Beauty Doc Blog

As we age, our skin loses its elasticity. This can show in all sorts of ways, but one of the most noticeable, especially in the summer time, is on the arms. Arms often become flabby as the skin loosens and sags. This can result in previously healthy-looking arms that turn to jiggly, unattractive flab when we hit a certain age.

This is why some people turn to an arm lift to correct their sagging arm skin. An arm lift is a cosmetic procedure that targets the part of the arm from under the armpit to the elbow. Sometimes called “batwing” skin, this is the area that suffers from excess fat and sagging skin the most along the arm.

Some people only suffer from excess fat on their upper arm, not excess or sagging skin. In these cases, liposuction might be enough to correct the problem. Be sure to talk to your doctor about your particular arm issues, and see whether an arm lift or liposuction is right for you.

If you do have aging or sagging skin that hangs off of your arm, then an arm lift will correct the problem. The procedure is straightforward: your surgeon will administer anesthesia, and then make an incision from your upper arm to your elbow. He or she will cut away the excess skin, and suture the wound.

One important caveat when considering an arm lift is the scar – it is a large scar that runs down the back of your entire upper arm, from underarm to elbow. This will heal over time and the red color will fade, but the scar itself will always be there. Do not consider this surgery if you are not willing to trade sagging arm skin for this scar.

Your doctor will give you a compression garment to wrap around your arm while it heals. This garment will help your skin to heal into a new shape that is tight, firm and attractive. The healing process might involve some bruising, swelling and other discomfort. This is normal, and lasts up to several weeks in some patients. Your doctor can prescribe medication to alleviate the discomfort, and reduce the swelling during this period.

The results of an arm lift will be visible right away, but the full effect won’t hit until the healing has finished. After two or three weeks, you should notice that your arms are more shapely and toned-looking. Your youthful appearance will be greatly enhanced by trim upper arms, so if you want to rejuvenate your look, this procedure might be for you.

Everyone, men and women, wants to have legs that are uniform in color. If you suffer from unsightly red or bluish veins that run up and down your legs, know that you are not alone. There are thousands of people just like you, who have opted for spider vein treatment cosmetic procedures.

Sclerotherapy, as spider vein treatment is known in the medical world, is a procedure designed to rid your legs of those bulging, discolored veins that begin to protrude as we age.

Spider veins are thin veins that usually form in clusters of spider-web-like sections along the thighs, calves, ankles, feet and sometime the face. There is no sure cause of spider veins, but genetics likely plays a big role in increasing your chances of having spider veins later in life. It is important that you discuss your spider veins with a board certified doctor before you get treatment, because they are very different from varicose veins. These are larger, more bulging veins that are often darker in color. Spider veins rarely go away with just time – they only increase in number, size and area as we age.

If you do decide to get sclerotherapy, be sure you understand all of the details of the procedure first. It involves an injection of a sclerosing agent into the affected area. This will make the walls of the veins harden and scar, and their appearance will become much less noticeable.

You must understand that sclerotherapy will not make the veins disappear, only become less visible. The purplish, reddish hue will usually go away, and will be replaced by a more natural color.

This is the most common way to use cosmetic surgery to fight spider veins. Because these veins grow with time, you may need repeat treatments as you age. If more veins appear, they will not have had the injection and they will look just as purple or red as your previous veins.

There is little down time with this surgery. As it is an injection of a foreign substance, some patients have noted that they experience slight discomfort or sharp pains during the injection and shortly after, but this usually fades quickly. You will likely be asked to refrain from strenuous physical activity for about 24-hours immediately after your procedure, but following that, you can result regular activity.

Spider veins can be a source of great embarrassment, when you’re wearing a cute skirt or a pair of shorts. Sclerotherapy is a time-tested and long-lasting procedure designed to alleviate your discomfort and give you a more smooth, natural pigmentation on your legs and face.

