Ever considered having a nose job, but felt worried about surgery or the recovery from surgery? Dermal fillers can be used to shape or straighten the nose and make it more proportionate to the rest of the face.

To see our video on non-surgical nose shaping click here

Allergan have released a new version of one of their dermal fillers to help reduce the discomfort associated with the procedure.

The actual filler is unchanged (filler type J and JU+), but it is now mixed with lignocaine, a fast acting local anaesthetic, so that it literally numbs the areas as it is injected.

It is a good alternative to having a nerve block in the treatment area for those who don’t want to be numb for hours.

For example, treatment of the cheeks with dermal fillers might usually require a nerve block to numb the cheeks prior to injection with filler. Instead, with this new filler, it is possible to avoid a nerve block as it has local anaesthetic pre-mixed with the filler so it numbs as it is injected. The initial few needle pricks can be disguised with local anaesthetic cream or ice as required.

* Due to TGA restrictions, the name of the actual filler cannot be mentioned

Sometimes, when a new technology emerges, we forget old methods and assume that ‘newer is better’.

However, this isn’t always the case!

Acne scars have been treated with a procedure called skin needling (or Roll CIT – or colllagen induction therapy) for many years. This procedure involves rolling over the affected skin with a cylindrical roller that has multiple fine needles protruding from the roller. By making multiple fine punctures in the skin, the skin is forced to produce new collagen and this leads to an improvement in scarring or wrinkles.

We have recently update our page on skin needling with a patient diary.
To view this, click here.

Fractionated lasers have been a more recent innovation that can also help improve acne scars, but is the newer option the better one? In a similar manner to skin needling, fractionated lasers create multiple small injuries to the skin to stimulate new collagen production.

However, there are various differences between skin needling and fractionated lasers and these include;

• Deeper penetration depth with skin needling vs fractionated lasers. Our skin needling heads use 3mm needle lengths, whilst most fractional lasers only penetrate to a depth of 1.4mm. With greater penetration depths, deeper acne scars can be treated and more collagen stimulation can occurs
• Less treatments required with skin needling – as a result of a more aggressive treatments, there may be less treatments required with skin needling. However, the total downtime may be less. If it takes 2 weeks to recover from one skin needling treatment, and 5 days to recover from a fractionated laser treatment, the total downtime may be less if only 1 skin needling treatment is required to match the results from 3 to 5 fractionated laser treatments
• Less risk of hyperpigmentation with skin needling – as there is no heat energy involved and no thermal injury to the skin, even darker skin types can be treated with skin needling with much less risk of hyperpigmentation (darker areas on the skin after treatment) than fractionated laser treatments.

Many of us fear going to the dentist. Thinking about that shiny metallic syringe heading towards the mouth can worry even the bravest of people.

Thankfully, some clever people have designed a machine called ‘The Wand’. This is a machine that helps to deliver local anaesthetic injections slowly and precisely, thereby minimising any pain from these injections.

Initially it was designed for use by dentists, but has since been used by other health care professionals such as doctors for the delivery of local anaesthetic for medical/cosmetic procedures. At The Victorian Cosmetic Institute, we have recently taken delivery of several ‘Wands’ to help minimise any pain or discomfort from local anaesthetic injections. We commonly use local anaesethetic injections for numbing areas of the face prior to the injection of dermal fillers. For example, the lips are usually numbed prior to injection with a dermal filler.

The pain that is associated with the injection of local anaesthetics is usually due to the expansion of tissues as the local anaesthetic is infiltrated in. The faster the rate injection, the faster the rate of tissue expansion, and the more pain that is felt. The Wand allows the local anaesthetic to be infiltrated at an extremely slow rate – much slower and much more controlled than possible with most human hands.

Furthermore, the appearance of The Wand’s handpiece is like a pen rather than the usual metallic syringe seen at the dentist.

So for all those with a fear of needles or the dentist, this is a great alternative to the usual methods of local anaesthetic delivery.

A recent survey performed by the American Society of Plastic surgeons has found the impending recession to have caused people to delay plastic surgery and consider non-surgical cosmetic procedures such as anti-wrinkle injections, dermal fillers, and laser skin treatments.

The association surveyed 100 women who were considering plastic surgery in March and then again in October and found that 59% said recent changes in the economy have had an impact on their plans for plastic surgery, compared with 50% in March. Also, 48%, of women surveyed during October said that the economic slowdown had made them less likely to book a consultation with a cosmetic surgeon, a marked increase of 18% since March, when 30% felt that way.

Possibly the most significant result for the aesthetic medicine industry, however, is that 27% said they were considering less expensive options, compared with 20% earlier in the year.
Richard D’Amico, ASPS president, commented, “It appears more consumers are choosing the less invasive cosmetic procedures, both to give them a boost or to buy time if they need to postpone a more costly invasive surgical procedure because of the economic downturn.”

In a concurrent survey among its surgeon members, ASPS discovered that while 62% reported a decrease in plastic surgery procedures performed, some 73% reported an increased or stable demand for procedures such as anti-wrinkle injections, chemical peels and dermal fillers.