Océane Medical Aesthetic and Wellness - Hauppauge

A: This is where Bellafil does well. I recommend Bellafil for patients who have already had HA (Hyslauronic acid) fillers and want something longer lasting. If you have never had a filler injected, you may do better with one of the shorter lasting fillers (1 yr or so) and see if you like the result. If you do, then move to Bellafil. Bellafil cannot be easily removed, do you want to make sure that you will be comfortable with the results.

A: the physicians below addressed this pretty well. I have not been particularly impressed with the results that I saw from laser resurfacing of the skin for acne scarring. For the "rolling" type of acne scars - wide, faint gradual borders, Bellafil works nicely. It is not for punctate, "ice pick" scars. Bellafil restores volume whereas a laser does not.

A: I agree with the answers given below. While I am seeing some encouraging results (early so far) with non-surgical radiofrequency skin tightening for the breasts, massive weight loss usually results is such dramatic loss of skin elasticity and loss of firmness to the breast tissue itself (gland and fatty tissue inside the breasts), that radiofrequency treatments will be useless to treat this.

Surgery is usually the best way to approach this, and for massive weight loss in particular, most commonly I prefer what is called a "dermal suspension and parechymal reshaping" procedure, as first described by Peter Rubin. In these cases, there is no way around surgery and you must accept the scars, but when combined with mesh for internal support of the breast tissue, I find the results to be excellent.

A: I am a big proponent in this area. It is important to have a consultation from a surgeon experienced in this procedure as many women are not good candidates for it. This is best for individuals with mild to early-moderate skin excess/laxity. It will not treat excess fat (need liposuction). However, for those who are good candidates for this, it is a nice way to go. You will not have the same degree of tightening as with an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) but if you are against surgery, this may be for you.

The best technology at the current time (in my opinion) is BodyTite. I believe this to be an improvement over the previous ThermiTight. I have used both of these technologies. It is essentially radiofrequency energy "injected" under the skin using a subcutaneous probe. I believe that this has surpassed laser technology which does not reach the target tissues with the same degree of energy and efficiency.

One note of caution - this will probably not do much for stretch marks, but then again, I have not been impressed with anything else I have seen for this problem, either.

A: Dr. Petti below gives some excellent suggestions and repeating them here is not necessary. 

However, I would add the following to her answer:

The trend is now away from lasers and towards radiofrequency to tighten skin. It better addresses not only the dermis, but the underlying subcutaneous tissue and fascial network as well, which is essential to get the best tightening of the skin. 

For a few years, I have used ThermiTight for this, however, there is more superior technology available. FaceTite (inMode corp) is the best technology available to tighten the skin of the neck and around the jawline. This can be done under local anesthesia, takes about 30 minutes and requires only a few needle punctures in the skin. Downtime is minimal.