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  • From Fillers to Lasers: Non-Surgical Skin Tightening Treatments
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Hi, I'm Dr. Dan Shapiro, plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and I've been practicing plastic surgery here in the Scottsdale Paradise Valley area since 1992 and I only perform cosmetic surgery.

A lot of what I do is facial rejuvenation or face lifts and things like that. And those are things that make people look younger. People come in and want to know what can be done that is non-surgical to make my face tighter.

The main thing to understand is we don't want to do something that doesn't look natural and something does not look more attractive. The main things that can be done in terms of making the skin look tighter, in terms of treatment, is sometimes just some soft tissue fillers can be used to make that skin look tighter, and thereby adding volume. There are multiple things that we can inject whether it be Restylane, Juvederm, Sculptra, there's Radiesse, and there's a new soft tissue filler called Voluma.

Another thing that can be done that I do personally is fat transfer or fat transplantation of the face. And I think as long as someone doesn't have too much lax skin, the fat transfer can actually make the face look tighter and more youthful.

Many time people come in and feel as though they don't want to pursue surgery at all, even fat transfer and want to know what can be done non-surgically to tighten their skin. The mainstay of my practice would be some laser resurfacing. That can be done in conjunction with those soft tissue fillers and really provide a very, very nice result.

How the laser resurfacing works, whether it be fractional which is not complete laser resurfacing or full face laser resurfacing, is what is done is it causes inflammation in the skin with collagen deposition. That will smooth the surface of the skin and actually make the collagen grow more and seem tighter.

The more aggressive laser resurfacing lasts longer, although the down time is about a week or so. The more abbreviated type which we call profractional laser or Fraxel generally has a recovery anywhere between one and four days. That is something that can be done multiple times during the year and actually can make the skin look tighter. It can improve the pigmentation and overall give that fix that people are looking for.

When you go in and ask your doctor with regards with what can be done for skin tightening, make sure that it is a treatment that has real improvement. That's something that you can see so you're not disappointed. There are many treatments out there in the market today that I don't think they are long lasting and I think people may be disappointed with them.

Have that honest discussion with your plastic surgeon and ask what can be done. Thank you.

From Fillers to Lasers: Non-Surgical Skin Tightening Treatments

Dr. Daniel Shapiro's younger patients often come in curious about non-invasive methods to tighten the skin and rejuvenate the face.