Skin Care Products

Use antioxidant moisturizers that contain water-binding and anti-inflammatory ingredients like these:

• Amino acids and fatty acids
• Ceramides
• Sodium PCA
• Glycerin

Your lips are particularly vulnerable during this time of year.  Keep them soft and smooth with high quality lip balm. Look for ingredients that don’t block out moisture. Some of the best products contain ingredients like hemp oil, shea butter, Vitamin E and Beeswax. It’s also great to have SPF protection in the mix.

Extra Skin Care Steps

• Remember your sun protection!
• When your skin starts to feel tight, it might be time to reapply moisturizer.
  Exfoliate scaly areas with glycolic or salicylic acid for better penetration of moisturizer.
• Get a humidifier in your home.

To learn more about protecting your skin during the winter, join the mailing list of Birmingham cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro.

Around the globe, and especially in Spain, the beauty industry is actually growing. While some industries, like construction, are seeing decreases in demand, salon and beauty shop owners are seeing an influx of returning and new customers.

Many people credit a need to feel good about oneself as the reason for a boom in the beauty industry.

Salon manager Patricia Marquez knows the importance of personal care to her clients, saying, “A person needs to feel handsome, to feel comfortable with themselves. If they don’t look good it doesn’t matter what they do.”

Perhaps it is this desire, or even need, for personal upkeep that is causing the beauty industry in Spain to grow by 3% this year.

Even in times when other industries may be struggling, the “Lipstick index” still applies. The “Lipstick index,” as described by Estee Lauder founder Leonard Lauder, shows that even during an economic crisis, his customers bought more lipstick.

It’s safe to assume the “Lipstick index” applies to non-invasive cosmetic surgery stateside, as well. In an effort to look and feel their best, even if money may be tight, patients often choose non-invasive cosmetic surgery as a means of beauty upkeep.

Popular Options for Non-invasive Cosmetic Surgery

Injectable fillers like Restylane, Radiesse and Juvederm can fill lines around the mouth, while Botox treatments can diminish crow’s feet near the eyes. Treatments like chemical peels can also improve a patient’s overall complexion at a lower cost than more involved procedures.

To learn more about non-invasive cosmetic surgery and treatments to fit your needs, please email Birmingham cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro.

A chemical peel, which is a solution that can be applied to your face in your cosmetic surgeon’s practice, works to restore youth to the skin and remove surface impurities. By sloughing away dead and damaged surface skin cells, the chemical peel kick-starts your skin’s own rejuvenative processes. This allows fresh, clear skin cells to emerge.

What Are the Benefits of a Chemical Peel?

The many benefits of a chemical peel can apply to patients of varying ages and skin types. Patients most often choose chemical peel treatments for:

• Facial lines and wrinkles
• Uneven skin tone and texture
• Acne or blemishes
• Facial scarring

On top of these cosmetic benefits, chemical peels have added bonuses. The benefits of a chemical peel also extend to its cost-effectiveness. While injectable fillers can also be used to fill lines or depressed scars on the face, they must be retreated every six to 12 months. Meanwhile, the benefits of a chemical peel can last years on average.

Patients and surgeons understand the benefits of a chemical peel, like their ease of use. Because of the positive perception of chemical peels, they are a highly popular cosmetic treatment, following Botox and injectable fillers.

Chemical peels are prepared using different components and in varying strengths. Thus, chemical peels can be customized to meet the needs of many patients.

Unlike some other treatments, the healing time for chemical peels can be minimized, as needed. Though some other treatments may require several months of recovery, a patient can heal from a light chemical peel within a matter of several days. Medium or deep chemical peels, like those with phenol, may have healing times of several weeks.

To learn more about the benefits of a chemical peel in Birmingham, please email cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro.

The new hyaluronic acid dermal filler, which is called Belotero Balance, has been approved to treat moderate to severe facial wrinkles and folds. This includes nasolabial folds, the lines that run from your nose to the edges of your mouth.

Belotero Balance joins Merz Aesthetics family of non-surgical injectables, including Radiesse. Radiesse is a popular filler comprised of calcium-based microspheres in a water gel that works to restore lost volume in the face. Though its uses are similar to Belotero Balance, the new hyaluronic acid dermal filler works differently.

Like similar hyaluronic acid dermal fillers, Restylane and Juvederm, Belotero Balance works to restore lost volume to your skin by increasing its hydration. Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring hydrating component in your skin and these dermal fillers work to mimic it. When injected into the skin beneath the site of a wrinkle, a hyaluronic acid dermal filler provides a sort of scaffolding for depressed areas of skin, supporting them and improving the appearance of youth on the face.

