As you grow older, it is imminent that your skin will start to lose its elasticity and begin to sag and wrinkle. Boosting your skin’s collagen and elastin levels is the first step in firming and tightening your skin. Margie Corney, MD, is a leading physician at Women First GYN who performs state-of-the-art skin tightening in Hampton Roads, helping patients look younger by boosting their collagen levels.
To look younger, you must consider three areas of the skin;
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The epidermis
This layer is topmost and is the one that people see. Change your skin from rough, spotty, and dull to bright, clear, and radiant by taking away unpleasant pigmentation and giving it a smooth texture by first working on the epidermis. The best way to treat the skin’s upper layer is through medical lasers.
The dermis
Once you have worked on the epidermis, the next step is to treat the dermis. Once you reach adult life, you will begin to lose one percent of collagen and elastin every year. However, it is possible to boost collagen and elastin levels. Your doctor will place energy-based devices into the skin, stimulating the production of more collagen and elastin, making you look younger.
Research has shown that when energy-based devices, like medical lasers, are used, they cause collagen fibers to become firmer and thicker. In contrast, the elastin becomes springier: This causes the attraction of more fibroblasts to the area.
Lifting
The next step after tackling the layers of the skin is lifting. Your skin is attached to muscles by ligaments. As we age, and due to the force of gravity, the skin gets pulled downwards and may look saggy. Shortening the ligaments will make the skin lift.
Your physician may use high-intensity focused ultrasound which goes deep into the skin, traditionally 1.5-3 millimeters deep. The mechanism of action is similar to dermal thickening. The first high-intensity focused machine was introduced in 2009 and is a mature technology. Unfortunately, the early machines were painful. However, the latest machines work by taking the same high-intensity focused ultrasound beam and splitting it into a thousand hertz: Before your nerves can detect the pain, it has moved on and returned, giving you excellent results without pain. For optimal results, you need to treat the epidermis and dermis and shorten the ligaments connecting the skin to the muscles.
When should you start skin tightening treatments?
Most patients worry about being able to induce collagen as they get older. The earlier you start treatment, the better. When you are younger, your capacity to stimulate collagen is greater, and you can build up more over time. The body’s capacity to repair is fantastic. A patient at 80 or 90 years old can will still be able to do the treatment. So, your body will always produce collagen. The difference is in the amount. Your body will start producing less collagen as you grow older.
To learn more about skin tightening, contact Women First GYN by phone or book an appointment online to understand the different treatment options available for you to look younger.