Juvéderm Volift for Smile Lines


Posted on October 15th, by Helen in Blog, Dermatological Advice, Skincare, Treatments. No Comments

Juvéderm Volift for Smile Lines

Photo courtesy of Allergan

As a writer I tend to overuse parentheses. They allow me to convey side thoughts, sarcasm (since you can’t hear my tone), and (sometimes funny) inside thoughts.

Though when it comes to our faces, parentheses (also known as smile or laugh lines; in skin-speak they are called nasolabial folds) are no laughing matter. These are the lines running from the corner of your nose to the corner of your mouth the can become deep and very pronounced with age.

Why it happens:

Over time skin becomes thin and slackens as facial volume and skin elasticity – the ability for you skin to snap back when pinched – are gradually lost, resulting in deeply etched skin depressions and saggy skin around the lower face.  Blame it on a combination of sun exposure, genetics, and lifestyle choices.

Most women over the age of 35 are not happy about nasolabial folds, per recent recent. A 2013 survey conducted by Leger Marketing was done on 867 Canadian women between the ages of 30 and 60. The researchers asked the women which features made them look older than they felt, and one in five women said they were bothered by their smile lines.

Treatment:

Dermatologists inject hyaluronic acid (HA) right into lines to plump them, restoring facial fullness immediately. HA is a naturally occurring sugar molecule in the body that decreases after the age of 30. It holds water in the skin. In fact, HA is the jelly that lubricates our eyes and joints and it can hold 1000 times its weight in water (that’s why we refer to HA as a moisture magnet).

You can always count on a slew of new HA-laced products hitting store shelves in the Fall and winter months, as people anticipate the arrival of dry skin. However, topical application of HA is controversial, as many experts believe that it is not capable of penetrating the skin. Injecting it into the skin is more effective, they say.

Dr. Vince Bertucci, dermatologist and President-Elect of the Canadian Dermatology Association, says, “While anti-aging skin care products can address some of the signs of aging, like skin texture changes and fine lines and wrinkles, when it comes to volume loss and sagging skin, facial fillers are a better choice.”

I recently met with Dr. Vince Bertucci to get The Skiny on Volift with Lidocaine, the latest HA injectable by Juvéderm, an industry leader in facial fillers in Canada according to Medicard Financial, a company devoted to financing cosmetic procedures.

Currently, the Juvéderm Vycross collection consists of three HA gel facial fillers: Voluma for the upper face, Volbella for the lips, and the new Volift for the mid-face around the cheeks and mouth. All Juvéderm fillers contain numbness-inducing Lidocaine to ensure patient comfort.

Product-Range

The first thing Dr. Bertucci told me was that most real women do not want to look a cast member of the Real Housewives. Instead, “Women seeking non-invasive procedures want a discreet look. They want to look like themselves only less tired, less haggard. One of the biggest trends today is full facial rejuvenation. From cheeks to smile lines to lips, women want an overall refreshed, natural look. And fillers such as those in the Juvéderm Vycross collection allow us to treat multiple areas of the face together, and not in isolation.”

Dr. Bertucci describes Vycross technology as using “more efficient cross linking of long and short-chained HA molecules” which delivers the plumping effect with minimal swelling for the patient, and longer lasting results than the typical 3-6 months longevity of older facial fillers on the market. All three of the new-generation Juvéderm Vycross fillers last up to 12 months. The effectiveness of Juvéderm Voluma was recently hailed by Allure Magazine as one of the top Beauty Breakthroughs for 2014.

In terms of how each filler differs from the other, Dr. Bertucci explained that each Juvéderm filler simply has varying concentrations of HA. “Volbella has the lowest concentration as it’s used for the lips, a thin area. This results in less swelling and bumps. Voluma has the highest concentration of HA and the new Volift is a middle concentration.”

I visited our consulting cosmetic nurse Diana Phillips for her take on Volift. Like Dr. Bertucci, she is a full facial rejuvenation cheerleader and is revered for her natural-looking outcomes. Phillips is less prescriptive about where to use Voluma and Volift, stating that she customizes each treatment depending on the patient’s needs. I watched Phillips do a liquid facelift on a 52-year-old woman (who could pass for a 45 year old, no problem) using Botox and all three Juvéderm fillers. Phillips used Volift not only around the mouth but also to lift the woman’s eyebrow.

Juvéderm has, once again, created a versatile filler that will keep women smiling (without the parentheses problem).

Volift before and after

Cost: One syringe starts at $650.

Tips

 

Download the Juvéderm Visualizer 3D app to see what you could like if treated with fillers. Free on iTunes.





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