To test the effectiveness of Belotero Balance, it was compared in a split-face study with a collagen-based filler. Using a scale that rates wrinkle severity, Belotero Balance was shown to provide a greater reduction in the appearance of nasolabial folds over 24 weeks. In fact, at the six-month mark, Belotero Balance still showed a greater correction of the wrinkles than its counterpart.

To learn more about your hyaluronic acid dermal filler options in Birmingham, please email cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro.

A study published in Psychology and Aging found that facial expressions play a large role in how people perceive the ages of others. In fact, individuals who were smiling in photos were thought to appear two years younger on average than the person’s real age.

Those with a neutral or angry expression on their face did not have the same perceived lower age.

Researchers thought the fact that the individuals who were smiling in photos were perceived to be younger may be due to facial lines. Though age can bring on smile lines around the eyes and mouth, the fact that these are present when we smile or laugh may mislead the eye. It can be difficult to discern if the wrinkles are permanent or temporary, and simply caused by smiling.

Even if you can’t make it in to your cosmetic surgeon’s office, smiling more often can be a great way to look younger, even if only a couple of years.

The study also found that the age of the person viewing the photos, relative to the subject also played a role in how they perceived the subject’s age. Subjects who were older had an age that was more difficult to discern. Additionally, a subject whose true age was near to the viewer’s age was more easily discerned.

In addition to appearing happier, a simple way to look younger may be a visit to your cosmetic surgeon for a non-surgical treatment, like Botox.

Email Birmingham cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro to find out more about Botox and other treatments.

Medicalization is the process by which some non-health related issues become diagnosed and treated as actual health conditions. This means everyday nuisances like thin eyelashes, gray hair or small wrinkles around the eyes become known as conditions that must be healed, rather than simply tolerated by a patient.

Some in the medical field take issue with the medicalization of cosmetic issues, saying the time it takes to reverse the signs of aging, for example, could be better spent. The worry also exists that though signs of aging may be unwanted for some individuals, they can also be seen as defining characteristics that should be cherished.

But what about cases where medical advances for health-related issues can bring advances in the cosmetic field, as well? If you review the history of some prescription medications, health and beauty are certainly not always mutually exclusive.

Latisse, a popular topical prescription for inadequate eyelash growth was originally produced for the treatment of glaucoma. Botox, which many patients choose to treat facial lines and wrinkles, was first injected to treat eye spasms.

For its part in testing prescriptions, the FDA does not distinguish between medical and cosmetic drugs, and uses the same standards for both. Though this may seem to muddy the definition of what drugs are capable of doing, leading to greater degrees of medicalization, this ensures that all prescriptions meet the standards of the FDA’s drug application process.

Also of note is the fact that almost all prescriptions have some side effects, however small some may be. To treat cosmetic issues, the patient must decide if possible side effects are a deterrent to treatment.

Throughout history, the definition of what is medically necessary to be treated has changed and will likely continue to do so, as medicalization increases. When it comes to treating any condition, it is up to the patient and his/her doctor to decide what treatments are appropriate and necessary.

To learn more about FDA approved, cosmetic treatments, please join the mailing list of Birmingham cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro.

These veins can often appear (in women more often than men) when a valve in the leg malfunctions, preventing blood from returning to the heart. While enlarged veins are often a cosmetic issue, varicose vein treatment options are sometimes medically necessary to treat pain and discomfort.

The two most common varicose vein treatment options include removing the enlarged vein through surgery, or closing it with a cosmetic laser.

Patients who underwent the more traditional stripping surgery saw a 23% recurrence of an enlarged vein, while those who had one of the varicose vein treatment options with a laser saw only a 16% recurrence rate.

The laser patients, however, were more likely to experience some pooling of blood on the legs near the site of the veins. Still, the cosmetic improvement from the laser treatment was rated higher.

As far as recovery, both varicose vein treatment options yielded similar healing times. Patients resumed many of their normal activities after a few days and were able to return to work after a week and a half.

To find out more about varicose vein treatment options in Birmingham, please join the mailing list of cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro.

While cosmetic surgeons in the past had largely used Restylane for its previous FDA approved treatment of lines and wrinkles, this new approval opens up the doors for Restylane lip augmentation. Previously, though it was not FDA approved, cosmetic surgeons could use the injectable for Restylane lip augmentation, as an off-label treatment.

