Current Trends in Treating Aging Skin

Every year it becomes harder to keep up with the new, innovative and sometimes revolutionary approaches to treating aging skin. Doctors and aestheticians were asked what they thought were the trends in 2018 and their responses were illuminating. Eleven of the newest trends include:

• Bespoke in-office treatments: Doctors are using and combining different treatment modalities to deliver results. For example, the Fotona PIANO Mode laser is being used to increase heat before injecting Kybella. Better results were achieved with less product.
• Treating lines before they surface: Younger people are not waiting for lines to appear before treating them. They are injecting neurotoxins, such as Botox, before lines become apparent.
• Nonsurgical trends: New and improved technologies are being developed that shape, tighten, lift, erase and rejuvenate the skin, including procedures such as fat melting and body sculpting, offer many options to patients. For more dramatic changes, plastic surgery for breasts and body contouring is still in demand.
• Bacteria-laden skin care: Although this is a newer field, some patients see major improvement in skin texture with probiotic skin products. These products promote the growth of healthy bacteria in the skin and maintain the natural skin flora.
• Micro-Botox: Micro-Botox is injected superficially in the dermal layer of the skin and in smaller quantities than the normal Botox treatment. It helps to decrease pore size, smooth skin and decrease oil production. It also stimulates the body’s production of collagen and is a very popular procedure in Europe.
• High-Def liposuction: This procedure consists of traditional liposuction with additional contouring around the muscle groups in the abdomen to enhance their appearance.
• Reliance on our own bodies: There has been an increase in the use of growth factors, nanofat or PRP for rejuvenating skin and enhancing hair growth. These products stimulate our own cells to naturally reverse some signs of aging. Small amounts of fillers are injected into and under the skin, including fat transfers to reduce volume loss in a facelift and Placement Rich Plasma (PRP) for building collagen, cell growth and better hair health.
• Fillers are being used more often than traditional rhinoplasty surgery to correct or camouflage areas with imperfections, although it cannot be used to make a nose smaller.
• Threads: Lifting a face with threads is a new and improved procedure. The thread material stimulates collagen growth and when the doctor places the thread and drapes the skin over it, the profile immediately looks lifted and improves over time.
• Vaginal rejuvenation: This is a relatively new technique accomplished by using lasers that help to tighten skin by stimulating collagen, providing patients with medical and cosmetic benefits.
• Treating areas on the legs and arms is becoming more popular than treating the face. Radio-frequency energy works well to tighten loose skin, as does the injectable Sculptra. Kybella injections are effective for areas of fat that are too small to be treated with liposuction, such as the area above the knee.

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