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Firm, supple, taut…there aren’t many areas of the body for which those wouldn’t be ideal descriptors. But unlike the bits that can be bound in Spanx or camo’d in clothing, the face reveals its resilience front and center. “Think about a piece of corduroy—that’s what skin is like when you’re young,” L.A.-based dermatologist Jessica Wu, MD, says. “Once collagen production slows with age, skin becomes more like silk. It’s thinner and wrinkles more easily.” Luckily, these products and procedures will pick up the slack when skin starts to slump.
(In) Office Supplies
“No pain, no gain” isn’t just for the gym. Noninvasive heat treatments induce a slight burning sensation (enter topical anesthetic creams) but effectively tighten sagging skin. NYC-based derm Patricia Wexler, MD, has seen impressive results with Ulthera, which uses sonogram-like imaging to target ultrasound waves to the dermis, triggering the body’s healing response and creating new collagen. Fractional laser treatments used to zap pigmentation and fine lines have a “nice side effect,” says NYC-based derm Heidi A. Waldorf, MD: skin-tightening collagen production.
And when it comes to restoring youthfulness with injectables, Radiesse (calcium hydroxyapatite) volumizes sunken facial areas and fills in nasal labial folds, while Sculptra (poly-L-lactic acid) stimulates new collagen. “You can feel more elasticity in the skin after just one month,” Waldorf says.
Micro Face-Lift
“ePrime will replace many existing skin-tightening technologies,” predicts NYC-based derm Macrene Alexiades-Armenakas, MD, PhD, who has been involved with the treatment since its initial FDA trial in 2008. This one-time procedure, designed for the lower face and neck, uses 10 hair-thin needles to deliver short bursts of heat (149–162ºF is the ideal temperature range) to skin’s deepest layer, stimulating both collagen and elastin production. In a comparative analysis among five leading dermatologists and plastic surgeons, ePrime’s results were calculated at 37 percent of a face-lift. “You get one third of a face-lift’s results but with only two to three days of downtime while swelling subsides,” Alexiades says. ePrime has limited distribution, but with its recent FDA approval, it should be in more doctors’ offices within the next year.
Topical Storm
Two structural proteins serve as the MVPs of skin firmness: collagen, which maintains stability and plumpness, and elastin, which provides flexible springiness. “External factors such as pollution, sun exposure, and smoking produce free radicals that destroy collagen and elastin,” NYC-based derm Anne Chapas, MD, says. Healthy choices will ward off damage: Kick that smoking habit, use a daily sunscreen, and avoid fad diets. “Rapid weight loss or gain contributes to skin looseness and sagging,” Wu says. “Maintaining a healthy, consistent weight will promote supple skin long term.”
As collagen breaks down, peptides (small chains of amino acids) form, signaling the skin’s collagen-creating fibroblasts to get to work. This process slows with age, but using a peptide-packed cream can trick the fibroblasts into amping up production.