Botox South Bay

How Botox has Affected Plastic Surgery

Botox vs. Traditional Plastic Surgery: What’s Right for You

Featured on shows including “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”, treatments like Botox, Restylane, and Juvaderm are practically becoming household names. A combination of the three has been coined the “liquid face-lift” and is a favorite alternative to the more costly and painful surgical face-lift procedure. The obvious appeal of these new treatments is the fact that they are less expensive, very effective, and the patient doesn’t have to go “under the knife.” The aftermath of these new innovations in age rejuvenating therapies is that traditional methods are becoming less popular.

Liquid Face-lift vs. Surgical Face-lift

Individuals usually seek treatment for aging when one or all of three of the following things begin to appear. Loss of elasticity resulting in lines and wrinkles, dark spots and other damage caused by the sun, and sagging skin that shows up as hanging jowls and under eye circles. Not long ago, these dismal signs of aging would send a patient straight to the plastic surgeon’s office to schedule a face-lift. While a face-lift is certainly effective in the treatment of such conditions, they are expensive and very complicated. A considerable amount of recovery time is necessary, and there is substantial pain involved.

Choices

Recently, there has been a major shift in the cosmetic surgery world, and people are choosing less invasive facial rejuvenation techniques. The preferred treatments include many non-surgical facial procedures such as fillers, peels, laser treatments, micro-dermabrasion, mini-face-lifts, and even “lunch time” face-lifts.

Cost

The cost for a “liquid face-lift” varies greatly, depending on the doctor that performs the procedure, and is between a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. Compare that to the cost of a regular face-lift, which is several thousand dollars, and there’s no contest.

Recovery

While a traditional face-lift can take anywhere from three to six months to recover from, a “liquid face-lift” only takes a matter of days or weeks. Other than a little swelling and bruising there’s no evidence that the procedure was done at all, and the patient is usually advised that they can resume normal activities right away.

Huge strides have been made in all parts of medicine in the last few decades, but plastic surgery may be one of the areas enjoying the most advancement. Having one’s youthful appearance restored was something that used to be reserved for the rich and famous. Now, with treatments like Botox, almost anyone can afford the cost and brief downtime necessary to have one of these procedures done. The introduction of so many groundbreaking treatments has already decreased the number of traditional face-lift surgeries being scheduled, and there’s no reason to think that this trend won’t continue.