{"id":14243,"date":"2021-04-09T09:13:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T16:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/?p=14243"},"modified":"2023-08-25T13:55:57","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T20:55:57","slug":"tell-doctor-about-past-nonsurgical-treatments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/tell-doctor-about-past-nonsurgical-treatments","title":{"rendered":"How the Nonsurgical Tweaks You Get Today Can Complicate the Plastic Surgery Procedures You Want in the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our series, <\/em>Closer Look<\/em><\/a>, takes a deeper dive into the controversial, critical, and of-the-moment issues facing doctors and patients in aesthetic medicine.<\/em><\/p>

But does it really work?<\/em> This is honestly our first thought, whenever we hear about a new lunchtime procedure. And we’re not alone in our skepticism: we field this question from curious friends, hesitant neighbors, strangers on the ’Gram. This exact phrase—Does it really work?<\/em>—appears in dozens of queries from RealSelf members, probing for Worth It-ness, determined to suss out the true efficacy of everything from microneedling<\/a> to skin-tightening<\/a> devices to fat freezing<\/a>. <\/p>

Because, yeah, the notion of treating the skin to near-surgical effect (some claim) or profoundly enough (most agree) to delay more invasive measures for a time—no recovery, scars, or post-anesthesia loopiness—can seem a little too good to be true. The thing is, nonsurgicals generally do work—to varying degrees, most of the time, at least. What we’re learning now, however, is that their performance may be to the detriment of future procedures.<\/p>

Find Doctors Near You<\/a><\/div>

“I warn patients, before we do radiofrequency (RF)<\/a>, Ultherapy<\/a>, Kybella<\/a>, thread lifts<\/a>, or even ablative lasers<\/a>, that if they one day decide to have plastic surgery, these treatments can make future operations more difficult,” says Dr. Sarmela Sunder<\/a>, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California—and one of many doctors taking informed consent to the next level with this novel disclosure.<\/p>

If Dr. Sunder’s words don’t give you pause, perhaps that’s because you, like so many of her patients, view noninvasives as a sort of get-out-of-surgery-free card. “It’s a real challenge to get people to understand the seriousness of the commitment they’re making with nonsurgical treatments,” she says. “They’re not thinking that they’re ever going to be a surgical candidate. But fast-forward two or five or 10 years—and, suddenly, they are.” <\/p>

The hidden effects of devices and injectables<\/h2>

Only recently have doctors begun alerting patients to this potential downside of no-downtime tweaks—which is not to imply they’ve been deliberately withholding. It’s more that certain knife-free treatments have now been around long enough for such consequences to come to light as a percentage of their loyal users has inevitably aged into surgical territory, allowing surgeons a firsthand glimpse at the below-the-skin changes sparked by some devices and injectables<\/a>.<\/p>

While supporting evidence is lacking in the literature, this topic is openly discussed at aesthetics meetings—and anecdotal reports abound. “I’ve been doing so many more facelifts<\/a> and neck lifts<\/a> on patients who’ve been through all of these minimally invasive procedures—and, in some cases, it’s like dissecting through concrete,” says New York City board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Lara Devgan<\/a>.<\/p>

Cut to thousands of readers, anxiously prodding their faces for evidence of petrified tissues. <\/em>Hands down, everyone—the effects likely won’t be obvious to anyone but the surgeon you allow into your face or body. In most scenarios, what surgeons report seeing upon entry is inflammation and internal scarring, incurred by various nonsurgical technologies. <\/p>

Which is, believe it or not, precisely what such treatments are designed to deliver. The goal is generally “to stimulate collagen production in the dermis, to gradually thicken and tighten the skin—and collagen is scar tissue,” explains Dr. Ashley Gordon<\/a>, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas. “Your skin’s response to nonsurgical treatments is always the same—inflammation and the creation of scar in order to heal.” Whether a treatment “works” by generating intense heat or cold or via some type of chemical or physical reaction, the skin registers all that manipulation as an injury in need of repair. <\/p>

While the collagen composing scars—its constitution and distribution—differs from the skin’s native supply, the scars and swelling generated by nonsurgicals are actually proof that you got what you paid for. And from the outside, your skin will appear a bit smoother, plumper, and firmer. But what lies beneath? A bit of a mess, according to our experts.<\/p>

As Dr. Gordon explains, “the face is made up of distinct, loosely connected layers. We refer to the area between these layers as planes. When performing a face or neck lift, we dissect in [those] planes—they’re considered our safety zones.” <\/p>

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What creams can lift and tighten the skin? Typically, none. To understand why, one needs to understand the multilayer structure of the face and anatomy of facial aging. . . . The loss of skin tone, elasticity, and plumpness may be, to some extent, addressed with facial creams, assuming active ingredients in those creams can get past epidermis, into dermis. . However, facial sagging in people in their 30s through 50s is mostly caused by the loss of fat in the deep and superficial fat compartments, by muscle loss and sagging, and only slightly – by the loss of collagen and elastin in dermis. . . Read more about anatomy of facial aging (clickable link in bio) https:\/\/www.maips.com\/facial_volume_loss_aging.html . . . . . #medicalaesthetics #facialaging #facecreams #faciallayers #faceaging<\/a><\/p>

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