Wrinkles/Rhytids Treatment
Whether you’re just beginning to notice the development of wrinkles, or if you think the time is right to address your existing ones, the team at IDI offers specialized treatments designed to help patients significantly improve the texture, appearance, and health of their skin.
What are Wrinkles?
Wrinkles, clinically known as rhytids, are skin creases that gradually appear as the result of a number of environmental and genetic factors. While there are numerous effective lifestyle strategies and techniques for reducing the risk of developing them, once they’re deeply established, they can only be removed using dermatological or surgical intervention.
The overwhelming majority of people will develop wrinkles in old age. Nevertheless, the process can be forestalled considerably if certain lifestyle choices are avoided. These include:
- Smoking
- Heavy alcohol consumption
- Tanning
Maintaining a consistent, healthy weight can reduce the risk of skin laxity. Additionally, enjoying a diet rich in fruits and vegetables with antioxidant compounds is thought to help facilitate skin cell regeneration and inhibit wrinkle development.
However, while it might be possible to slow the development of wrinkles with diet and lifestyle choices, repairing and smoothing already wrinkled skin requires a different set of tools.
Treatment Options
The optimal treatment for wrinkles will depend upon your skin type, the severity/depth of the wrinkles, and your skin elasticity.
For early signs of wrinkle development, certain dermatological treatments may yield excellent results. These include:
- Deep chemical peel:Deep chemical peels can be effective in minimizing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. This is the application of strong glycolic or salicylic acid solutions that minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by causing the top layers of skin to slough away, revealing the more youthful-appearing skin underneath.
- Dermabrasion:This is a controlled surgical exfoliation technique designed to plane away outer layers of skin.
- Laser resurfacing:This technology uses short waves of pulsating light to remove outer skin layers with a high degree of precision, uncovering softer, unlined skin. This technique is often used on patients who are more likely to experience hyperpigmentation or potential discoloration from using mechanical wrinkle reduction procedures.
Established wrinkles can be made to appear less severe using the above techniques. However, for deep creases and lines, there are injectable treatments that offer superior outcomes.
- Dermal fillers: These injectable hyaluronic acid solutions create volume while stimulating collagen production in the skin, which helps promote skin elasticity and lift. Fillers are particularly effective for the treatment of deep nasolabial folds (laugh lines).
- Botulinum toxin (Botox, Dysport): Botulinum toxin injections differ from dermal fillers in that they inhibit the overactivation of the facial muscles – they don’t “fill” lines and wrinkles. By relaxing the muscles, this solution significantly reduces facial tension that makes wrinkles more apparent. This not only is a great solution for targeting existing wrinkles, but it also helps slow down the development of new ones.
IDI offers a full spectrum of services designed to enhance your appearance and maintain the health of your skin. To learn whether these treatments could be right for you, please schedule a consultation today.