Highly touted local double board-certified surgeon Soheila Rostami, of NoVa Sanctuary Cosmetic Center gives her expert take on the top new-now-next trends helping you extend and savor your youthful natural look.
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but on one measure we can all agree: Maybe she (or he) is born with it—aka the natural look. “All procedures should give you the most natural-looking results, including all surgeries, injectables and noninvasive procedures,” says Rostami. "No one wants to look surprised after a brow-lift, or have a face-lift result that looks like they are skin and bone, or have fish lips, or cheeks like a pufferfish.” Um, agreed. Ergo, the choice du jour is any treatment, procedure or product that no one can spy, leaving onlookers unable to tell if you’ve had anything “done.” “With cosmetic advancements in the last 30 years, we know now that volume is youth, so gone are the old-school techniques of eyelid-lifts resulting in hollow, sunken eyes, and face-lifts where more attention was spent pulling so tight the result was skeletonizing,” says Rostami. “We understand that restoring volume by using fillers in conjunction with surgery to certain areas of the face can give results that weren’t achievable years ago.” Oh, it’s good to be alive in 2019.
Speaking of fillers, “we’re doing a lot more these days with fillers and Botox than we did just a few years ago,” says Botox and filler expert Rostami. And if you’re looking for the fountain of youth, come hither. It is full of myriad fillers for a slew of fixes. Think even a liquid rhinoplasty where filler is injected into the bridge of the nose to heighten it or into the tip to lift it (aka nose job sans surgery). “It’s really amazing what a small amount of filler can do to change the way a nose looks,” explains Rostami. “It’s dramatic but subtle at the same time.” And beyond softening that frown brow, Botox/Dysport can also be used for jawline slimming (relaxing very developed masseter—aka chewing—muscles) or to assuage pain from teeth-grinding. Adds Rostami, also on-trend are lip fillers (see ya, duck lips! Lips can now be taller, wider, poutier, etc. via myriad filler ops) under-eye fillers (the best concealer you can buy to disguise those tired eyes) and more—fillers are also on high demand for jawline contouring (injected at ear base and jawline to sharpen a lower face, giving a nice lift). Results can last up to a year or longer, depending on the filler and location—though notably should be administered by a certified Injector. (Psst, the beauty secret is NOT coupons.)
Get right, get tight! The fix is in with radiofrequency devices for both face and body. “We know that aging in the face is the result of collagen and fat depletion over time,” says Rostami. “Our bodies slow down the production of collagen and fat dissipates or travels south, leaving behind eye hollows, jowling and other undesirable effects.” Oh, the dreadful sag. Luckily, such new RF devices as Candela Profound can stimulate collagen production and tighten skin. “The result is like one-third of a face-lift without surgery,” says the esteemed surgeon. “We also have RF eTWO for skin resurfacing to reduce lines and even acne scars, and RF Endymed to tighten the face and body. These all create collagen, which is your body’s youth elixir.” Sign us up! (Bonus: Adds Rostami, RF devices like Profound can also melt fat, especially submental (under the chin) and jowls. Sayonara, gobbler!)
Move over, ladies. Botox for the bros (aka Brotox) has exploded in popularity of late, as men seek to likewise improve their confidence and appearance. “We hear from our older male patients that they have millennials as their bosses, and they want to stay competitive longer, so they come to us for Botox and fillers, eyelid surgeries, and face-lifts,” says Rostami. But, buyer beware. Not all injectors are equal, cautions the doctor: “The only issue is finding an injector that understands the difference between male and female facial anatomy when it comes to fillers and Botox. Males should be injected in a slightly different way because we do not want to feminize their facial features. The same is true with eyelid-lifts and face-lifts.”
Multivitamins are so five years ago. Upping your nutrient game exponentially is of-the-moment IV nutrition therapy—solving the ubiquitous problem of absorption rate, as vitamins taken orally suffer the sad fate of little absorption in the body. But with IV therapy, the nutrients are more accessible to the body and fully absorbed, as they are infused via intravenous connection using a ~45-minute IV drip into your arm while you are simultaneously hydrated. “There are many ‘cocktails’ that can be infused depending on your body’s needs,” says Rostami. “Some are simple, such as ones for skin and hair, while others are more complex, like if you are dealing with a chronic illness.” Insider tip: One such “cocktail” is a hangover remedy (we see you, holiday parties! Just sayin’).
You down with PRP? You’re about to be. The superfuturistic platelet-rich plasma sweeping the medscape is a form of regenerative medicine that uses your own blood (platelets injected) in a host of painless, scarless supermodern procedures. To wit, the vampire facial, for example. “But we now know that PRP helps with healing and collagen-building,” says Rostami. “We use it topically over CO2 and Profound and, of course, microneedling, to help ease discomfort and redness.”
The future is now with fat fillers. The lowdown? Fat is transferred from your own body and used as determined to plump your face or augment your breasts or buttocks (aka Brazilian butt-lift), without fillers or implants. “Many of our patients are happy knowing the fat they are placing came from their own bodies, making the improvement ‘natural,’” says Rostami. For the midface, only a small amount of removed fat is needed, typically from the inside of the knee. Or if you are undergoing liposuction of the body, a small amount can be reserved for this purpose. And, not just for the females, fat transfer is great for the fellas too, as they can lipo their love handles and flanks and then use it to fill their pecs!
Gone are the days of your grandma’s threads—you know, the ones with barbs to help tighten and lift the skin. Ouch! But, oh, what a time to be alive. “At our office, we only use Silhouette InstaLift,” says Rostami. “The thread is made of an absorbable suture with small ‘cones’ built along it, which will absorb and leave behind collagen.” The result is keeps your facial skin in a subtle uplift while also adding a little volume. Rostami is a huge fan of these threads for what they can achieve for her patients—think face and neck treatments, as well as brow-lifts. Even better? These modern threads give you two years of lift. Winning!
A staple in the collagen replacement market, Sculptra is a game changer when fat and collagen have been depleted from the face. “Often patients with thin lower faces will express concern over their fat and collagen loss,” explains Rostami. “In this instance, a few fillers cannot fill enough or look natural enough.” Enter Sculptra. “This is a beautiful product when properly injected,” says the expert. “The typical number of vials needed is about one per decade of your age. We begin with two vials and bring the patient back in six weeks to see the change. The patient is instructed to massage the face with a good amount of pressure for five days, five times daily, for five minutes each time. After the five days, they can sit back and watch the magic happen.” Patient and doctor circle back at the six-week visit to view before-and-after photos and make a game plan for future correction. “The wonderful thing is how subtle and natural the improvement is,” says Rostami, “and because it’s a gradual change, friends and family don’t know what was done, just that you look marvelous! It even improves the skin quality, giving it a youthful glow.” Now that’s some “magic” we can get behind! Bonus? Rostami has also been using the magic elixir for butt-lifts: “While many vials are required to create an aesthetically pleasing appearance, it is your own collagen and that appeals to many people.” Ah, the future is now, people. And Sculptra lasts more than two years!
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