What Are Your Anti-Wrinkle Treatment Options?

Fine lines and wrinkles are a common concern among our clients. As we age, we lose tone and strength in our face, as well as fat, muscle and bone mass. On top of this, repetitive muscle movements create lines in our skin and our stores of collagen and elastin – two vital proteins that provide strength, structure and elasticity – are naturally depleted; this can be further accelerated with lifestyle factors such as sun exposure and smoking. As a result, our skin isn’t able to bounce back into shape as quickly as it once did, leaving us with wrinkles and lines, loose and sagging skin, and thin, crepey skin.

Although most of us aren’t looking to totally remove all signs of ageing, it is possible to soften these fine lines and wrinkles and simply just look great for our age and feel confident about our skin through a number of highly effective, non-surgical treatments. These treatments can be used as stand-alone treatments, however, they’re often used in combination with other treatments to achieve the ultimate result.

Below is a brief introduction to our anti-wrinkle treatment options, and you can find further details via the individual links. As we’re all unique, the treatment – or combination of treatments – that will be most effective will be unique to you. That’s why we always start with a full consultation, so we can recommend the best treatments for you to consider.

Skin-Tightening Treatments

Thermage® and HIFU, such as Ultherapy Prime, are two quick, non-invasive, skin-tightening treatments that stimulate collagen growth to create tighter, firmer and smoother skin and offer long-lasting results. Thermage uses mono-polar radio frequency technology customised to your specific concern, combining radio frequency energy with gentle vibrations and cooling bursts to offer a very comfortable treatment. Thermage can be used to treat on the eyelids, as well as your face and body. Thermage is ideal for those noticing their skin is losing its firmness and that other signs of skin ageing, such as wrinkles, are forming.

HIFU takes High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound energy and targets a precise depth in your skin to apply heat to. The heat the HIFU creates stimulates collagen and elastin production, jumpstarting your natural skin tightening, smoothing, and firming process. Not only do we treat wrinkles with HIFU, we often use this skin treatment to target our patients jawlines, tightening them and giving them back some of the definition around this area which, as I’m sure you can imagine, is very popular!

Laser Treatments

There are many different types of laser treatments; some that create a type of controlled injury, or ‘thermal injury’, which stimulates the skin into repairing and rejuvenating itself, boosting collagen production and resulting in improved skin tone and softened lines. Other lasers are called ‘cold lasers’ that don’t create any type of thermage injury but still have a rejuvenating effect, as well as other benefits such as reducing inflammation-ideal too for those with rosacea or acne, for example. Each laser type has its place and your practitioner will be able to guide you towards the most suitable ones for you.

Laser treatments can be highly effective at tackling fine lines and wrinkles and we offer a variety of safe, clinically proven laser treatments at our skin clinic that can be delivered as a single treatment or – as often required – a course of treatments. Fraxel and Clear and Brilliant both use fractional laser technology. Fractional lasers work by breaking up the laser energy into microscopic zones, enabling the treatment to target tiny fractions of the skin, while leaving the surrounding tissue untouched, which promotes rapid healing; this development in laser treatments was much welcomed by the industry as fractional lasers provide a GREAT alternative to fully ablative lasers, which were available before fractional, and carry much less risk and recovery time, whilst still being very effective.

Alternatively, Regenlite is a pulse dye laser that allows us to target various skin concerns through different wavelengths of laser energy, such as stimulating collagen production to treat loose skin and wrinkles. Regelinte doesn’t go as far as creating a thermal injury, as Fraxel and the Clear and Brilliant laser does, rather it stops just before that point and stimulates collagen production.

Additionally, we offer a ‘cold laser’ treatment called Byonik and were only the third clinic in the UK to offer the treatment. Byonik laser uses revolutionary cold laser technology, triggered by your pulse, in combination with hyaluronic acid and antioxidants to wake up your collagen and elastin and deeply hydrate the skin, plus much more; I suggest you visit the Byonik link above to see all the amazing things this laser does-all without recovery time post-treatment.

