If you wanted your car to look newer, you’d probably polish the paint, chrome and glass; vacuum the carpet; and condition the leather seats. To give your home a boost, you might replace the siding, update landscaping, and get new window treatments. The same concept applies to facial rejuvenation. While there is benefit from any single treatment, the best results are usually derived from a carefully coordinated combination of services. Patients in the Stafford and Arlington, VA area have access to a full range of minimally-invasive options including Xeomin injections, at Washington Dermatology Consultants.
How faces age
A child’s face is plump and round. It has softly curving contours and smooth skin. That is the result of natural fat pads, plenty of internal hydration, and new skin with the elasticity to rebound from facial expressions.
Each of those aspects changes with age. Beginning in our early 30s, skin begins to lose foundation support as fat pads diminish. Eventually we also lose muscle and bone mass. The body’s production of hyaluronic acid, a carbohydrate that binds with water for internal hydration, slows down. So does production of collagen and elastin, proteins that keep skin resilient. Sun exposure, which accumulates over a lifetime, accelerates those changes. The combination leaves skin thin, dry, lax, and sagging into folds. Static wrinkles forms – those that are present even when the face is at rest.
Dynamic wrinkles are different. They develop over time from repeated expressions. For example, each time you purse your lips, squint your eyes, or frown, facial muscles tense. Those muscles pull overlying skin into creases. A child’s supple skin recovers as soon as muscles ease. In an adult’s skin, though, the lines remain etched.
An experienced dermatologist uses a combined strategy with injectable dermal fillers for volume loss and static wrinkles; and neuromodulators including Xeomin, Botox, and Dysport for dynamic wrinkles.
How Xeomin injections refresh Arlington, VA faces
A neuromodulator is a purified protein that is injected into skin at specific points. The prescription medication interrupts signals from nerves that tell muscles to tighten. Muscles relax, softening even deeply-established habitual expressions. Without the underlying tug, surface skin smooths out.
Expertly administered, neuromodulators result in a refreshed, natural appearance – NOT expressionless or immobile. With maintenance injections (treatment at intervals slightly before full effectiveness wears off) muscles lose strength. While you would not want atrophy in your biceps or legs, it is beneficial in the face. It helps to keep skin smooth, and retreatment requires less neuromodulator product with fewer injections.
What sets Xeomin apart
Since its introduction as an aesthetic treatment in 2002, Botox has become a household term for wrinkle reduction. While Xeomin, as an incobotulinumtoxinA, is similar, there are differences:
- Xeomin contains only one component – botulinum toxin A – with no additives.
- The human body does not tend to develop resistance to this pure form of the product.
- Protective proteins in Botox cluster around the active molecule making it heavier. Without protective proteins, Dysport is lighter so it disperses more fully.
- Change from Xeomin becomes apparent a bit more quickly; within about five days.
- Results from Xeomin can last several weeks longer than Botox – three to four months in total.
Neither product is better than the other, but each is appropriate for certain applications and areas of the face – Botox for precision, and Xeomin for diffusion into larger areas.
Alone or part of a comprehensive plan
Maybe your skin is in terrific condition, but you have “elevens” between your eyebrows, horizontal forehead furrows, or crow’s feet. Injections of Xeomin might be all you need to soften lines and brighten your look. However, if you also have hollows at the temples or cheeks, lines from the nose to corners of the mouth (laugh lines), or from the mouth to chin (marionettes), you may want to consider dermal filler injections, as well. Add chemical peels for softer skin texture and radiance. Light and laser therapies tighten skin and fade age spots for even tone.
Your skin can look youthful and revitalized with the right grouping of non- and minimally-invasive dermatology services – no scalpel required.
Schedule a cosmetic evaluation at Washington Dermatology Consultants to learn more about making Xeomin injections part of your personalized plan for rejuvenation. We have offices in Stafford and Arlington, VA, for your convenience. The number is 571-431-6175.
