Cosmetic Surgery, Health and Fitness Information - The Adams Center, Boston, MA

Study Shows Women Are More Prone to Facial Wrinkles

A study by a team of plastic surgeons from the Netherlands, that was published in a recent issue of Aesthetic Surgery Journal suggests that differences in the skin around the mouth (the perioral area) account for more, and deeper skin wrinkling in women than in men.

The study’s goal was to 1) determine whether or not women wrinkle earlier and more severely than men, and 2) to develop better strategies for the treatment of facial wrinkles.

The study found several contributing factors for more perioral wrinkles in women:

• Women have fewer sweat glands and sebaceous glands than men, which influences the natural filling of potential wrinkles
• The skin around a woman’s mouth contains fewer blood vessels than men, which may speed wrinkle development
• Women have tighter muscle to skin attachment around the mouth then men. This may cause more of an inward pull to create deeper wrinkles

Current treatments for perioral wrinkles include the use of ActiveFX and DeepFX lasers, Botox, and injectable wrinkle fillers such as Juvederm, Restylane, Radiesse, and other methods such as Dermabrasion, and chemical peels.

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field. 

Combination of Facial Treatments for Best Results

Our face is the most visible thing others see on a daily basis. As we age, our face is often the area that looks oldest first. But, what contributes to premature facial aging and what makes us look old? More importantly, can we reverse the process?

Several things can contribute to facial aging. The obvious answer is “age”. While that’s very true, environmental factors, diet, chemicals we use on or around our face, whether or not we moisturize, weather, smoking, and a host of other factors also contribute. So what makes us look old? Wrinkles around our eyes, mouth, forehead, etc. are often cited, but some of the other signs of an aging face include sagging skin, age spots, redness, and more.

The good news is that these things can be treated, and in many cases largely reversed. Patients come to me with the idea that they want a facelift (either a mini-facelift, or a full facelift). But, a facelift only corrects part of the issue. It’s like providing half an answer on a test. We're discovering that a combination of surgical and non-surgical treatments works best for treating all of the changes that happen when we age.

One of the combinations that I’ve found to be the most effective is a facelift combined with a TotalFX treatment. The facelift is the perfect tool to remove more advanced wrinkles, lift sagging skin, redefine the jaw-line, and contour the neck; while the TotalFX laser is great for correcting brown spots, redness and other pigmentation issues, scarring, and further tightening the skin. Additionally, TotalFX will help in the long-term by stimulating collagen development to help further plump the skin for future wrinkle reduction.

By combining these two treatments, we improve a wider range of age related issues.

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field. 

Can I have multiple procedures done during the same visit?

I’ve received several questions from patients really on whether or not they can have multiple procedures done during the same visit.

The short answer is yes, you can. However, the real limiter is the type of anesthesia selected.

Take liposuction for example. We often do smaller areas of liposuction under a local anesthesia with oral sedation. This method allows us a smaller window of time, so larger procedures aren’t possible. However, we can do larger areas under a general anesthesia. This also allows us to do combinations of surgeries.

A recent patient wanted to have liposuction and breast augmentation done at the same time as part of a “Mommy Makeover.” While we only did those two surgeries for that patient, I’ve had patients choose to have liposuction, breast augmentation with a breast lift, and a blepharoplasty. So there are fewer limitations under general anesthesia.

Having multiple procedures done at the same time is actually a smart choice for most of us. There is usually a shorter overall recovery time, a lower overall cost, and in many cases, we’re finding that combination treatments actually provide better results.

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.

Relaxed Expressions as a Botox Alternative

Relaxed Expressions is one of the newest, minimally invasive, non-toxic tools in our ongoing quest to find the most effective methods for treating facial wrinkles, and reversing the signs of aging.

I recently became one of only 30 physicians in the U.S. involved as part of a physician advisory council to help with the development of best practices in the use of Bioform Medical's Relaxed Expressions (also known as REX, GFX, or No-Tox) system. Perhaps the best way to think of REX is as a high-tech alternative to Botox.

