When skin rejuvenation isn't the right choice

We get to a certain age and begin to see our skin losing it’s youthful appeal. Colour spots may appear, texture become rougher, plumpness disappears and, yes, wrinkles appear. It’s at that point we may start to think about rejuvenation.

Lasers are amazing tools and laser treatments can do a lot to rejuvenate the skin. But, alas, lasers are only lasers. They are not a magic wand.

Laser rejuvenation comes in many forms, and at our clinic, with our 16+ laser and light-based therapies, we have the capacity to tailor your rejuvenation to suit the exact needs of your skin. Still, there are some people for whom laser rejuvenation simply is not the right choice.

Contraindications for facial rejuvenation

There are several key qualities we look for in pre-rejuvenation consultations, which are red flags for us when determining whether rejuvenation is the right option for a patient.

These are:

• large amounts of redundant skin on the neck or jawline (more invasive treatment would be required to achieve a reasonable improvement in these features)
• significant lower eyelid bags or heavy upper eyelids (more invasive treatment would be required to achieve a reasonable improvement in these features)
• Smokers. (Unfortunately, smokers will not respond as well to laser rejuvenation. Smoking causes blood vessels in the skin to constrict and therefore less oxygen and nutrients reach the skin resulting in less improvement from any laser treatment. Therefore it is worthwhile attempting to quit smoking prior to any rejuvenation treatments to maximise results.)
• Availability for downtime. (Downtime is the length of time after treatment that bruising, swelling, raw patches on the skin, or colour changes on the skin, may be present. Patients rarely wish to be in public during this healing phase. Some treatments may not require downtime but some do require a few days or weeks. This will depend on both the procedure and the patient. It is imperative that you have sufficient time to recover after a rejuvenation treatment before important life events.

Addressing the right problem with the right treatment

Laser skin rejuvenation is designed to create smoother skin, minimise wrinkles and fade down capillaries and pigmentation. As we mentioned before, different lasers do different things, so the bigger the range you have, the greater options you have so that exact skin conditions can be precisely treated.

Our Walter Nolan Multi Laser Procedure is our specialty and is tailored in this way, to your skin’s needs. But sometimes rejuvenation-like effects are attainable without the use of lasers.

Judicious use of injectable fillers can be used to achieve a “liquid” facelift.

Filler helps efface the nasolabial lines (those lines running from the sides of your nose, down your cheeks, past your lips) and can restore volume loss to the cheeks.

Filler can also simultaneously lift the skin on the face. Where patients have large amounts of excess skin on the face, fillers may not have the power to create the kind of improvements being sought. In these patients, it may be more appropriate to consider a surgical solution.