This announcement comes after the release of findings from a recent study of Restylane lip augmentation treatments. In the study conducted by 12 doctors, it was found that Restylane was “well tolerated and highly effective for lip augmentation for up to six months.”

When measured on several points, researchers found Restylane lip augmentation to be effective and long lasting. The effects of the treatment are said to least up to six months for many patients. Those patients who participated in the study were so pleased with the results of their Restylane lip augmentation, in fact, that 80% of them chose to undergo another treatment after six months.

Restylane is an injectable gel comprised of hyaluronic acid, a key hydrating component of your skin. When injected beneath the surface of your skin at the site of a wrinkle, Restylane provides immediate correction. During a treatment for thin lips, your cosmetic surgeon will inject a specific amount of the product into your upper and sometimes lower lip. This form of Restylane lip augmentation will provide immediate volume to your lips, creating a larger kissable area.

If you struggle with thin lips, we encourage you to learn more about Restylane lip augmentation in Birmingham. Please join the mailing list of cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro to find out about specials on Restylane and other non-surgical treatments.

For the study, researchers wanted to test the claims of products that promised to create fuller lips and those that claimed to diminish lines and wrinkles. What they found is that while professional-grade cosmetic surgery skin care products can improve your skin for a time, long-lasting results are only available through cosmetic surgery.

First up was a product to plump lips. After applying the topical product for two weeks, no discernible change was seen in the appearance of the lips aside from better hydration.

Rather, to experience a long-lasting fullness, you may choose to undergo lip augmentation with your cosmetic surgeon. While an implant is sometimes used for fuller lips, injectable fillers like Restylane are popular lip-plumping options that give you a larger kissable area on your lips for months at a time.

A cream that promised to rid the neck of lines and wrinkles was tested next. After one week, researchers found that the neck was less wrinkly and said this could be due to reduced water retention and improved moisturizing provided by the cream.

For a true effect on loose skin and wrinkles on the neck and lower face, surgery is the only option. To this end, a neck lift or even a facelift can provide tightening of the tissues in the lower face. This will help you realize a neck that is smoother and has reduced visible neck bands, which can add to your apparent age.

Researchers also tested a cream that claimed to have the same effects as Botox treatments, but were skeptical about its effects. They said that if the product actually penetrated wrinkles to treat them, it would be required by law to be considered a medical treatment.

Between procedures, patients often use cosmetic surgery skin care to maintain their refreshed looks. To find out more about skin care options, we encourage you to contact Birmingham cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro.

Like many women who have begun to experience the early signs of aging, like glabellar lines between the brows, actress Courtney Thorne-Smith, is an avid user of Botox and is eager to share her experience with the product and help answer common Botox questions.

Since her doctor began treating her with Botox nearly 10 years ago, Thorne-Smith says she is completely satisfied with the results. She says she wants women to know there are resources available to help them learn about how Botox may treat their own wrinkles and lines.

Allergan surveyed a range of women from age 35 to 65 and found out that the number of women considering talking to their doctor about Botox has quadrupled since 2002. Nearly 80% of women see Botox as an effective means of treating glabellar lines, a treatment Thorne-Smith says she has undergone with great success.

Even with this new knowledge women have about the injectable treatment, some Botox questions still remain. According to the survey, women most often wanted to know:

1. Are these products safe? Each aesthetic injectable treatment has a unique safety and efficacy profile and treatments are not interchangeable. For every injectable treatment, including BOTOX^® Cosmetic, it’s important to review the Important Safety Information and Medication Guide with your physician as serious side effects can occur. The most common side effects include pain or temporary bruising at the injection site, temporary tiredness, headache and nausea.
2. How much do these treatments cost? Cost varies across the country based on a number of factors. According to an American Society of Plastic Surgeons survey, the average cost of BOTOX^® Cosmetic is approximately $400 for treatment of the glabellar lines between the brows.
3. Will my face still have expression? Injectable treatments such as BOTOX^® Cosmetic should not radically change one’s appearance. When BOTOX^® Cosmetic is administered by an experienced physician, a person can still frown and look surprised without those moderate to severe lines – also known as the “11” – between the brows.
4. How long does treatment last? Minimally invasive treatments are temporary. BOTOX^® Cosmetic treatment effects can last up to four months.
5. Is treatment painful? Discomfort associated with the injection is usually minimal and brief, and your physician may apply an ice pack or anesthetic cream.

We encourage you contact your cosmetic surgeon with your own Botox questions. Please join the mailing list of Birmingham cosmetic surgeon Dr. Petro to find out about upcoming specials.