Dermal fillers have long been used to plump lips, smooth lines and wrinkles, and restore structure and fullness to the face. The next generation of fillers, known as collagen stimulators, promises all that and more, with longer-lasting, more natural results.
Collagen stimulators are more than just a cosmetic treatment. They’re also a regenerative treatment, restoring skin’s health and youthfulness by targeting the cause of aging skin – collagen loss.
River Med Spa offers our clients the newest, groundbreaking treatments in Cocoa Village, Florida, and surrounding areas, including Titusville, Cape Canaveral, Merrit Island, Cocoa Beach, and Rockledge.
While most patients want younger-looking skin, they want that skin to bring forth their natural beauty. Collagen stimulants provide long-lasting skin rejuvenation without looking overfilled or overdone.
Why Collagen Stimulation?
Collagen is an essential protein in the body, helping to maintain shape and structure by serving as the glue that binds tissues and cells. However, the body’s natural collagen production begins to slow down as we age, weakening cell structures. As a result, skin can get thinner, lose elasticity, and become dull and sagging.
Collagen works with elastin and hyaluronic acid to make your skin hydrated, resilient, and structured. However, as collagen loss occurs, elastin and hyaluronic acid lose the infrastructure holding their place in the skin. This breakdown leads the skin to wrinkle and show signs of age.
Collagen stimulation targets aging skin at its origin – loss of collagen. By stimulating collagen production, the skin’s texture improves, becoming smoother and dewier and regaining its resilience.
What Are Collagen Stimulators?
Collagen stimulators are fillers that trigger the body’s production of type 1 collagen. While there are at least 16 types of collagen, type 1 collagen makes up about 90% of the collagen in the body. Type 1 collagen begins decreasing in the mid-to-late 20s; by 50, half of the body’s type 1 collagen is gone.
Collagen stimulants are also known as cell-stimulating fillers. They contain microscopic particles that stimulate the body’s immune response when injected into the deeper layers of the dermis. One of collagen’s functions in the body is to repair tissue.
When you inject collagen stimulants into the deeper layers of the skin, the body reacts by producing more collagen and sending it to the site where it perceives a need for repair. The skin then gets a long-lasting boost in collagen, plumping the skin, lifting the soft tissues, and smoothing lines and wrinkles.
River Med Spa offers two leading collagen stimulants – Radiesse and Sculptra.
What Is Radiesse?
Radiesse is a collagen stimulation filler whose main ingredient is calcium hydroxyapatite (CaHA). CaHA occurs naturally in the human body.
Radiesse offers both immediate and long-term results. Its CaHa uses gel microspheres to deliver rapid volume and filling to the targeted areas. In addition, the structure of Radiesse’s gel mimics the skin’s connective tissue, offering more form and contour to the skin.
However, over time, those microspheres stimulate the body’s immune response, producing more collagen and then sending that collagen to the filler’s location. As the body absorbs the CaHA from Radiesse’s gel, the collagen remains, allowing the injectable treatment to deliver results that patients enjoy for one to two years.
Radiesse Treatments
Radiesse treatments are an in-office procedure, often lasting only 15 minutes. After treatment, you can leave immediately and return to your routine, although we advise patients to avoid strenuous activities and sunlight exposure initially.
Radiesse treatments target numerous skin concerns, including:
- Deep smile lines or nasolabial folds
- Corners of the mouth or oral commissure
- Marionette lines under the mouth
- Pre-jowl folds
- Chin wrinkles
- Subcutaneous fat and volume loss in the face
- Thinning skin and volume loss in the backs of the hands
Patients who receive Radiesse treatments are overwhelmingly pleased with their results, and over 90% plan to continue treatment a year after their initial injections.
What Is Sculptra?
Sculptra is an injectable collagen stimulator whose main ingredient is poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA). PLLA is a biodegradable member of the alpha-hydroxy family long used in dissolving sutures and bone screws. As the PLLA breaks down in the skin, the body processes it like lactic acid, which it deals with regularly.
While Radiesse is both a traditional filler and a collagen stimulation filler, Sculptra’s primary purpose is collagen stimulation. Initially used solely to target volume loss, its overall benefits in the structure and texture of the skin make it a highly desired treatment.
Sculptra offers gradual volume enhancement in patients with thinner faces or looking for more natural results. Sculptra is often paired with other fillers to provide immediate lift and long-lasting effects.
Sculptra Treatments
Sculptra treatments are also in-office procedures. On average, Sculptra patients receive three injections over three or four months, with results lasting around two years. While some results are visible after just one treatment, realizing the full impact of your Sculptra treatment takes a few weeks.
Sculptra treats various skin concerns, including:
- Nasolabial folds
- Hollowed temples
- Marionette lines
- Sunken cheeks
- Sagging jawline
- Lines in the neck
- Wrinkles in the chin
Sculptra injections result in firmer, more contoured skin, fewer lines and wrinkles, and lessened facial hollowness. To disperse the product well throughout the face, Sculptra patients should massage the treatment areas gently for five minutes five times a day for the first five days post-injection.
Rejuvenate Your Skin with Collagen Stimulants
As the signs of aging appear on your skin, it can feel like there’s no turning back. However, collagen stimulators’ unique, skin-restoring benefits allow you to refresh your skin with natural, long-lasting results.
Lift, firm, and plump your skin with collagen stimulators at River Med Spa. Patients in Titusville, Cape Canaveral, Merrit Island, Cocoa Beach, Rockledge, and beyond visit our convenient Cocoa Village, Florida, offices to restore their youthful skin. Schedule your appointment with our skilled team today.