Instead of using a low dose of Botulinum Toxin like Botox, Relaxed Expressions targets the muscles that cause frown lines and wrinkles in our foreheads with Radio Frequency (RF) energy. These RF energy waves minimize the muscle’s ability to make you frown, thus removing the wrinkles in the target area.

While Botox is still a great treatment, Relaxed Expressions overcomes two of Botox’s shortcomings; it may last for as long as 18 – 24 months (as opposed to 3 – 6 for Botox), and is completely non-toxic. At the same time, REX shares some of the same strengths as Botox; it’s minimally invasive, takes around 30 minutes, and works immediately. The recovery time varies.

Relaxed Expressions is still undergoing evaluation, and I’m proud to be one of the physicians selected for this process. So far, the outcomes I’ve had using this procedure have been great. The majority of the patients have been impressed; however, temporary bruising and swelling may occur.

While the technology used in Relaxed Expressions is approved for use to treat medical conditions such as cardiac arrhythmia, it is not yet approved for cosmetic use. REX shows great promise in this area, but it still needs to show good, consistent, safe results. I’ll keep you up to date on the progress of this promising new wrinkle treatment option.

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.

Do Non-surgical Treatments Really Get Rid of Wrinkles?

Q: How realistic are non-surgical procedures, for example will I notice a definite improvement in my wrinkles?

A: Good question! Not every treatment works well for every patient. We spend time during the consultation to do a thorough analysis to determine which will work best for your situation. When selected properly, patients will see definite improvement.

 

New high-tech procedures such as DeepFX have made a dramatic improvement in the effectiveness of non-surgical anti-aging procedures. Additionally, there have been advances made in wrinkle fillers such as Evolence, and others to make these injectable fillers last much longer than they did even 2 years ago.

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.

Our Non-Surgical Beauty Enhancement Seminars were a big Success

Our September 18th and 20th seminars on how to enhance your natural beauty without cosmetic surgery were a huge success, with over 100 of our patients attended our events in our Boston and Peabody offices.

These great events were highlighted by demonstrations from Dr. Adams and out highly trained aesthetician staff throughout the morning, which focused on Botox and injectable fillers, Microdermabrasion, Sclerotherapy and various laser procedures to help reduce wrinkles, brown/age spots, acne, and more.

Representatives from several of our high quality skin care partners, such as Allergan (the makers of Botox and our breast implants), Obagi, Juvederm, Jane Iredale, iS Clinical, Environ, and the exciting new skin care line - Vivite were there with product samples, and to answer questions.

Complimentary skin analysis was also provided using the Mirror Canfield Enhanced Viewing System.

We tentatively have more seminars scheduled for November, so remember to check back here, or check the events page on The Adams Center's site.

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.

Why Didn't my Botox Work?

Q: I have had Botox injected successfully twice. This time I went to someone else and the Botox didn’t take. What could cause this?

A: There are many reasons this could have happened. It’s possible that outdated Botox was used. After dilution Botox is good for 2 weeks only. Some doctors dilute Botox too much to try and treat more patients with one bottle. It’s also possible that the doctor missed the muscle and placed the Botox too deep, or that not enough was used.

Contact me at The Adams Centerby e-mail, or by calling 978-531-0550 in my Peabody office, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.

Finally, an Effective Way to Treat Scarring and Deep Wrinkles

An incredible, newly developed laser treatment made by leading laser manufacturer Lumenis, has created the “gold standard” for non-surgical treatment of wrinkles (including deep wrinkles), scarring, and much more.

UltraPulse is the core of what Lumenis’ calls their “Bridge Therapy” product family that also includes ActiveFX™, DeepFX™, and TotalFX™. These ablative (removes tissue layers), CO2 fractional lasers use “bridge therapy.” Named because only portions of the skin’s surface are treated, leaving “bridges” of untouched skin; the bridge therapy system helps the regeneration and healing process.

The beauty of this system is that a single session is often all that’s needed (when before 5 – 6 treatments may have been needed), and treatment generally can be accomplished in 60 minutes or less. Treatments typically have a 2 – 3 day recovery time (as opposed to 10 or more), and maximum recovery time is only 4 – 6 days.

