Injectables are getting increasingly popular across all age groups. Unfortunately, few people know about the long-term consequences of these approaches to looking younger.
Botox is a neurotoxin that freezes your muscles by blocking the nerve signals responsible for muscle contraction. This prevents or diminishes the appearance of wrinkles and sagging but can harm your muscles if used too much or over extended periods of use.
Botox injections change your muscle function, composition, and appearance for years following injections. Think about it this way- if you stop walking for years, your leg muscles would deteriorate and atrophy from remaining idle. The same happens to your facial muscles – if they cannot move from Botox injections, they will waste away from lack of use.
Fillers are injections intended to replace fullness in your face from muscle loss that leads to sagging skin. Most people who get fillers are told that they completely dissolve after a certain amount of time and do not lead to negative consequences.
This is not a completely accurate picture of what happens. The filler moves around from where it was originally injected to other parts of your face, where it remains for long periods of time. Overfilling can lead to a large build up of filler throughout your face, even if you did not receive filler in those areas, leading to unwanted puffiness. The filler only dissolves when intentionally removed by your technician.
Other approaches including chemical peels can be harsh on your skin and expensive to maintain. These chemicals can also build up underneath your skin and weaken your skin barrier, causing other skin issues. Some people may receive surgery, but this can cause scarring or lead to dangerous complications and long recovery times.
So, what other option do you have? Is there a natural way to prevent and diminish wrinkles?
Why do wrinkles form?
Wrinkles and sagging appear as you age because your body begins to produce less collagen and elastin. These are important proteins that are responsible for the growth of skin cells, hair cells, and nail follicles. You’ve probably heard of collagen supplements to improve the appearance of your skin, hair, and nails.
Collagen has a range of functions including promoting elasticity and regenerating cells – if your cells die or become damaged, collagen acts to replace them. Elastin gives your skin a bouncy look and provides strength and elasticity. Without collagen and elastin, your skin will lose its tight appearance and begin to wrinkle and sag.
Your body naturally produces collagen from amino acids that come primarily from meats and bone broth, but can also come from egg whites, citrus fruits, berries, tropical fruits, garlic, leafy greens, beans, cashews, tomatoes, and bell peppers. It’s becoming more difficult to consume enough collagen through modern diets, which is why Good Needles puts most of our patients on collagen supplements.
Collagen production begins to slow in your mid-20s to early-30s and drops dramatically in your 40s. This occurs due to internal factors related to cells losing their ability to reproduce and slowing nutrient absorption as you age. External factors including sun exposure, pollution, and cell damage from toxins also play a role in slowing collagen production.
Increasing your collagen production and absorption is the number one thing you can do to slow aging. Those who stay on top of maintaining their collagen levels enjoy younger looking skin, better functioning joints, stronger bones, and healthier guts.
How do you increase collagen production?
A simple way of reintroducing collagen into your system includes collagen supplements or topical products. I like My Zen skincare for high quality, effective products that can help boost your skin’s collagen levels while providing other herbal medicine benefits like wound healing.
However, this may not be enough to yield the results you want to see.
You might need more collagen than what the supplements and creams offer. Plus, not only does your body need enough collagen to support your skin, joints, bones, and other organs, but it needs to be able to rebuild amino acids and absorb collagen properly.
My favorite way for stimulating collagen production and promoting absorption is cosmetic acupuncture. This specialized technique stimulates your body’s natural healing process, which boosts collagen production, through the tiny microtears produced with shallowly inserted acupuncture needles that are invisible to the eye.
Acupuncture also improves circulation, helping carry away toxins that negatively affect the appearance of your skin. This helps prevent damage to your skin, creating less work for your body’s regeneration process and lowering the need for even more external collagen intake.
Other treatments that can increase your skin’s collagen production include gua sha, light therapy, and cupping. Gua sha and cupping also relieve muscle tension, which can reduce the appearance of rigidity in your face and provide you with more comfort. Using a combination of these treatments can maximize your collagen production and results. Good Needles offers a Facial Rejuvenation Experience that combines these approaches over a course of 10 appointments to transform the appearance of your face and skin.
Acupuncture vs Botox and fillers
Cosmetic acupuncture offers a safe, non-invasive alternative to Botox and fillers. You can achieve the results you seek without risking chemical build up, muscle atrophy, or negatively affecting the structure of your face.
While the results of cosmetic acupuncture take longer than Botox and fillers, they last longer. Many patients even have friends and family ask if they’ve received Botox after undergoing cosmetic acupuncture because of its effectiveness in eliminating wrinkles and sagging.
While prolonged use of Botox and fillers can lead to negative affects to your muscle and skin health, prolonged use of acupuncture leads to heightened wellbeing and genuine slowing of aging. Instead of maintaining the appearance of youth, can you help your entire body stay younger for longer.
Cosmetic acupuncture also addresses any underlying problems in your health that lead to negative skin appearances. Your skin health is usually one of the first warnings of another problem including digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, and autoimmune disease. Acupuncture brings balance to all your systems, helping the overall appearance of your skin beyond the prevention and easing of wrinkles.
Acupuncture is an effective alternative to Botox and filler that can help and prevent other conditions simultaneously. Consider adding cosmetic acupuncture to your self-care routine to improve the appearance of your skin, slow aging throughout your entire body, and treat other health problems.
This summer, Good Needles is offering a special 50% off your first Facial Rejuvenation Experience Appointment to get a feel of the benefits this unique treatment offers. It combines acupuncture, diagnosis, gua sha, light therapy, cupping, and a herbal skincare treatment to maximize the benefit to your skin. Schedule here or give us a call to discuss the treatment further.
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