You too can have Jennifer Aniston’s ‘no-scalpel face lift’

You too can have Jennifer Aniston’s ‘no-scalpel face lift’

Thumb through any trashy magazine and you’ll find a feature naming and shaming ‘overdone’ celebs. You know the ones. In their quest for perfection under intense media scrutiny they’ve overdone it with the Botox, filler or had dodgy plastic surgery. Kim Kardashian is “paralysed by fillers” and has “lost all feeling in her face” according to New Weekly! magazine this week.

Unfortunately it’s a mistake everyday Australians can make too. I’ve learnt the hard way that “less is more” when it comes to anti-aging injections. My heavy brow made me look like a Neanderthal cavewoman for three long months while I waited for my (exceptionally wrinkle-free forehead) to move again.

I’ve since found a way to look natural while fighting the signs of aging by using the body’s resources to stimulate new collagen.

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is credited with sculpting Friends stars Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston’s taut jawlines, plumped cheeks and youthful eyes.

A HIFU treatment can reverse up to a decade of aging over six months post procedure. It’s got an affordable price tag too, at about an eighth of the cost of a surgical facelift. And because the treatment works in the sub-dermally, there’s no downtime.

So how does it work?

Ultrasound waves pass through the epidermis and the dermis to deliver heat energy at specific depths beneath the skin. HIFU energy targeting superficial layers achieves skin tightening, while deeper waves reach the SMAS (Superficial Muscular Aponeurotic System), which is a layer of muscle and connective tissue rich with collagen. Collagen is a natural protein that makes skin look youthful by keeping it plumped and firmed. When heat energy is delivered to the SMAS, collagen is produced and the SMAS muscles are tightened. This lifts and rejuvenates sagging skin gradually over six months.

So if you’ve got a blurred jawline, wrinkly “turkey neck”, crepey skin, drooping jowls and also fine lines and wrinkles, this could be the solution to firm and lift your skin.

It’s certainly not a painless procedure. There can be fleeting discomfort, like a prickling sensation, but this means the collagen-boosting has begun. It takes between an hour and an-hour-and-a-half, so it’s something you can get done in a lunchbreak.

Post-treatment you can experience slight redness which normally resolves within the hour, some people have slight swelling, tingling and/or tenderness to the touch, but are these effects are mild and temporary.

Women in their thirties are turning to HIFU to maintain the firmness of their skin and those in their forties and beyond use it to lift and contour areas that have lost tautness and volume due to aging.

Anti-ageing skincare can only do so much. HIFU really is the alternative to going under the knife.

For more information visit the sculptress.com.au

Ta ta for now,

Victoria x

 

 

Fat freezing or “lunchtime liposuction” – should you try it?

Fat freezing or “lunchtime liposuction” – should you try it?

Hubby calls it my “doughnut”. With both hands he’d affectionately scoop a circular mound of fat with my belly button in the middle and (in a silly voice) ask the kids if they’d like a doughnut. I call it my donner kebab. It’s the roll of fat I tuck in my jeans or that spills over the waistband, depending on whether they’re high-rise or mid-rise. My ‘mummy tummy’ with its bulges and wrinkly skin is a not-so-beautiful souvenir of three beautiful pregnancies. Muffin top, love handles - whatever, you call it, it’s annoying.

So I jumped at the chance to try fat freezing or cryolipolysis (it’s technical name). Fat freezing has been touted as a non-invasive alternative to liposuction (having your fat sucked out is soooo 1990s) and is going gangbusters in the United States and the UK. It’s an almost painless procedure that kills fat cells in targeted areas by freezing them – so you can get rid of your doughnut, bingo wings, tuck shop lady arms, pot belly, back fat, bra roll forever.

Cryolipo is designed to treat stubborn packets of fat resistant to diet and exercise. So it you’ve been doing planks, burpees and crunches for Australia with no joy, this could be for you.

Fat freezing technology was first approved for public use in 2010 in the United States. Legend has it cryolipolysis was first dreamt of when doctors noticed children who sucked a lot of icy poles experienced fat loss in their cheeks. Fat cells are more sensitive to cold temperatures than skin, veins, nerves and other tissue, which means while fat cells freeze and die the rest remains unharmed.

So what happens during a fat freezing treatment? I discuss my goals with my Sculptress therapist (i.e. bye bye doughnut). She checks the thickness of my skin and that there’s a good section of “pinchable” fat to freeze. About 25% of the fat cells in the treated area will die off, so I may need three to four treatments, she advises. It’ll take up to three months to see results, although some lucky ducks notice a change in two weeks.

The CoolShaping machine at Sculptress has different sized “cups” designed to mould around various contours of the body and for varying fat volumes. The area to be treated, my lower stomach, is marked up while I’m standing. I’m then made comfortable on a bed and a cold gel pad is put over the area to protect the skin.

When the cup is in place and turned on, a vacuum sucks up the fat and freezes it at -10C. Fat freezing causes fat cells in the treated area to crystallise and the body eliminates them naturally via the lymphatic system. The sucking sensation is really weird at first and it feels cold, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s actually easy to relax during a treatment.

After an hour, the suction cup is gently eased off and my therapist gives the area a firm massage to help break down the fat cells. I’m advised there may be slight bruising, numbness or a tingly sensation afterwards.

Several weeks on and I can definitely notice a difference. I’ve lost centimetres in the area and my skin is tightened. Cryolipo has boosted my confidence - maybe my bikini days are not over. And there are certainly no doughnuts to grab in my house.

Ciao,

Victoria x

Heard of fro-tox?

Heard of fro-tox?

by | Jul 9, 2018 |

Winter’s not coming, it’s already here. And it’s playing havoc with our skin. One minute we’re toasting our buns near a blazing fire and the next we’re standing on ffffreezing soccer field/rugby pitch/netball court wishing we’d put our thermal...

read more
Heard of fro-tox?

Heard of fro-tox?

Winter’s not coming, it’s already here. And it’s playing havoc with our skin. One minute we’re toasting our buns near a blazing fire and the next we’re standing on ffffreezing soccer field/rugby pitch/netball court wishing we’d put our thermal knickers on and wondering if our child/spouse will notice if we sneak off to the warm refuge of the bar/car. The beautiful Southern Highlands Winter strips our skin of moisture leaving it feeling dry, itchy and tight.

So what can you do? Slather yourself head to foot in a good quality moisturizer, obvs. And don’t forget your hands too. And remember to be liberal with lip balm. I have at least 20 half used ones in my glove box if you can’t find one. Hair also needs extra love too, so treat yourself to a weekly deep conditioning treatment.

Apparently the severe winter air can be especially damaging to those of us in our forties who have begun the ageing process. Quelle horreur!

Ironically, an icy blast is one remedy being used to restore parched, ageing skin. Enter CooLifting, a treatment loved by Hollywood starlets that takes five minutes to remove 10 years.

Chillax – it’s not toxic, it’s not an injection – just a cool, new treatment

CooLifting is an innovative facial rejuvenation treatment that intensively moisturizes and treats expression wrinkles and gravitational wrinkles around the eyes, forehead, frown, cheeks and lips.

CooLifting converts have a treatment before a special event for a beauty boost and luminous glow and a course of CooLifting to get their skin plumped to the max.

Developed in Barcelona, Spain, CooLifting is an innovative facial treatment based upon the symbiosis between a dose of hyaluronic solution combined with a cool spray.