• acne scarring
• acne treatments
• birthmarks - brown
• birthmarks - port wine stains (red)
• facial volume loss
• fat deposit reduction
• freckles
• gynaecomastia / man boobs
• hand rejuvenation
• injectable lip enhancement
• IPL hair removal
• keloid / hypertrophic scarring
• laser hair removal
• laser skin treatment
• laser tattoo removal
• leg veins and spider veins
• male rejuvenation
• melasma
• neck rejuvenation
• non surgical facial shaping / lifting
• rosacea and facial capillaries/redness
• scarring
• skin analysis
• skin pigmentation
• skin resurfacing
• sweating - excessive
• total facial rejuvenation
• wrinkles

• anaesthesia/analgesia for procedures
• anti-wrinkle injections
• chemical peels
• dermal fillers
• hyaluronidase
• iontophoresis
• laser skin treatment
• laser - apogee
• laser - erbium
• laser -lumenis ultrapulse fractional CO2
• laser - gemini
• laser - general information
• laser - medlite
• laser - pulsed dye
• laser - ruby
• laser - smoothbeam
• led phototherapy
• lipodissolve
• liposuction
• make-up - aspect
• make-up - dermatology concepts
• make-up - glo minerals
• make-up - jane iredale
• make-up - rationale
• make-up - synergie minerals
• microdermabrasion
• mineral make-up - general information
• photodynamic therapy
• plasma skin regeneration
• platelet rich plasma
• radio wave skin surgery
• sclerotherapy
• skin care - asap
• skin care - aspect
• skin care - aspect dr.
• skin care - cosmedix
• skin care - results rx
• skin care - osmosis
• skin care - rationale
• skin care - ultraceuticals
• skin needling
• sunscreens
• TCA CROSS
• topical lightening agents
• topical retinoids

Total Facial Rejuvenation

What is total facial rejuvenation?

Total facial rejuvenation is a phrase that describes cosmetic treatment that addresses of all the aspects of the ageing process. By addressing all aspects of the ageing process, a more complete result can be achieved when rejuvenating the face. The effects of ageing on the face include;

• loss of facial volume
• skin sag
• expression line formation &
  
• general skin deterioration
• wrinkling
• formation of brown spots/pigmentation
• formation of visible blood vessels
  

These issues can be addressed with using mostly non-surgical techniques.

 

Treatment of facial volume loss

Loss of facial volume is one of the first signs of ageing, and can occur in areas such as the cheeks, around the eyes, brows, and lips. Replacement of facial volume can be achieved with the use of dermal fillers. Using dermal fillers, it is possible to replace the volume that has naturally been lost with time.

Dermal fillers can also be used to enhance and balance particular areas of the face, for example, it can be used to make a chin more prominent to make it balance better with the rest of the face. 

For those requiring larger amounts of volume replacement, or for those looking for a more permanent result, fat transfer is an option. This involves liposuction of an area on the body, such as the inner thighs or abdomen, and transferring this fat to the face to replace any lost volume there. It is more involved than simply having some dermal fillers, and it usually causes more bruising and swelling on the face. It may be suited to those who want to improve facial volume, and were going to have liposuction anyway.

The process of facial volume replacement for rejuvenation or enhancement is often termed 'non-surgical facial shaping'.

For more detailed information on this, click here. 

 

Treatment of skin sag

Skin sag is another aspect of facial ageing. Traditionally, this problem has been addressed with surgical procedures such as face lifting, brow lifting, or eyelid reduction surgery. However, facial skin sag, can also be addressed non-surgically with dermal fillers. Although dermal fillers do not tighten skin or lift skin, they can help to smooth the transition of one facial area to another. To explain further; the effect of gravity causes facial tissues to sag, and in doing so create transition lines in the face. For example, as the skin of the cheek sags, folds from the nose to the mouth (nasolabial folds) are created or deepened.   Smoothing the transitions between different areas of the face can be achieved by the injection of dermal fillers into the transition lines or folds. For example, by filling the under eye area (the tear troughs), the transition from the lower eyelid to the cheek is streamlined. Smoothing facial transitions results in a more aesthetically pleasing and refreshed appearance, and hides the effect of gravity on the skin.

Lasers can also be used to address the issue of skin sag. In particular, the carbon dioxide laser can be used to help tighten the skin. Although their primary use is for facial skin resurfacing to improve problems such as wrinkles, pigmentation and scarring, one of the benefits of carbon dioxide laser treatment is skin tightening. It does this by heating the skin (as well as removing a fine layer of skin). This causes contraction of the collagen fibres, which leads to skin tightening or skin 'shrinkage'. This is particularly evident in the eyelid skin (upper and lower), where an improvement in upper eyelid droop, and a general tightening of the lower eyelid is seen after treatment. The results, although not as significant the tightening achieved from surgery, have the added benefit of removing surface imperfections such as fine lines and brown marks, and may be better suited to those who want to avoid surgery.

For more information about the carbon dioxide laser, click here.

