Who are NOT Candidates?
(i) Post-menopausal women who have not received hormone replacement continuously since menopause. Without ongoing hormone support following natural or surgical menopause, skin thinning and loss of elasticity are irreversible and are no longer amenable to our intervention.
(ii) Regular smokers. Smoking creates irreversible, cumulative tissue damage. We cannot repair the fragile, deeply wrinkled skin and muscle atrophy caused by smoking.
(iii) People suffering from the following facial conditions: eczema, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, discoid lupus, scleroderma, facial palsy or paralysis, skin cancer.
(iv) People who have received Botox® injections within the past 3 months, or who intend to receive such treatments in the future. Botulinum toxin paralyzes muscle fibres, whereas our approach is the reverse: strengthening and building muscle.
Our professional opinion and deeply held conviction is that muscle paralysis is a totally counter-intuitive and irrational approach to facial rejuvenation. Use of injectible, neuro-muscular blocking agents may temporarily reduce wrinkling, but at the expense of causing potentially devastating muscle atrophy to the small muscles of the face. A face repeatedly injected with Botulinum toxin suffers not only loss of muscle fibre numbers and thickness, but also depletion of neuro-muscular junctions which may never return. As facial muscles atrophy, not only does animation disappear but the face visibly flattens. In a frontal view the cheek area is no longer round; it appears sunken to the point of resembling melted wax. Hollows under the eyes expand as cheek muscles droop. Because there is less underlying bulk, but the same amount of overlying skin, the skin sags. Then a facelift is recommended, but unfortunately surgery is only a partial fix.
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