Saving the Face (1)

SAVING THE FACE

Unfortunately, the skin aging process cannot be reversed.

You can only fix your face through non-surgical procedures, such as Botox and Restylane, and other invasive surgical procedures, such as a face-lift.

Botox

Botox has been hailed as “the new fountain of youth” or the magic potion to aging.

Can Botox really save your face?

The pros of Botox are as follows:

Botox is a purified protein injected into your skin to make your muscles contract, and hence smoothing out your crows’-feet lines around your eyes.

Botox is minimally invasive, much better than invasive plastic surgery.

Botox is an instant fix: you can see the results almost immediately.

Botox gives a more natural look, except for the lines around the mouth. This is the reason why Botox is generally not applied on the smile folds because it weakens the muscle around the mouth, making your smile look “unnatural.”

Botox is a fairly safe and an ideal procedure because the botulimum (a toxic chemical) in Botox is extremely low, and there is little or no buildup of the toxin in your body (often eliminated within 24 to 48 hours—or at least according to Botox) to pose any major health risk.

Botox is relatively inexpensive, compared to other invasive procedures, such as a face-lift.

The cons of Botox are as follows:

Botox paralyzes your facial muscles, and therefore cannot fix your smile folds, making your smile seem “unnatural.”

Botox is still costly long term: the procedure has to be repeated every three to four months.

Botox is a drug with botulimum (a toxic chemical), and you may still have some concern about injecting it into your body.

Collagen injections

Besides Botox, there are other non-surgical procedures for consideration to save your face.

Collagen is a protein substance in the dermis layer of your skin, which is responsible for your skin’s elasticity. Collagen injections use bovine collagen, which is pure collagen obtainable from isolated cows, and which is clinically tested prior to injection.

Collagen injections have the following advantages:

Collagen injections make the lines on the face become less obvious and much smoother, but they do not make the lines disappear completely as Botox does.

Collagen injections are used mainly between the eyebrows and on smile folds, where Botox does not work effectively.



The disadvantages of collagen injections are as follows:

Collagen injections are not for everyone, especially if you are allergic to cows.

Collagen injections only soften your lines: they do not remove them completely.

More next time!

Stephen Lau     

Copyright© by Stephen Lau