UltraPulse is an incredibly versatile system that allows physicians to tailor the amount of skin left untreated, so the system can be used on the face, neck, hands, and chest. It can be used for a variety of skin issues, including wrinkle reduction, tightening the lower eyelids, scar reduction, correcting brown spots, port wine stains and other pigmentation disorders, crows feet, deep lines around the nose and mouth, frown lines between the brows, jowls, tightening loose skin, marionette lines, naso-labial folds, neck skin laxity, and rough skin texture.

The entire UltraPulse system has different laser wands:

ActiveFX
The ActiveFX laser head is the core of the UltraPulse system. This laser has a broad beam, but a more shallow depth of treatment. The design makes ActiveFX great for treating all but the deepest wrinkles, most pigmentation issues, and is good for treating the areas around the eyes. Redness may last for between 3 – 5 days. Long-term skin tightening will occur for several months following treatment.

DeepFX
DeepFX uses a thin, focused laser beam, allowing it to penetrate more deeply than most other lasers. Along with the depth of penetration, the DeepFX system’s deep heating stimulates immediate collagen contraction, and long-term collagen remodeling creating a one/two punch perfect for deeper scars and wrinkle treatment. Downtime is a remarkable 2 – 3 days.

TotalFX
This is the total package! The TotalFX procedure combines the laser wands used for ActiveFX and DeepFX to completely treat an area, whether that’s the face, chest, neck or hands. The TotalFX program is designed to first treat a broad area with the ActiveFX procedure, and then treat focused areas with the DeepFX module. Downtime is the longest of the UltraPulse procedures, but when compared to other available laser systems, TotalFX’s 4 – 6 days of recovery cuts recovery in half.

An Added Benefit
One of the best parts of this treatment is that although the treatment has immediate effects, the overall effect is ongoing. As collagen regeneration occurs, the skin tightening effect continues to happen in the 6 months following treatment. This means that while you’ll see immediate results, your appearance will continue to further improve with time.

As part of our continuing commitment to our patients to always find the best, most advanced treatments available, The Adams Center is one of the only facilities in the Greater Boston Area to offer this amazing breakthrough in non-surgical anti-aging skin rejuvenation.

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.

LaserLyte Peel Enhances Short Scar Facelift

The last few years have brought about some terrific advances in plastic surgery. Better techniques, more effective procedures, and combinations of procedures have all helped to improve our ability to turn back the clock.

Once we hit our mid to late 40’s, aging begins to become noticeable in the mid-face region. There are several great non-surgical treatments at this point that can reduce wrinkles and delay the clock for most people.

Until recently, women in their 40s and 50s wouldn’t have considered a facelift as an option. Within the past 5 – 7 years, less-invasive methods that are appropriate for younger women, such as the “short-scar facelift” have become available. Now, more patients are having facelifts, or combination lifts performed in their 40’s.

One of the combination lifts that we’ve had great results with is the combination of a LaserLyte Peel with a “short-scar facelift”. A short-scar facelift procedure involves only half as much cutting as a traditional face lift, which translates into a shorter recovery, a more easily concealable scar, and a more natural look.

While the facelift is a great procedure for treating wrinkles and repositioning fat, it does little to improve the “quality” of the skin. Age spots, sun damage, pigmentation disorders, and some wrinkles (in places not treated by the facelift) may still be present following a facelift. We’ve found that when we combine a short scar facelift procedure with a LaserLyte Peel we can correct other issues that may be present, providing a much better result for the patient, and minimizing recovery time.

Some may think that our 40’s or early 50’s is too young for a facelift. Beauty is subjective, and this is a very personal choice. Modern image enhancement techniques have advanced at an incredible pace in the past 10 years. We no longer have to resign ourselves to having an old looking face!

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.

Reversing the Aging Process Using Hi-Tech, Low Tech, and the Tried and True

Over the past few years, we’ve seen tremendous advances in high-tech anti-aging procedures. While it sounds cliché, these really have revolutionized the battle against wrinkles.

2006 statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) showed an overall increase in cosmetic procedures. However, while surgical procedures declined, non-surgical procedures increased to account for 83% of the total cosmetic procedures performed in the U.S.

