Better than Botox…?
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010We’ve noticed that some of the most famous faces on our TV and cinema screens have gone from looking ‘good for their age’ to ‘frozen’ – possibly as a result of a Botox habit getting a tad out of control. When this wonder treatment was originally developed to treat migraines by paralysing the facial muscles, it was also found to have the marvelous side effect of smoothing skin and banishing wrinkles, so celebs and then ‘civilians’ started to get hooked on the beauty benefits. But many have gone too far, and now Hollywood directors complain that their actors can’t display emotion and many A-listers are sporting that weird ‘pillow-face’ look which comes from an overly smooth brow and plumped up cheeks.
There has to be a better way, and Sculptra might be it. Sculptra is an injectable form of poly-L-lactic acid (a biodegradable synthetic polymer from the alpha-hydroxy-acid (AHA) family) that stimulates the body’s own production of collagen, making it ‘think younger’. It’s not made from human or animal sources and doesn’t require a skin test prior to use. Sculptra works by mildly irritating the area. This triggers the skin’s safety response of producing more collagen, which in turn tightens the whole area naturally without that puffy, wind tunnel look.
Sculptra now has FDA approval for cosmetic and medical use in the US, but it’s been used on the NHS for over 25 years in dissolvable stitches and to help AIDS patients’ faces recover from the ravages of the illness which leaves them looking gaunt.
Cult Beauty’s Jessica tried out Sculptra and gave us her honest opinion on the treatment (yes, it does hurt!) and the results (in a word: amazing).
“It’s all about the avoidance of a surgical look – you want to look good for your age, not half your age. Sculptra encourages your skin to behave as if it were younger – producing collagen like a teen and restoring sunken cheeks to a youthful fullness. Age 32, I found myself doing that thing where you pull up your skin to see the change and Sculptra gave me my cheekbones back! It fights the ‘sag’ in a gradual, subtle way that Botox doesn’t – using your own collagen to lift skin back to where it was.
The only downside: each time you go, there are a lot of tiny injections straight into the lower layers of the skin – the first couple don’t hurt, but I had over 50 in a session! They put a topical painkiller on so I recommend asking for a lot of that! You can take Paracetamol (or Valium in my case…not good with needles!) before you go which helps take the edge off the pain.
I did 3 sessions, each 6-8 weeks apart. The effects take time to develop. When you first have the treatment, your skin does look plumped up, but that’s just the effect of the injections, not the actual Sculptra itself. It does take time for the natural collagen to be stimulated.
Dr Danny Vleggaar (Head of Dermal Rejuvenation and Substitution Therapy at the Nouvelle Clinique Vert-Pré in Geneva) has explained that one of the subtle changes that happens to most people as they age is a loss in volume due to the weakening of the facial muscles, fat loss in the cheeks and reduced firmness of the skin. Women tend to lose more volume around the chin, while men’s foreheads can get smaller and they can combat that with Sculptra. It’s really important to go to a practitioner who understands how the face ages and what makes people attractive. Leading Harley Street plastic surgeon Angelika Kavouni at www.cosmetic-solutions.co.uk, focused on bringing up my cheekbones and the ridges between my mouth and nose.
Sculptra doesn’t cross the line for me, unlike Botox – it’s about stimulating the body to fix the problem and there’s no foreign substance sitting permanently in the skin, so I’m more comfortable with that. Sculptra is broken down to lactic acid – a natural substance found in the body. The treatment diminishes wrinkles because the skin is being plumped out, but more importantly it combats the ‘sag’ so you look ‘well’, rather than disconcertingly frozen or unrealistically youthful! It’s been a year since I had the treatments and I’d definitely go back for more.”
Photo courtesy of Dr Danny Vleggaar
Side effects? The most common side effects include some tenderness at the site of injection, with bleeding (due to the injections), redness, bruising and mild swelling. These effects may last, on average, for 2 – 6 days.
Don’t use: If you have a known allergy to Poly-L-Lactic acid or if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding. phoebe frangoul
For more information on Sculptra visit www.sculptra.co.uk
If someone offered to take 5 years off your face without the use of surgery, chemicals, injections or any effort on your part, other than turning up to be pampered for an hour, what would you say?