by Kate Dee, MD
How can you keep your skin looking young? Sometime around the age of 30, the fibroblasts in your skin go to sleep and stop making collagen and elastin. As you age, these substances in your dermis shrink away, about 1% per year. These are critical to keeping your skin thick and springy, and resistant to gravity. As it slowly thins out, it gives way to wrinkles and sagginess. How to prevent that?
The answer: microneedling with growth factors, which can wake up those fibroblasts! We use great topicals on our skin, like retinols and Vitamin C, which when absorbed well, stimulate collagen production. But those fibroblasts need a much bigger kick to get going. They’re dormant! We use a microneedling device that uses multiple tiny needles to penetrate into the dermis. This minimal injury causes your own body to stimulate healing and collagen production.
This procedure is made more robust with the use of powerful growth factors. We offer two different approaches. One is to use Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) to use the growth factors from your own blood to cause collagen production. I’ve written extensively in two previous blog posts on PRP here: (Part 1 and Part 2). This is known as the PRP facelift or the PRP facial.
Another approach harnesses the power of… Snails! Yes, really. Many years ago, in the early 1900’s, people observed that snails (Cryptomphalus aspersa) have the ability to heal from almost any injury in less than 48 hours. Snail secretions, containing growth factors, glycoproteins and antioxidants, have been studied for over a century now, and have been shown to help repair, maintain and protect human skin. After the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986, these powerful substances were used to heal the most severe radiation burns with tremendous success. Now, 30 years later, we use Biopelle tensage growth factor serum to stimulate a massive healing response in your skin. Biopelle has a powerful fibroblast stimulating growth factor that helps your dermis make collagen, with amazing results.
Our goal is to keep those fibroblasts awake and busy making collagen. One procedure causes a collagen response that lasts 4-6 months. We recommend a series of 3 treatments, 4-6 weeks apart. This way each time the fibroblasts get a bigger boost and continue making collagen longer. One series per year can keep your dermis in shape, able to spring back when gravity pulls. Biopelle is clinically proven to repair damaged skin, improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, increase elasticity, enhance and maintain texture, tone and luminosity.
Contact Dr. Kate Dee at Glow Medispa today for more information!
