I’m wrapping up my series on levels of aging this week with a cosmetic concern that’s very common these days: excess facial fat.
The Fourth Layer: Excess Facial Fat
To address fullness of the neck or jowls, lasers can be used, dissolving fat from under the skin. This is actually an effective method of fat reduction anywhere on the body including the tummy, hips, thighs and arms. I use Layered Light for LipoShaping.
- First, the treatment area is numbed, important for both your safety and your comfort.
- A laser fiber is passed under the skin to target unwanted fat. These laser fibers can be small – imagine a laser fiber less than half of one millimeter in size. As laser energy flows out of this fiber, unwanted fat is dissolved, and skin begins to tighten as well because of the laser energy.
- There still may be a need for small volume microcannula lipoaspiration, to remove fat excess.
If treatment is just to the face and neck, my patients will most often be able to safely drive themselves home. Initial results can be seen right after treatment but it’s usually several months before the best results are achieved, since the body needs time to rid itself of treated fat. Do remember that this is still a procedure, and the amount your skin may tighten and what you will gain still depends as well on the biologic response of your skin to tightening and to the laser energies of treatment. The newest use of this laser is not just the jowl or underchin fullness, but the nasolabial cheek fold. With the laser, I can actually flatten and smooth out the fold, rather than just using fillers which are of course more temporary.