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The following information has been prepared to familiarize you
with the procedures known as Collagen Treatment. You should read
this information thoroughly and to discuss any questions which might
arise with your surgeon before you proceed with the procedure.
Weakening the muscle action of the forehead creases, crow's feet
and frown lines with Botox is tremendously successful. This can
not be done around the mouth or cheeks. If these muscles were weakened,
the smile and the expressions of the face would be changed.
Creases from below the eyelids to the chin are best treated by filling
them. Even a facelift can not flatten deep nasolabial grooves. The
choices for filling them are fat, Collagen and Restylane or Radiance.
For large amounts, fat can be harvested with a small suction procedure
and reinjected. This fat, like collagen, will mostly dissolve over
several months. For smaller amounts Collagen is quicker, easier
and requires no donor site.
Collagen is a Bovine (Cow) protein. Some people can be allergic
to it and therefore a small skin test and a four week wait are mandatory.
If no reaction occurs, a short office visit can result in fuller
lips, smoother nasolabial folds, filled wrinkles and scars, reduced
smokers' lines and a reduction in many other skin defects. While
sometimes patients feel that their Collagen did not last, we have
found that the cause of this is almost always under-treatment to
start with. If a patient says that he or she would like 1 cc of
Collagen and would like to treat their lips and nasolabial folds,
they will unquestionably complain that the effect lasted for only
a few weeks. In fact, the "effect" they saw was slight
swelling from the injection, not adequate correction with Collagen.
We find that to treat the lips usually requires 1-1.5cc and each
deep nasolabial fold requires 1.5cc. If treated properly, the results
can be dramatic and last several months. Subsequent treatments require
less because some of the initial treatment usually remains.
This procedure can be done on a lunch break and requires no anesthesia
or recovery.
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