If you are interested in restoring a youthful appearance without surgery, the natural results of Sculptra may be the perfect solution for you.

What is Sculptra Aesthetic?

Sculptra is not a filler.

Why start with what Sculptra is not? Many people think Sculptra is a filler, but it is more like Opposite Filler. If you google Sculptra, you will find prominent blog posts that refer to it as a filler. This is simply not accurate.

Sculptra is a powder that we dissolve in water for injection. It is made out of Poly-L Lactic Acid or PLLA. PLLA is absorbed and ultimately eliminated by the body over time. It has been used since the 1970’s, originally to make absorbable sutures for surgery. That’s 50 years of experience — more than any filler. During the 1990’s, Sculptra was introduced into facial aesthetics, originally to treat facial wasting associated with HIV lipodystrophy. It worked so incredibly well that it soon made its way to elective anti-aging treatments.

Sculptra works by stimulating the production of collagen in and under the skin, filling out areas of volume loss and tightening the tissues. The results are a very natural youthful appearance that slowly evolves over time. After injection we see a gradual improvement over 1-2 years. In contrast, when you place filler into the face, the body immediately starts to break it down, and it will be 100% gone in a year. That’s why Sculptra is the Opposite Filler. Sculptra is more of a long-term investment. Results are not immediate. If dermal filler is like renting a beachfront villa in Hawaii, Sculptra is like building a home there for the same price– it just takes a year to build.

What’s the treatment like?

Sculptra is dissolved in water first, usually a few days before it is used. Lidocaine is added to it to numb the areas being treated. We also use a topical anesthetic for the skin. There is minimal discomfort during the injections. The skin is then quite puffy from the water– which is absorbed over the next couple days after the treatment. Then the sculptra gets to work stimulating collagen. People often see a difference within a month or two– but the results keep happening over a 1-2 year time frame. Most people have 4-6 vials placed over 2-3 sessions about 1-2 months apart.

What areas can be treated with Sculptra?

Sculptra is my go-to treatment for temples. Hollowed out temples can really age your appearance. Sculptra is the safest solution for this area and is long lasting. Sculptra is great for augmenting the cheeks and lower face and works really well in softening the nasolabial folds and marionette lines. It can also be used to strengthen the jawline.

Who benefits most from Sculptra?

If you have volume loss in your face or temples, then Sculptra is a great option for restoring a youthful appearance to the skin. We often combine Sculptra with skin tightening treatments like Genius RF, since most of us have a combination of skin laxity and volume loss. These two treatments are the secret to our signature GlowLift. We love Genius and Sculptra because they both build your own collagen, yielding long-lasting results.

We have more information about Sculptra and Genius on our web site. If you have questions or would like to come in for a consultation, you can always call us or schedule online here.

By Kate Dee, MD

One and Done? Will I see results after just 1 treatment?

I get this question every day. “Will I see results after just one treatment?” Very few treatments in aesthetics have immediate results and almost none offer a “One and Done” answer. (OK maybe fillers. But those are temporary, and you’ll eventually need more!)

Think of maintaining your skin as like maintaining your body. The skin care products you use every day are like eating a nutritious diet. The procedures that improve your skin are like getting regular exercise. Will you have a six-pack after one rigorous work-out? No. Will you slim down after one virtuous day of salad and grilled salmon? No. Will you look like you’re 10 years younger after one skin tightening treatment? No.

Is doing one vigorous workout great for your body– yes. It is a great first step, but you have to work for a while to get into shape, and then you have to maintain your results with continuing effort. It is the same for your skin.

I have written a lot in this blog about collagen and the treatments that increase it. Let’s use skin tightening as an example. We need to build collagen in the skin to keep it thick and springy, to prevent wrinkles and sagginess. Each time we do a treatment like Infini for skin tightening, the skin cells that make collagen go to work for 4-6 months, then go back to sleep. In order to get your skin back in shape, we have to do a series of treatments, building on each one to get a slow improvement. We recommend a total number of treatments equal to the number of decades you have lived. So, at 50, we recommend 5 treatments (on average). We do this 4-6 weeks apart until we get the results we want. Give us a year and we can change what your skin looks like. Then after that, you must do something to keep those fibroblasts awake every 4 months for maintenance. This is a long term project. If you want instant results, this is not your procedure. But if you want long term results that don’t just dissolve away, then Infini is a great way to go. You will slowly age backwards while your friends and colleagues age forward. It is kind of amazing.

This is true of pretty much everything we do. Some procedures can show demonstrable results soon after the treatment, like laser hair removal. But will all the hairs be gone after 1 treatment? No. It takes 6-10 treatments for most people to clear the hair. The same is true when you treat sun spots with IPL or LaseMD. You can see some improvement after one, but you will need a series of 3 or more to make a significant difference.

If this resonates with you, come talk with me! Anyone can take your money and promise you one and done, if they have no intention of seeing you again. At Glow, we commit to our patients for the long haul. We will work on a treatment plan that works to keep your skin beautiful and healthy long term.

Here’s the most important thing I have to share with you: keep your fibroblasts awake!

OK, what do I mean? By the time you turn 30, the cells in your skin that make collagen and elastin go dormant. Collagen and Elastin are what keep your skin thick and springy– and resistant to gravity. And the fibroblasts that make them– they fall asleep and STOP making it. By age 30! And your body breaks down collagen 1-2% per year. So, for the rest of your adult life, the skin is thinning out. Often, by age 80, the skin is completely see-through. That’s because the dermis is gone.

This is why we suddenly notice in our late 30’s or early 40’s that our skin just does not look the same. It almost feels like it happened overnight. But in fact, by that time, it has been going on for a decade or more. You just don’t notice in the beginning because when you’ve only lost a few percent, it is hard to detect.

This is why it is so important— to Keep Your Fibroblasts Awake! This is totally possible. There are several easy treatments that poke at your fibroblasts and wake them up and stimulate collagen. Each time the fibroblasts respond with 4-6 months of collagen, and then they peter out. So the idea is to poke at them every 3-4 months to keep them awake and productive all year. You must at least make up for the 1-2% loss. That will preserve the thick, springy skin you already have. If your skin is already thin and starting to fall, you need more powerful treatments to thicken and tighten the skin. These treatments range in cost, benefits and downtime.

Microneedling with Growth Factor Serum or PRP

• Multiple channels are created into the dermis with tiny needles, and growth factors stimulate fibroblast activity to make collagen
• Benefits: Decreases fine lines and pore size, decreases acne
• Downtime: 1-2 days of redness
• Cost: $

LaseMD Fractional Laser

• Fractional non-ablative laser resurfaces the skin and heats the dermis to stimulate collagen
• Benefits: Decreases fine lines, wrinkles and pores, decreases pigment/sun spots
• Downtime: 1-2 days of redness, 1 day of mild swelling, 3-7 days of sandpaper skin (not visible)
• Cost: $$

Exilis Ultra

• RF and Ultrasound combine to heat the dermis and stimulate collagen and elastin
• Benefits: Thickens and tightens skin, decreases wrinkles and sagging skin
• Downtime: none
• Cost: $$

Infini

• Combines insulated microneedles and RF to cause coagulation and massive collagen remodeling of the dermis, also stimulates elastin production
• Benefits: Most powerful tool to thicken and tighten skin, decreases wrinkles and sagginess, reverses acne scarring
• Downtime: 1-2 days of swelling, 3-5 days of redness
• Cost: $$$