Thank you for your question. You’re asking how many times a year would you need the Vampire Facelift® to be done. I think this is a very important, and very common question.
A little background about myself: I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. I’ve been a longstanding member of the Vampire Facelift® Network of physicians and also a resource for media whenever the Vampire Facelift® topic comes up. I have a lot of patients who come to our practice who have this procedure.
It’s important to first understand what the Vampire Facelift® is. Briefly, the Vampire Facelift® was derived brilliantly by Dr. Charles Runels who came up with this name that became more viral than Botox®. It is based on the idea of your own blood used to stimulate your own body’s collagen and growth factors to make you look younger hence the “vampire” idea. What we are doing is using something called platelet-rich plasma (PRP) which is derived from your own blood, so that’s one part of the equation. PRP is responsible for giving skin a globally youthful glow, which is unparalleled - with so many of the injectable fillers we have, we can’t get that same glow as you can with platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
The facelift part is a little confusing. As a surgeon who does face lifting surgery every week, in the beginning I really felt uncomfortable with it because for me, a facelift is vertically lifting the face upward. Dr. Runels’ idea was really lifting the face outward, which is descriptive in its own way, but it’s in a different direction. It is consistent with the idea of restoring volume because one of the biggest parts of facial aging is volume loss. This typically involves the application of a single syringe of a hyaluronic acid filler such as Restylane, Juvederm or Belotero. The amount is up to the physician, with a single syringe being one milliliter (about a baby teaspoon), which is a very small amount. One syringe can be strategically applied in places like the outer aspect of the brow, the tear trough area, at the cheek, or at the outer corners of the mouth.
The idea was for the right person who is typically a woman with a relatively thin face in their mid-30s to mid-40s to try to get a bit of a nice enhancement, without being overly done, and utilizing two very effective ways to improve the appearance. I didn’t mention there’s an actual synergy between platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and hyaluronic acid which actually has a long-term benefit.
That said, the question is how often do you need to get it done? It depends a lot on your individual response. Like working out at the gym, everybody can lift the same amount of weight, but not everyone can build the same amount of muscle at the same time frame. There are people who get PRP as a standalone procedure, once every 3 months. In regions of South America, people will get PRP every month. As far as fillers are concerned, it’s also an individual thing because of how quickly the filler get metabolized. In our practice, people come typically twice a year. I think it’s a reasonable amount of time to get that one syringe of an HA filler and PRP every 6 months to maintain a certain look, and it typically is just about the bare minimum to maintain that look. It has become my observation for many years that the more maintenance you do in the younger years, when the time is right and appropriate, it actually has a beneficial effect long-term. PRP done strategically and with some relative frequency helps you keep looking younger, along with a constellation of other opportunities we have.
Meet with a Vampire Facelift® provider and see what is going to be the best approach for you, and learn and see what works for you, but treatments have to be individualized. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck, and thank you for your question.