It’s a sad day when you look in the mirror and you don’t recognize the face that’s staring back at you. Haggard, tired, worn down and just plain old eyes stare from behind sunken sockets. You don’t have to let aging eyes get the better of you – you have several options when it comes to curing aging eyes with cosmetic surgery.

If you only have a few wrinkles around the corners of your eyes, commonly known as crow’s feet, you can ask your doctor about Botox. This substance will paralyze the muscles around your eyes and prevent them from squinting or frowning, which can cause wrinkles to form. Botox is a non-surgical cosmetic procedure. It is simply a matter of a few injections into the areas that have wrinkles, and you will notice the results over time. Repeat injections are required for a long-term wrinkle-free face.

For more serious problems, you might have to discuss surgical options. Many men and women notice that their eyelids become droopy with age, or that they have sagging lines under their eye sockets. Eyelid surgery, known as blepharoplasty, will rejuvenate your eye’s overall appearance. It requires that you go in for a surgical consultation and then a procedure. You can target the upper eyelid, the lower eyelid or both with eyelid surgery.

This procedure makes your entire face look younger. It targets loose, sagging skin and fat deposits, and tightens your whole appearance. However, it carries with it more risks than Botox. For instance, because your surgeon is working in such a sensitive area of the body, you may find that your eyes are irritated or dry following the procedure. Or, the scars might not heal correctly, and you are left with an appearance that is no better than before.

These risks are necessary to consider, but most who have had Botox injections or eyelid surgery have had positive results. Their whole face is given a renewed look, often shaving off 5 to 10 years from their appearance. Botox is long-lasting with repeated treatments and eyelid surgery is long-lasting immediately after treatment, so it is something that will change your life for years to come. If you struggle with tired, aging, or just plain unattractive eyes, you might want to consider one of these options to get you a more youthful appearance.

Safety, safety, safety. Nothing is more important than ensuring that your cosmetic procedure is done by a professional in a clean setting, using FDA-approved methods and materials. Injectables are a particularly grey area when it comes to consumer knowledge about safety. Many people think that injectables are all alike, and their claim to reduce wrinkles is all that matters.

However, a new warning has been issued recently by the Physicians Coalition for Injectable Safety regarding certain injectables that are being used without FDA-approval.

The two offending injectables are carboxytherapy And mesotherapy. Neither of these chemicals has been proven to be safe or effective in proving the claims that they make.

Carboxytherapy involves injecting carbon dioxide just under the skin. The makers claim that it reduces the signs of cellulite, and that it can smooth out under-eye bags. These claims are not proven, and they are also potentially dangerous. Experts say that the carbon dioxide injected into the skin is dangerous, especially around the eyes, where it could seep into the blood vessels and potentially cause blindness.

Mesotherapy is even more of an unknown that carboxytherapy. It is a cocktail of sorts, a jumble of nutrients and drugs that is injected into the body, supposedly to stimulate weight loss. The claim that this injection causes patients to lose weight is not proven through any clinical trial or study.

Neither of these drugs have been tested for safety. Anyone looking for cosmetic procedures must be aware of the dangers associated with chemicals and substances that are not FDA approved. Because no conclusive trials have been recorded, the reaction that your body may have to these or other non-approved substances could be damaging and potentially fatal.

The Coalition reminds potential cosmetic surgery patients to keep three things in mind when researching any procedure: doctor, brand and safety. These three things will keep you healthy and will ensure that your procedure is safe and effective. Your doctor should be board certified, and you should ask questions to determine qualifications, education, the number of times that he or she has performed the procedure and other things. The brand of substance should be well-known, and it must be FDA-approved for your safety. And finally, the setting itself should be clean, sterile and safe.

All of these considerations should be covered for any procedure, but especially for non-invasive ones like injectables. Because these are seen as “lighter” procedures, people often think that they do not require the same level of safety-checks as other surgeries. However, keep these specific warnings in mind when looking for your next cosmetic procedure, and remember that even if it is a non-invasive procedure, you can never be too careful.