Combining skin care with facial aesthetics

natural aestheticsUma Jeyanathan shares her experience of treating a patient while using a holistic approach.

The patient requested treatments to reverse the signs of ageing and improve the quality of her skin. She was eager to explore my inherent ethos of instituting natural aesthetics; delivering a holistic approach to facial aesthetics with a more progressive approach to improving the skin quality.

Her lower face, especially the perioral region, lost laxity and elasticity. The lips had features of considerable ageing, with minimal visibility of red lip alongside downward turning corners of the mouth. The patient’s facial profile required balanced improvement, especially focusing on the reduction of the height of the lower facial region.

Finally, while the patient was happy with her cheek structure, there was considerable tear trough deformity, which required careful attention.

Diagnosis

Skin

The patient’s skin has evidence that she cares well for it with regular, effective, routine skincare. She used SPF cream on a daily basis. History revealed exposure to sun-precipitated freckles and sun spots. While the upper face had more collagen and elasticity, the dynamic lines of her upper face were deep and established. The skin laxity was poor in the lower face, especially periorally and around the jowl region.

Pores appeared engorged over the nose and chin. There was also pronounced pigmentation over the nose following prolonged sun exposure.

Thorton (2013) described how oestrogen deficiency as a result of menopause can cause atrophic skin changes and accelerated ageing. Oestrogen deficiencies decrease defence against oxidative stress, skin becomes thinner, less collagen causing decreased elasticity, reduced vascularity, and increased dryness.

With ageing, the extracellular matrix contains fewer fibroblasts and reduced levels of collagen and elastin (Mendelson and Wong, 2013). These underpinning tenants may have contributed to elements of the skin…

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