation treatment is cumulative and takes time. End results depend on many factors, including the aggressiveness of the treatment, adherence to post-treatment care, proper nutrition and good health. The treatment options available to patients are individualized, depending on anatomy and the condition of the skin. Each patient’s desires, tolerance and the cost of treatments are taken into consideration. A combination and/or sequence of treatments may be recommended. Ask your IV Seasons medical aesthetician or a Boulder Plastic Surgery physician how they can most effectively help you reach your skin care or surgical goals.
Harness the power of your cells. The body’s natural healing solution.
Wound Healing
After any procedure that involves removing skin, scars are inevitable. We try to use the latest technology and research driven approach to improve the appearance of any scar.
In general our approach is to use meticulous technique to align all layers of the skin in a tension free method.
At the 1 week appointment, we will take a look at your incisions, remove necessary sutures or staples, and discuss the use of aquaphor. We may institute a silicone based tape at this point.
Silicone based scar care
At week 3, we will recommend silicone scar based treatments which include silicone scar gel or silicone scar sheets. Your team will discuss the right approach for you.
IPL
All scars will look red for at least 3 months, and occasionally longer. We utilize intense pulsed light with various filters to help pull out red pigment from your