“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” – Henri Bergson

The quest for anti-aging is as much a part of us as any other motivational factor of existence. Aging is an inevitable phenomenon, but looking and feeling younger is becoming more and more attainable due to advances in science and modern medicine. New fields of Aesthetic, Anti-Aging and Regenerative medicine, stem cell therapies, hyper baric oxygen therapies (HBOT) and other nuanced treatments are revolutionizing the field of anti-aging. Despite this, the pitfalls are plenty, from cosmetic creams promising to turn back the clock to photo-shopped and air brushed images on social media promising results that are way out of the scope of any known treatments or procedures.

We have come a long way from the “cut and pull” days of surgical facelifts which has been on a decline for the past decade according to American society of Aesthetic plastic surgery. Over the past decade, composite micro treatments involving several non-surgical procedures have predominantly been on the rise ranging from injectables (dermal fillers or anti wrinkles treatments) to energy-based devices (needle delivered radio frequency to fractional lasers) and advanced skin maintenance treatments (peels and topicals). These treatments work in concert with each other over time. This Multifrontal approach is implemented gradually and designed to be gentle and custom tailored for each patient. This comes with minimal to no downtime. The goal is not to completely obliterate one’s facial expressions, but to subtly enhance the contours while eliminating blemishes, spots, fine lines, and wrinkles.

In my practice, the objective for every client is twin pronged. To improve the quality of the skin and to combat the changes caused by gravity and aging. I combine both of these approaches to create a youthful and fresh-looking face. If we stick with injectables alone, we will have older looking skin with fever wrinkles. That is not the takeaway that I usually intend for my clients.

The protocols vary, but I usually start with the skin, addressing pigmentations, sunspots, and blemishes. These involve peels, skin boosters, ablative lasers among others depending on the case. The advantage of energy-based devices for skin enhancement is that they help to build collagen which makes the second phase a lot easier.

In the second phase the focus shifts to collagen building, skin tightening and lifting. This is usually addressed with a combination of injectables and energy-based devices. The injectables give an immediate assist while I work on the long-term goals of collagen remodification using PDO threads, Platelet Rich plasma, ultrasound therapy and radiofrequency among other modalities.

Once optimum results are achieved, over the course of several detailed planned out procedures, the next step is maintenance. That is done with topicals as per the client’s needs and a biannual follow up for injectable top ups and collagen maintenance.

About the author:

Dr. Azmal Hussain is a top certified aesthetics doctor and the one of the founders of Atelier Clinic in Dubai. He pursues the goal to help patients achieve their beauty and well-being goals through a unique patient experience delivery based on sustainable long-term goals.