Did you know that there are treatment options available to fight against the “3 D’s of Aging” – descent, deflation, and degeneration?
Everyone wants to look their best, whether it’s for personal or professional reasons. Many people spend a great deal of time deciding upon what clothes to wear, exercising to stay in shape, or keeping up on current topics and trends to bring up in conversations. However, quite a few individuals overlook one of the most important features in how they are perceived by others: their face.
While eyes may be considered windows into one’s soul, the face of a person is how they present themselves to the world. Yet such an image could be false. A person may be cheerful and optimistic, but their face may not reflect that if they are afflicted with drooping eyelids, ponderous jowls, or a haggard expression. Experienced cosmetic surgeons like Dr. John Burroughs of Colorado Springs know that aging can have a profound influence upon the shape and character of one’s face. In fact, they often discuss the 3 D’s of aging that negatively impact us as we age: descent, deflation, and degeneration.
It is no secret that our skin changes as one gets older. Tone and elasticity decrease, wrinkles begin to slowly show, and age spots begin to appear. While such skin changes can be hidden for the torso or legs, there is little one can do to hide the ravages of time that impact the face. Of course, people fight long and hard to turn back the clock. In 2015, a full $2.05 billion was spent on anti-aging skin care products. (1) Billions are also spent on makeup that can only partially conceal these aging changes. Eyelid surgery conducted to create a more youthful gaze ranked in the top five surgical procedures in 2015, garnering a total of 169,708 procedures. (2) As one can see, people recognize that their face is a tremendous asset, which is why so much effort goes into striving for a youthful and energetic appearance.
However, licensed medical professionals, such as Dr. John Burroughs, Medical Director of Springs Aesthetics, know that time is an implacable foe. As we grow older we suffer the 3 D’s of aging: descent, deflation, and degeneration. Deflation is the loss of volume that occurs naturally over time, which normally results in one looking older and more haggard. Descent is the falling of facial features such as the jowls, cheeks, eyebrows, and eyelids that often occur due to this loss of volume. Degeneration is the change in appearance in one’s skin, such as wrinkles, displeasing pigmentary/textural changes, and redness. Such changes can occur due to genetic factors, but one of the most common factors for degeneration is exposure to the sun. This is why the American Academy of Dermatology always recommends that a person wears a broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher when going outside. (3)
While many people look for over-the-counter aids to combat the effects of time, cosmetic surgeons, such as Dr. John R. Burroughs of Colorado Springs, know that there are proven treatments to combat the 3 D’s of aging. These treatments, known as the “Holy Trinity,” encompass combination therapies for Color, Contour, and Laxity to improve one’s facial appearance to a more youthful countenance. The actual treatments used to fight the 3 D’s of aging are Fraxel Skin Resurfacing (Fractora), Thermal heat tightening (Forma), and Photofacials (Lumecca), and each procedure features a history of proven results. Both Fractora and Forma are radio frequency (RF) treatments. Fractora works by delivering radio frequency energy through an array of pins on the device to the skin, which produces localized heat and small micro-lesion dots. Collagen restructuring is promoted in the sub-dermal tissue by this gentle heat, and this restructuring leads to a greatly improved appearance. Fractora is proven to work on minimizing the appearance of scars, wrinkles, fine lines, and even red and brown skin tones. It is safe to use on the entire face and neck. Forma is a non-invasive RF skin remodeling tool that also targets sub-dermal tissue to increase and remodel collagen as well as providing optimal skin contraction. This process remolds the collagen strands that have become compressed, due to age and other factors, into tighter lines resulting in improvements to the texture, lines, and wrinkles of one’s skin. The effects can be dramatic when applied to the jawline and neck area, tightening the skin and countering the effects of years of aging.
The third and final member of the “Holy Trinity” against the 3 D’s of aging is Lumecca. Aesthetic physicians, such as Dr. John Burroughs of Colorado Springs, use this intense pulsed light (IPL) procedure to selectively target and treat various skin conditions. Lumecca uses an intense beam of bright light to gently vaporize and ablate skin tissue issues in order to restore a more youthful appearance. Lumecca is incredibly effective in treating age spots, rosacea, freckles, and skin imperfections caused by the sun. Fractora, Lumecca, and Forma combine into a mighty trio to reverse the effects of descent, deflation, and degeneration on one’s face as they grow older.
Dr. John Burroughs, Medical Director of Springs Aesthetics, notes, “While there is a lot that a person can do to stave off the effects of growing older on their facial appearance, time catches up to all of us. Skin loses elasticity, tone, and collagen volume over time, causing an older and unhealthy appearance as features droop and sag. Fortunately, technological innovation has led to some great treatments that can counteract the 3 D’s of aging. While Lumecca, Forma, and Fractora are all tremendous procedures in their own right, they become an unbeatable team when combined together. These treatments allow us to wage a multi-pronged attack on the effects of descent, deflation, and degeneration in order to take years off a patient’s face. Even better is that the treatments are generally pain-free to only minimally uncomfortable and have none to almost no downtime depending upon the modality used and the patient’s individual needs.” (4)
One’s facial appearance is incredibly important as it serves as the conduit for social interaction. Time, sun damage, and genetics can take a toll upon a person’s appearance, causing them to look much older than they actually are or suggest a sour temperament that is not truly the case. Experienced medical professionals, such as Dr. John Burroughs and his team at Springs Aesthetics of Colorado Springs, can administer modern treatments, such as Fractora, Lumecca, and Forma, to counteract the ravages of time to one’s face and restore a more youthful appearance by targeting the 3 D’s of aging in a coordinated manner. Results can be sustained by undergoing the “Holy Trinity” maintenance procedures on a scheduled basis and by a proper skin care regimen that can include cosmeceuticals, sun protection, and dermal infusion microdermabrasion (Silk Peels).
References:
1) http://www.statista.com/statistics/312336/us-anti-aging-skin-care-sales/
2) http://www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com/statistics.html
3) https://www.aad.org/media/stats/cosmetic-treatments
4) Quote from Dr. John R. Burroughs, Ophthalmic Plastic Surgeon in Colorado Springs