 

Treatment of expression lines

Expression lines are another part of the ageing process that can be addressed non-surgically. They are the result of contraction of the muscles of facial expression. With time, these can cause etching of lines in the skin, such as frown lines or crows feet. These are simply addressed with anti-wrinkle injections, which help to reduce excessive muscle activity and skin wrinkling.

For more information on anti-wrinkle injections, click here. 

 

Treatment of the skin surface 

Finally, the effects of cumulative UV exposure on the skin surface can lead to skin wrinkling, the formation of brown spots, and the appearance of broken capillaries.

Surface wrinkles on the skin that are etched in, ie they are present even at rest, are usually best treated with skin resurfacing. This is most commonly done with lasers such as the carbon dioxide laser or the erbium laser or even a combination of the two. These lasers actually ablate (vapourise) a very fine layer of the skin surface, allowing the skin to regenerate with fewer wrinkles. There is usually a week or two of recovery time, depending on the intensity of the treatment. The carbon dioxide laser also improves brown spots and general skin texture / tone.

Skin wrinkles can also be treated with less invasive methods, such as medical grade skin care (including topical retinoids) or other lasers such as the Medlite laser.  As a rule, the more invasive a treatment, the greater the downtime, and the greater the results. Therefore, lasers such as the carbon dioxide laser, which produce the most profound changes in skin, take the longest time to recover from.

Carbon dioxide and erbium lasers are classified as ablative lasers as they remove a layer of skin. However, lasers such as the Medlite laser, Ruby laser and Gemini laser are non-ablative lasers as they do not remove skin layers, but instead target a certain problem in the skin such as broken capillaries or brown spots, without removing skin. Each of these lasers have a specific attraction to a certain colour in the skin. For example, the Gemini laser at 532 nanometres is attracted to the haemoglobin (red) in broken capillaries. This allows the laser to hone in on the broken capillaries, and shut them down, whilst leaving normal skin intact.

Another example of this is the Medlite and Ruby lasers. These laser can be attracted to melanin (brown) in skin. Brown spots have an excess amount of melanin, and therefore these lasers can help to remove the brown spots in the skin as they are more attracted to the brown spots in the skin rather than the normal skin. This allows for specific removal of brown spots in the skin.

 

Case study  

This fit and healthy 57 year old female presented to The Victorian Cosmetic Institute for total facial rejuvenation. There is one month between the before and after photo shown below.

 

This patient had significant potential to achieve an excellent cosmetic outcome with non-surgical procedures. She required treatments to reverse all aspects of the ageing process including facial volume loss, expression lines, and the effects of gravity and UV radiation on her skin. Also having never had cosmetic procedures previously, she was a good ‘blank canvas’ to work on. The patient was given realistic expectations by us and with her easygoing nature, she was willing to go through with what was suggested. Firstly laser skin resurfacing was performed, followed by anti-wrinkle injections, and then dermal fillers. The laser skin resurfacing was complicated by a staphylococcal infection that resolved with oral antibiotics, and may account for some of the persistent redness seen in the ‘results’ photos which were taken about 1 month after the laser resurfacing. The anti-wrinkle injections and filler treatments were uncomplicated with no side effects and minimal bruising. The results achieved so far have certainly surpassed both our expectations and the patient’s, showing that non-surgical cosmetic procedures can sometimes achieve results that surgery alone cannot match. 

The patient's goals were;

• To improve the general quality of skin
• To achieve a general reduction in her facial wrinkles.
  
• To remove a few benign lesions from face (non-pigmented naevi/moles)
• To reduce expression lines, in particular her frown and forehead lines
• To replace lost facial volume. She feels her face has lost volume over the past few years, and her cheeks are less full than before
• and to avoid cosmetic surgery

To achieve her goals we performed the following treatments;

• Combined carbon dioxide (CO2) and erbium laser resurfacing of the full face - This was done under light sedation and local anaesthesic injections. Firstly treated her face using the Lumenis Ultrapulse CO2 laser. This laser has two handpieces, namely the Active Fx, and the Deep Fx. Both handpieces were used on this patient to achieve the best results. The Active Fx treats a larger percentage of the skin's surface, but does not penetrate very deep into the skin. It is good for fine surface wrinkles, skin contraction/tightening, pigmentation treatment, and skin texture. The Deep Fx conversely, treats a very low percentage of the skin's surface, but penetrates much deeper than the Active Fx to achieve deep tissue tightening, deep wrinkle reduction, and acne scar reduction (if applicable).
• Anti-wrinkle injections - were administered to the forehead, frown, crows feet, upper lip, and lower face to help reduce excessive contractions of muscles that lead to wrinkling.
• Dermal fillers - were administered to enhance cheek volume,  enhance lip volume, to enhance the chin projection and to smooth transition lines (e.g in the tear trough, jowls, nasolabial folds, brow)

Why choose The Victorian Cosmetic Institute as your provide of Total Facial Rejuvenation?

The Victorian Cosmetic Institute specialises in non-surgical methods to treat all aspects of the ageing process. By doing so, we achieve optimal results that look natural.

Making that first phone call about any cosmetic procedure can be a confronting task - many of our patients have preferred filling out our online enquiry form. We can then contact you with an understanding of the results you are hopeful of achieving and ensure the treatment is appropriate.