Micro-Needling Treatments

Derma FNS is a micro-needling treatment during which multiple tiny electronically powered needles pierce the skin. Creating these tiny, controlled wounds stimulates the production of new collagen and the ageing, damaged tissue is replaced with fresh, new skin cells. Micro-needling is not only great for helping to prevent and correct lines and wrinkles, but also treating scarring and stretch marks (much like our Fraxel Dual laser). Also via micro-needling – or alternatively very fine, superficial injections – you can deliver Mesotherapy. Mesotherapy infuses the skin with a cocktail of powerful skincare ingredients, specifically chosen for your concerns, directly into your areas of concern. This versatile treatment is tailored to your needs and can help correct concerns such as fine lines or ageing hands.

Injectable Treatments

There are a diverse variety of injectable treatments available – and it’s important to remember that not all of them work in the same way. Wrinkle-relaxing injections are what most people first think of first when we say injectable treatment. Effective on expression lines – the lines that appear when your muscles move – wrinkle-relaxing injections use a naturally found protein, Botulinum Toxin, to temporarily soften the intensity of these muscle movements. If you would like to soften more static lines and wrinkles – lines such as those between the nose and mouth – Dermal Fillers are an option that can offer immediate results. We use hyaluronic acid-based fillers that are administered strategically to smooth wrinkles and, if required, build volume in areas that have lost it such as the cheeks or tear trough. The hyaluronic acid, which is found naturally in our skin and is replicated in a gel form for filler treatment purposes, acts like a sponge, retaining large amounts of water to keep the skin plumped and soft; so not only can they help with signs of ageing, they also help to rehydrate your skin. A good tip, if you’re thinking of having dermal fillers, is to ensure you’re well-hydrated prior to having your treatment.

Also note, if you’re having these injectable treatments for cosmetic purposes, in the UK you must be over the age of 18 to have them.

SuneKos and Profhilo® are two revolutionary, award-winning injectable treatments that also use forms of hyaluronic acid, but they are entirely unique forms of hyaluronic acid that work in different ways to Dermal Fillers; they are much thinner and runnier in consistency and not designed to fill or build volume in the way filler does.

SuneKos uses a patented formula that combines amino acids with hyaluronic acid. Usually a four-session treatment, SuneKos deeply hydrates and plumps the treated tissue, leading to a process called ‘dermal biogenesis’, which boosts elastin and collagen and helps to reduce wrinkles. SuneKos is often used around the eye area to regenerate it, as well as the face.

Profhilo uses a slow-release, honey-like hyaluronic acid which, when injected, disperses throughout the treated area to stimulate a ‘bio-remodelling’ response. This results in new, better-quality collagen and elastin and regenerates the tissue, leading to firmer, tighter and brighter skin – a process likened to switching your skin’s ‘lights’ on.

Please note that at our skin clinic, injectable treatments will only ever be performed by fully trained, experienced medical practitioners.

Thread Lift Treatment

A minimally invasive alternative to facelift surgery, Thread Lifting involves the careful placement of medical-grade threads into your skin. Once the threads – which are routinely used in cardiac surgery and will gradually break down over time – are in place, your practitioner gently tightens them to subtly lift your skin. A single treatment, Thread Lifting gives immediate, natural-looking results (more natural-looking and less dramatic than a surgical face lift); however, as the threads stimulate collagen and hyaluronic acid production, you will further see plumper, smoother and brighter skin in the treated area in the months that follow.

If the Thread Lift is a treatment that you’re interested in, it’s worth noting that it is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) meaning only medical practitioners that are CQC registered should be offering you this treatment. Nevertheless, many people offering the Thread Lift do not have this registration, so before commiting to a treatment please research your clinic to ensure your safety -you can directly search the CQC website which will tell you if they’re registered with them.

If you’re interested in finding out what anti-wrinkle treatments could be right for you, contact us to book a consultation at our CQC-registered clinic in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Our market-leading treatments are carried out by our highly experienced medical and aesthetic practitioners, so you can rest assured that honest advice and outstanding patient care and support – as well as natural, healthy-looking results – is always our priority.

Disclaimer: This blog is not to be used for diagnostic purposes. We are all unique which means that our results, recovery and suitability for any type of treatment will vary. Always seek the advice of a professional should you have any health or cosmetic concerns or to discuss treatments specifically for you.