This is good news for those of us in the medical spa business. Cosmetic surgery is not for everyone, and non-surgical treatments can provide great results with less downtime. At my practice, my staff and I routinely evaluate new equipment and ideas in anti-aging science. Some of the most effective treatments I’ve seen are DermaSound, iS Clinical’s Youth Complex, and an old favorite, Botox.

DermaSound
One of the more innovative anti-aging solutions I’ve seen is DermaSound. DermaSound is an advanced ultrasonic skin treatment that combines sound waves with a water process utilizing cavitation (a thin blade vibrates at 28,000 times per second causing water molecules to spin rapidly) to eliminate dead skin cells in the outermost layer of skin that make our skin appear older.

DermaSound not only exfoliates, but can also provide deeper-reaching antioxidant treatments through a process called “sonophoresis” to create pathways into the skin for antioxidants to nourish and heal skin at a cellular level, increasing penetration effectiveness by up to 4,000 times (according to an MIT study) more than applying them by hand.

The final part of the DermaSound process is Micro amp therapy, which can be provided as part of a complete skin-restoring treatment to help enhance the healing process.

DermaSound frequently produces results after just one treatment.

iS Clinical’s Youth Complex
One of the biggest reasons for tired and old looking skin is sun damage. Many of us spend unprotected hours in the sun, which can cause oxidative stress resulting in free radical damage to the skin.

While an ounce of prevention is the best medicine, what do you do when the damage has been done?

One of the only “skin creams” (I hesitate to call iS Clinical’s products “skin creams” because they’re so much more) that I’ve seen to actually produce measurable results are the products by iS Clinical. iS Clinical has one of the most innovative and effective lines of antioxidant rich serums. We use and recommend several of their great formulas at The Adams Center.

iS Clinical combines the some of the latest skin science and breakthroughs in wrinkle filler technology by utilizing Hyaluronic acid (the same product used in Restylane), and copper peptides, with vitamins and things like white willow bark that have been used for centuries in some cultures.

Their Youth Complex utilizes freeze dried Hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B5, white willow bark, copper peptides, fruit acids and other botanicals with advanced micro-spheres to help rapidly reduce wrinkles, and rebuild skin at the deepest level. The formula is so effective that results may be seen in hours.

Botox
Botulinum Toxin Type A, or as it’s more commonly referred to, Botox® (manufactured by Allergan as a purified, sterile form of the Botulinum Toxin) is one of the most positive developments in the field of cosmetic surgery of the past two decades.

Botox is really the product that started the revolution in non-surgical anti-aging medicine, and showed that it was possible to get results without surgery. According to the ASAPS, Botox® has been the top cosmetic procedure for the past seven years, with approximately 3.18 million procedures performed in 2006.

First approved by the FDA in 1989 to treat uncontrollable blinking, and misaligned eyes, Botox® has since been approved for cosmetic use to diminish wrinkles on the forehead, around the eyes, lips, and neck. It has recently been approved to treat excessive underarm sweating.

Botox® works by blocking the release of a chemical called “acetylcholine” which signals the muscle under the “frown lines” to contract. Botox® is injected into the muscle causing a temporary (4 months in most cases) paralysis or weakness in the muscle, which then diminishes and in many cases, removes the wrinkle.

I’ve performed thousands of procedures using Botox®. I still believe that it’s one of the most effective non-surgical tools we have in the fight against wrinkles.

Non-surgical ways to combat aging are the solutions most requested in both my medical spa and my cosmetic surgery practice. DermaSound, advanced skin serums such as those made by iS Clinical, and Botox®, are important tools in our efforts to combat the effects of aging. Even though I’m a board certified plastic surgeon by trade, in my opinion, whenever a non-surgical method is right for the patient, that’s the way to go!

Contact me by e-mail, or by calling me at The Adams Center in my Peabody office at 978-531-0550, or 617-262-2208 in my Boston office for more information on this post, or any other information in my Blog.

Dr. Bill Adams is a greater Boston area board certified plastic surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the field.