Clinique Arteplast

Chirurgie plastique et esthétique

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Aesthetic medicine

Aesthetic medicine includes a range of medical procedures to improve the physical appearance of a person by generally well tolerated and simple processes. When aesthetic medicine aims to correct the effects of aging we then refer to it as Anti-Aging medicine. All techniques and treatments used must be reliable, recognized by the appropriate societies and practiced by specialized doctors. Currently we are witnessing a surge of new procedures which have not yet demonstrated their effectiveness, which is why, it is therefore necessary to carefully choose proven procedures.

 

Botox:

Botulinum toxin, more commonly known as BOTOX, we use the brand, Vistabel. It is a very safe product which causes a temporary weakening of the muscles responsible for the ‘expression’ wrinkles and its effect lasts 5 to 6 months. Any first treatment is preceded by a thorough study of the face, its balance and its symmetry in order to customize the best dosages to use. Indeed each face is different, particularly in relation to the thickness of its skin and muscle tone, men requiring often more units for the same result. BOTOX is a wonderful product especially for wrinkles of the upper half of the face. It can be also used in the peribuccale area to correct the lowering of the corners of the mouth, the folding of the chin and also the hypertrophic muscle strips of the neck. However for small wrinkles around the mouth we should be very careful to avoid an expressionless mouth.

 

Filling techniques:

Used for many years, the wrinkles filler techniques respond to a therapeutic logic, namely to fill a defect of the dermis, which precisely constitutes the wrinkle. Over the years a number of different substances have been used (silicone, collagen etc...) and now we see that hyaluronic acid has emerged as the best absorbed product. In fact it almost never causes allergies, therefore requires no prior test and it is very reliable. Hyaluronic acid is excellent for filling wrinkles from the lower half of the face especially the wrinkles around the nose and mouth in the nasolabial grooves. With this product, it is also possible to correct a nose bump without surgical intervention by simply correcting the nasal ridge. It is less used on the upper half of the face because of the successful use of BOTOX in this area, but hyaluronic acid can easily fill small wrinkles at the corners of the eyes, and frown lines.

Another alternative to hyaluronic acid is filling the area with fat from the patient, this method is known as lipofilling and there are no allergic reactions. Under local anesthesia, some fat is taken from the knees, thighs or abdomen, it is then centrifuged and injected into the areas to be treated. This technique allows the treatment of nasolabial frown lines. It can also fill receding chins or sunken cheekbones.

 

Peels:

This is probably the oldest aesthetic medicine technique, it’s been used since the time of the Pharaohs of Egypt, when women used flaking substances to enhance the appearance of their skin. The goal of peeling is a "stripping" of the skin called exfoliation. This is to eliminate the dead cells from the superficial part of the skin, the epidermis. The peeling can be more or less deep depending on the substance used so that there are three types of peelings, superficial, medium, and deep. We prefer superficial and medium peels, which require less social exclusion and are consistent with the criteria of aesthetic medicine. These types of peels are generally used for the face but also have a good effect on hand stains.

 

Dermabrasion:

Dermabrasion involves sanding the skin using a type of rotary grinder that abrades the superficial layer. This process is mechanical and allows the fine wrinkles around the mouth to disappear. It can also be used for acne scars on the cheeks. The procedure is a day stay procedure carried out under local anesthetic and wound healing requires about ten days. It is often used during a cervico-facial lift because this procedure has no effect on peribuccal wrinkles.

 

Cryotherapy:

The working principle is the precise application of cold to the skin with a big pen equipped with a container of liquid nitrogen. In aesthetic medicine this technique is primarily used for age spots and other superficial stains. When applying the treatment a little pain is felt but disappears after a few minutes. Later a small blister will appear and will fall off after a few days taking the lesion with it.

 

Sclerotherapy:

With very fine needles it is possible to destroy the inside of small veins or arterial dilation with a sclerosing solution. In our experience even very small unsightly ''spiders veins'' can be eliminated virtually over the all the body surface and especially on the face and legs.